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Summary

Triangular prehistoric Enclosure 'C' (Butler) on Erme Plain with four fragmentary hut circles and two yards and bisected by a tin working open cut containing two tinners' buildings

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Earthwork and structural remains of prehistoric enclosures and hut circles on Erme Plains, along with medieval or later tinners' buildings

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX66SW3
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442165
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66NW/67
• Old SAM County Ref: 806
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HUT CIRCLE SETTLEMENT (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1977, SX66SW3, Enclosure (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV153730.

(11/08/1977) Enclosure and hut circles on Erme Plain with two hut circles. At SX 6368 6506 a triangular enclosure 130m by 115m, partly destroyed by tinning in the stream which bisects it. The south walling, 2.0 metres to 3.0 metres wide and in poor condition, is built of small boulders and the north walling has been rebuilt, probably in connection with a tinner's huts.
Four fragmentary, Type 1 hut circles, average internal diameter 3.7 metres, walls 1.1 metres wide are connected with the enclosure, one freestanding, a pair built onto the inside of the enclosure wall and one built onto the outside. A rectangular yard, 6.0 metres by 3.2 metres internally, with a fragmentary wall 1.5 metres wide, and an adjoining yard, about 3 metres diameter, are built onto the inside of the enclosure wall.

National Monuments Record, 1976, SX6365 (Aerial Photograph). SDV144574.

Photograph taken on 22nd April 1976.

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

Large D-shaped enclosure cut by streamwork with five hut circles inside it. The two hut circles at SX 6374 6505 and SX 6375 6506 are attached to the wall of the enclosure and to each other.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 69-70, Map 55, Figure 55.3 (Monograph). SDV337765.

'Knackersmill Gulf' prehistoric Enclosure 'C' on both sides of the brook. The north wall rebuilt in more recent times was never constructed on the same massive scale as the south section. Building '8' in the north of the enclosure has been excavated and was probably a tinner's dwelling of 3 metres by 2 metres though the outer wall looks like a hut circle. Structure '6' seems to have been a rectangular pen and hut '7' has been badly damaged by streamworks. The small buildings numbered '1' to '5' range from 3.5 to 4 metres diameters. The rectangular building '9' of 7 metres by 3 metres may be a more recent shepherds hut and a pile of stones over the boundary wall at '10' may originally have been a tinners' cache.

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

Enclosure visible on aerial photograph.

Newman, P., 2018, The Upper Erme Valley, Dartmoor National Park, Devon: An Archaeological Survey, Appendix 1, Figure 40 (Report - Survey). SDV362921.

An enclosure with four internal hut circles on the moderately sloping west bank of the River Erme at Erme Plains. The enclosure was originally five-sided and enclosed an area of 1.08 hectares. However, a later tin streamwork has cut a transect of up to 46 metres wide across the entire site, destroying an area of 0.4 hectares (approximately 40%) of the interior and a total of 80 metres of the enclosure bank. The enclosure boundary is a spread, turf-covered bank or collapsed wall, of 4.5 metre wide and up to 0.5 metres high, with a small amount of interior wall facings in situ and still visible. There are four certain associated hut circles. All are ruinous and spread, comprising turf covered rubble with no significant structural masonry visible, and unclear entrance locations. In the southern half of the truncated enclosure on the western arc, a hut circle (MDV 4237) of 11 metres external diameter is built into the wall interior at SX 63630 65068. A free-standing hut circle (MDV 4239) at SX 63645 65027 has a maximum spread of 7.6 metres. On the south wall a hut of 7 metres diameter is built into the exterior of the wall at SX 63690 65004. Two adjacent huts depicted by Butler (1993) could not be found. In the northern sector, a hut circle of 9 metres diameter is tucked against the interior of the north-east corner at SX 63738 65071. Two rectangular structures built within the northern sector, post-date the prehistoric abandonment of the site and are likely to be medieval or post-medieval. One is built against the northern wall, constructed from roughly coursed granite blocks. The interior measures 6.5 metres by 3.8 metres by 0.5 metres high. The other (MDV28466), a possible tinners’ building, or lodge, is adjacent the edge of the tinwork. The walls have been embanked on the exterior but part of the interior wall face survives, measuring 5 metres by 2.5 metres and over 1 metre high at the eastern end. The entrance opening was on the south side.

Ordnance Survey, 2019, MasterMap 2019 (Cartographic). SDV362729.

Most of the outline of the enclosure is shown on modern mapping.

National Monuments Record, 2019, Pastscape (Website). SDV362732.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8082 - Survey of the Upper Erme Valley

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