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Summary

The remains of a post medieval building and contemporary enclosure set on a quite steep, E facing, heather and tough grass covered slopes. Deserted building. a very small dry stone house, with fireplace. Very large stones have been used in its construction. It lies in a deep natural hollow and a wide and deep ditch has been dug around the top and sides of the hollow to divert hillside water.

Summary from record MDV103569:
Enclosure surrounding Littaford Tor Cott. Most clear on the western side.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Littaford Tor Cott; post Medieval or late 18th /early 19th century building and surrounding enclosure

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67NW123
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442851
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NW/129

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSURE (Constructed, Post Medieval to XIX - 1540 AD (Between) to 1899 AD (Between))
• BUILDING (Built, XIX to Early 20th Century - 1801 AD (Between) to 1901 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 2468-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

Haynes, R. G., 1966-1969, Ruined Sites on Dartmoor, No. 62 (Un-published). SDV150434.

(11/06/1968) Littaford Tor cott. Deserted building. A very small dry stone house, with fireplace. Very large stones have been used in its construction. It lies in a deep natural hollow and a wide and deep ditch has been dug around the top and sides of the hollow to divert hillside water.

National Monument Record, 1969, SX6276, 1/33-36 (Aerial Photograph). SDV274466.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1979, SX67NW123 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV219182.

(20/12/1979) On the E slope, at 411m OD, is the remains of a rectangular building of coursed blocks. It measures internally 6.6m N-S by 3.9m transversely with walling 0.7m thick and 0.7m high. A fireplace is at the N end while the entrance is in the E side. The bank and ditch mentioned by Haynes seems to enclose a garden plot rather than to divert water. The house is evidently post Medieval in date and probably of 18th or 19th century origin.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on MSD.

Robinson, R., 1982, Building, 206-207 of 476 [sketch plan included] (Worksheet). SDV219178.

(06/10/1982) Building SX 6183 7656. Ruins of a small rectangular building. It lies in a small sheltered hollow north-west of Cherrybrook Farm. Built of dressed granite blocks, the walls are 0.7m thick and survive to a maximum height of 0.9m at the north-east corner (width 0.5m). The long axis lies roughly north-south with a doorway in the centre of the east wall. External dimensions measure: length 8.8m, width 5.8m. There are two set stones projecting inwards from the north wall, both about 9m high and 0.8m wide (the west one leaning) resembling a fireplace (1m - 2m thick).
At the south-east corner the inner wall faces are obscured by tumble there is an extension of the face beyond the main line of the south face, as footings only, for about one 1m (see sketch plan).
Only one side of the doorway is clear, so the width of the entrance cannot be measured. The upper edge of the hollow in which the building lies is followed by a sweep of bank and ditch, the bank with a clear face towards the ditch on its outside in most places.
Robinson considers it possible this could be one of the series of starch factories established by Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt in the 19th century.

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

Building set within the wall of an enclosure which it appears contemporary with extending west of this building. Visible on 1969 NMR aerial photograph.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit, I. S. Sainsbury (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

(08/06/1989) SX 61847658. The remains of a post medieval building and contemporary enclosure set on a quite steep, E facing, heather and tough grass covered slopes at about 410 OD. (see plan at 1:2500)
The building is levelled into the bottom of a hollow and is obscured on all sides but the E which has a fine view to Bellever Tor and beyond. It is rectangular measuring 6.7m N-S by 3.8m internally with a wall of roughly dressed granite blocks 0.7m wide. It stands to a maximum height of 0.9m on a NE side where it is four courses high. The E and W walls project 1m and 0.7m respectively at ground level at their southern ends. The entrance is in the E side but the wall to the S of it is now tumbled. 'Steps' in the stone walling suggest there may have been a crude window light to the N of the entrance and also one near the centre of the W wall.
Internally a large flat slab (1m high 0.7m wide and 0.2m thick) is set upright against the N wall. Another similar though slightly smaller slab 1m to its W has collapsed inwards. The building wall here has collapsed, with no evidence of a chimney, but this was probably the fireplace. To the immediate W set in the NW angle is a raised area 2.6m long, 0.8m wide and 0.3m high built of rough stone and now partly collapsed, probably the remains of a sleeping platform The enclosure measures 62m N-S by 50m inside a predominantly earthen bank, 2.4m to 3.4m wide and 0.7m maximum height, revetted on the outer face of the curving W side. There is a shallow ditch of 2m maximum width and 0.3m deep. It is slightly deeper down the N and S sides due to erosion. The bank is much slighter on the E side and stops short either side of the building. The interior of the enclosure, which slopes quite steeply to the E, is strewn with large stones and shows no evidence of clearance or cultivation. The enclosure was probably constructed to divert water from the slope around the building but this would not have necessitated closing the E side so it was probably used for stock.
There is no evidence to suggest it was a 'Starch Factory' (as suggested by Robinson, 1982) and it may have been a shepherd's hut of late 18th/early 19th century.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8644 - Cherrybrook and Longford Newtake, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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