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Summary

Hut circle within small enclosure on the east bank of the Cowsic river of 3.0 metres diameter with walls 1.0 metre wide by 0.7 metres high with a levelled interior and a southern entrance

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1008659: Enclosure and stone hut circle 160m south east of Broad Hole

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57NE7
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439584
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57NE/43
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57NE/43/1
• Old SAM County Ref: 549
• Old SAM Ref: 22252

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950-1953, SX57NE7 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV234570.

Visited 27/6/1950 Remains of hut circle and enclosure. Hut measures approximately 4 metres in diameter, walls are composed of partly turf covered stones, no visible entrance.

Robinson, R., 1983, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1983 (Un-published). SDV345762.

Visited 19/1/1983

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP, 1992 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Hut and enclosure, east of Cowsic River. Hut with internal diameter of 3.2 metres. Rubble bank wall 1.0 metre wide, 0.7 metres high. Doorway to south.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 64-5, Map 29.14 (Monograph). SDV219155.

One of two (other is MDV4588) minute homesteads below Beardown Tors, each consisting of a single oval enclosure less than 25 metres across at most with a tiny hut (2.5 metres in diameter) built across the line of the circuit wall.
Much of the interior of this enclosure is taken up by a large mound which does not appear to be natural and which has at some period been trenched.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1993-1998, Dartmoor Royal Forest Project (Report - Survey). SDV346608.

(11/07/1994) Centred SX 59167845. A poorly defined hut circle and large, possibly contemporary, mound within a fragmentary enclosure above the left bank of the Cowsic River. The hut possesses a level interior measuring 2.7 metres (north-south) by 2.5 metres with crudely constructed walls, 0.7 metres wide and a maximum now of 0.3 metres high. A possible entrance is marked by a single upright jamb on the north-western side of the hut. There is no other obvious entrance though a slight gap in the southern wall may mark the site of the entrance suggested by Ordnance Survey (1978).
The enclosure is as described by Ordnance Survey (1950s); there is evidence of a possible southern entrance as suggested by Gerrard (1992). Adjoining the western wall of the hut is a large bowl-shaped stoney mound measuring 10.0 metres (north-south) by 11 metres and 1.1 metres high. Its southern side appears to overlie part of the stoney bank that partially encloses the hut and mound. The scar of an unrecorded excavation, 2.0 metres wide, runs south-east from the centre of the mound. The nature of this mound is somewhat enigmatic, it may be a prehistoric sepulchral monument or perhaps a feature related to the nearby streamworking remains on the valley floor.

Newman, P., 2004, Merrivale Range Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV346874.

30/11/2004 Merrivale Range Baseline Condition Survey visit. The feature is in a stable condition. The stones are mostly earthfast in an area of short grass.

English Heritage, 2005-2008, Prehistoric Survey Information (Cartographic). SDV345521.

Hut circle shown on survey.

Newman, P., 2018, Archaeological Sites within Merrivale Training Area, Dartmoor National Park, Devon: A condition survey on behalf of Defence Infrastructure Organisation (Report - Survey). SDV361635.

A hut circle and fragmentary enclosure on slopes just above the west side of the Cowsic River.

Historic England, 2018, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV360653.

This monument includes an oval enclosure containing a single stone hut circle situated on a terrace lying immediately east of the River Cowsic. The interior of the enclosure measures 20m east to west by 30m north to south and is defined by rubble walling 1.2m thick and 0.4m high. An entrance can be identified in the southern wall. Within the enclosure, a large knoll measuring 11m in diameter and standing up to 2.5m high is probably of natural origin although a 5m long, 1.5m wide and 0.3m deep trench has been cut into its side. The stone hut circle, which is on the east side of the enclosure, is composed of a stone and earth wall 1m wide and 0.7m high defining an internal area measuring 3.2m in diameter. The doorway faces south.

National Monument Record, 2018, Pastscape, (1978 data) (Website). SDV360651.

On a shelf above the Cowsic River, at approximately 438.0 metres OD, is a hut within an oval enclosure measuring 30.0 metres by 20.0 metres. The perimeter of the enclosure cannot be traced on the steep north-east slope through rubble walling up to 1.2 metres wide and 0.4 metres high extends around the western and southern sides of the shelf. An entrance is evident to the south.
The single Type 1 hut is 3.0 metres in internal diameter with a levelled interior; the walling is 0.5 metres wide and 0.4 metres high with a possible entrance in the south. Both hut and enclosure are in poor condition. The valley is too steep for cultivation. Revised at 1:10 000 on PFD. See ground photograph (citing Ordnance Survey Field Investigators Comments, 30/08/1978).

Ordnance Survey, 2022, Mastermap 2022 (Cartographic). SDV364674.

'Hut Circle' shown on modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7441 - Condition survey of the archaeological sites of Merrivale Training Area
• EDV7570 - Condition survey of Merrivale Range training area
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8713 - Merrivale Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey

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