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Summary

Longhouse within Whittenknowles deserted Medieval settlement of 28 metres long and divided into four sections.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1010650: Agglomerated enclosure with hut circles and later farmstead at Whittenknowles Rocks

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX 56 NE 112
• Pastscape: 438821

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• LONGHOUSE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD (Between))

Full description

Crossing, W., 1912 (1965), Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor, 436 (Monograph). SDV320981.

Linehan, C. D., 1965, Deserted Sites on Dartmoor, Devon, 175 (Article in Serial). SDV217992.

Whitton Knowles. Three buildings in enclosures which include hut circles.

Haynes, R. G., 1966-1969, Ruined Sites on Dartmoor, 153, 19/6/1966 (Un-published). SDV150434.

Whitten Knowles. A longhouse of three rooms with a fourth added. In a prehistoric pound containing about 40 hut circles. Some suggestion of a porch and two outbuildings with enclosures. Other enclosures also contemporary with farm.

National Monuments Record, 1976, NMR SX5867, 2/140, 187 (Aerial Photograph). SDV250106.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1979, SX56NE112 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV216765.

(14/02/1979) SX 5864 5700. On the south-east slope of Whitten Knowles Rocks at 328.0m OD are the remains of a Medieval settlement, lying within an extensive prehistoric settlement. One long house type building in the group has tumbled drystone walling 0.8m thick and 0.7m high with a porch at its west entrance It is a sub-divided house 28.5m by 3.8m internally.
Ancillary buildings are of similar construction although they have varying dimensions. The lengths range from 7.0m to 12.5m and the widths from 2.5m to 4.0m. The general condition is poor and the southernmost building is cut by a leat. Three of the buildings to the north are in very poor condition as if the stone was robbed for other structures. No fields are visible though the prehistoric plots may have been utilised. Certainly, the prehistoric enclosure walls have been strengthened in places. Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD
For a possibly associated building close by see SX 56 NE 151.

Price, D. G., 1980, The Moorland Plym, 86, 88-9, fig 2c (Article in Serial). SDV254604.

Dwelling with enclosed yard containing outbuildings but no associated field system. Presume pastoral farming here.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Dartmoor) - Dartmoor Pre-NMP (Cartographic). SDV319854.

Two rectangular buildings are visible on the aerial photographs.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 126-7, Map 49, Figure 49.11 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Medieval 'longhouse' of 26.5 metres long shown as a long rectangular building with a porch on the south side and two small extensions to the west. Two ancillary buildings are shown to the north and south,

Probert, S. A. J., 1999, Whittenknowles Rocks (Report - Survey). SDV216768.

(03/08/1999) Centred SX 5864 6702. A sub-divided longhouse and three ancillary buildings lie within a number of reused prehistoric enclosures at Whittenknowles Rocks, a S facing hillside some 600 metres north of Ditsworthy Warren House.
The longhouse, centred SX58656701, oriented east to west, measures 28 metres long internally and is divided into four compartments 7.9 metres, 7.9 metres, 3.1 metres and 6.2 metres long from east to west by 3.7 metres wide. The lower, east end, of the building resembles a cross-passage type longhouse with an entrance possessing traces of a porch positioned centrally in the south wall. The two smaller rooms taper in width from 3.7 metres to 2.7 metres and do not display obvious entrances. The building is cut into the gently sloping hillside to provide level floors which lie slightly below the surrounding ground level. Several courses of unshaped boulders form the main walls which measure around 1.2 metres wide and stand a maximum of 0.8 metres high. The sub-dividing walls are lesser in stature, usually around 0.4 metres high. It would appear the two smaller rooms, on the west end, are later additions.
Some 13 metres to the south-west of the main building is a single-roomed structure measuring 12.0 metres by 3.3 metres internally and again oriented roughly east to west. It possesses two staggered entrances in the long walls and is constructed of coursed boulder walls 1.0 metres wide and 0.7 metres high. It too has been terraced into the slope.
At SX58656705, 36 metres to the north of the main building lies a third rectangular structure. Again possessing only a single room it measures 6.7 metres north-east to south-west by 3.1 metres with a possible entrance in the long wall near the east corner. The walls of this structure are a mixture of large earth fast blocks and coursed boulders. Adjoining the north-west wall is a small annex 4.5 metres by 1.4 metres internally and open to the south-west.
A two-roomed structure depicted by Ordnance Survey in 1979 to the north of this building is a stone-filled hollow of natural origin.
Some 72 metres south-west of the main complex are the remains of a further structure which have been bisected by a recently refurbished leat. The remains suggest a rectangular structure roughly 7.0 metres north-west to south-east by 2.2 metres with boulder walls 1.2 metres wide and 1.0 metres high. There is no obvious entrance and no discernible internal detail.
The buildings form the nucleus of a small medieval settlement that reuses and extends a prehistoric enclosure (MDV3995). Most of the prehistoric hut circles within this enclosure have been used as repositories for stones resulting from medieval clearance. The enclosure appears to have been sub-divided into a number of small plots during the prehistoric period which seem to have been cleared for cultivation in this later period. In addition, several cornditch-type boundaries extend the original enclosure in a series of lobes on the south and south-west margins.
This settlement is one of perhaps a dozen which appear to have been `planted' in the Plym Valley during the medieval period and which failed to thrive.

Probert, S. A. J. + Fletcher, M. J., 2002, Plym Valley survey (Report - Survey). SDV350782.

Newman, P. + Probert, S., 2005, Ringmoor Training Area: Monument Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV363484.

(10/03/2005) These features remain in a stable condition and are as described in 1999 by the English Heritage survey.

English Heritage, 2005-2008, Medieval Survey Information (Report - Survey). SDV345602.

Longhouse shown on survey with four unequal compartments.

Probert, S. A. J., 2010, A Condition Survey of the Archaeological Sites of Ringmoor, Dartmoor Training Area (Report - Survey). SDV360517.

White, P., 2013, Previously Unsurveyed Dartmoor Historic Farmsteads (Un-published). SDV352501.

Included in list. No further information provided.

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 2015-2017, 2015-2017 Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV361462.

Clearly visible on aerial photograph.

Ordnance Survey, 2016, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV359352.

Longhouse shown on modern mapping with four equal rectangular compartments .

Newman, P., 2018, Archaeological Sites within Ringmoor Training Area, Dartmoor National Park, Devon: A condition survey on behalf of Defence Infrastructure Organisation (Report - Survey). SDV361636.

(01/12/2017) A sub-divided longhouse and three ancilliary buildings lie within a number of reused prehistoric enclosures. Condition is good, site stable.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1010650 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

This agglomerated enclosure with hut circles lies on a south-west facing slope north of Eastern Tor and east of Sheepstor Brook. It covers an area of approximately 6 hectares and incorporates at least seven enclosures and forty stone hut circles, as well as medieval farmstead structures.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7443 - Condition survey of archaeological sites in Ringmoor Training Area
• EDV7569 - Condition survey of Ringmoor Down training area
• EDV8155 - Plym Valley Survey
• EDV8227 - Ringmoor Training Area: Monument Baseline Condition Survey
• EDV4966 - Survey of Drizzlecombe, Eylesbarrow, Ditsworthy and Hartor. The Eylesbarrow archaeological landscape

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