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Summary

The westernmost circa 260m of Penn Moor Reave has been recorded by field and aerial survey as an earthwork bank on the south-east facing slopes of Penn Moor, east of Penn Beacon. The bank is clearly identifiable on visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2013.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1012807: Part of Penn Moor contour reave
• Scheduled Monument 1012805: Part of Penn Moor contour reave incorporating two stone hut circles and an enclosed hut settlement

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX66SW68
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442374
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/229
• Old SAM County Ref: 445
• Old SAM Ref: 10782
• Old SAM Ref: 10783 (PART)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• REAVE (Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 2291-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

The reave system can only be interpreted as a boundary system, probably of a territorial nature, and appears to be contemporary with the Bronze Age hut circles and enclosures.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1963, Monuments Threatened or Destroyed, 1956-62, 14 (Un-published). SDV83845.

Fleming, A. + Collis, J. + Jones, R. L., 1973, A Late Prehistoric Reave System near Cholwich Town, Dartmoor, 10-13, (Fig 5, Pl III) (Article in Serial). SDV358808.

Penn Moor Reave, West (Fig 5, Pl III)
Total length: 300 m.
Start of wall: SX 59956282
End of wall: SX 60236287
The two ends of this reave are by no means intervisible, but it appears that the intention was to lay it out on a single alignment. The actual line of the reave deviates by no more than ten metres from a straight line drawn between the point where it meets Penn Beacon Enclosure and where it disappears into Ford Brook, a distance of just over 500 m. The western end curves strongly to meet the enclosure wall. There is a large gap in the reave at this point and little evidence that it has been demolished, but the area is so heavily strewn with boulders that it would not have proved of easy access for livestock.
The stretch of reave between Penn Beacon and Penn Moor Settlement consists of a low bank of smallish boulders, occasionally incorporating a larger natural boulder. It has been extensively damaged by cart tracks, especially around the 100 m. mark, where it is also cut by a linear ditch which runs south-west down the moor cutting Rock Reave as well. Between 195-200 m the reave has been deliberately demolished by pushing the stones to the south and there is a slight change of angle at 130 m. where the reave rounds the shoulder of the hill. It then runs right up to Penn Moor Enclosure, but no butt-joint is visible between reave and enclosure wall.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1977, SX66SW68 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV151746.

(23/08/1977) SX 59986280 - SX 60476292. This reave extends over 490m and appears to post-date the enclosed settlement, SX 56 SE 64 and be possibly contemporary with the enclosed settlement SX 66 SW 40.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD/AO Model.

Fleming, A., 1978, The Prehistoric Landscape of Dartmoor. Part 1: South Dartmoor, 97-123 (Article in Serial). SDV235265.

Penn Moor Reave leaves Rook Reave and runs to the Ford Brook and is probably continued by the line of wall running across to the Yealm at SX 618633. If so it would include a pair of incorporated enclosures at SX 610631 and a line of huts along the reave to its south at SX 613633.

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

Visible and recorded (no photograph reference given).

Fletcher, M. + Newman, P. + Probert, S., 1998, Hawns and Dendles: An Archaeological Survey by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (Report - Survey). SDV346246.

(21/02/1998) The course of the Penn Moor Reave was investigated and surveyed at 1:2500 scale between SX61126315 and SX61786333 as part of the RCHME Hawns and Dendles project in 1998. This length of the reave links the valley of the Broadall Lake with the valley of the River Yealm and serves to separate Penn Moor from the Hawns and Dendles spur.
The reave is overlaid and fossilised throughout this part by a 1.4m high drystone wall of medieval or post medieval date. The remains of four hut circles (SX66SW33) lie against the south side of this wall however their relationship to the reave cannot now be established.

NERC, 2013, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) Tellus: South Devon to Dartmoor, LIDAR SX5962-SX6062 Tellus DTM 01-JUL-2013 to 31-AUG-2013 (Cartographic). SDV361514.

A linear bank is visible as an earthwork.

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2019-2020, The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping Survey. Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (AI&M, formerly NMP) (Interpretation). SDV362982.

A bank circa 263m long and 1.5m wide is identifiable as an earthwork on visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2013, crossing the higher south-east facing slopes of Penn Moor, east of Penn Beacon.
The bank extends between two hut circle enclosures of probable Bronze Age date (MDV2403 and MDV4358) and is probably roughly contemporary with the settlements, although it is not possible to define a relative phasing from the lidar derived images alone.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8098 - The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping (formerly NMP) Survey, Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (Ref: ACD2040)
• EDV4965 - Hawns and Dendles, Cornwood: An Archaeological survey by the Royal Commission

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