See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

D-shaped enclosure containing two hut circles to the south of Penn Beacon abutting the eastern edge of the Penn Beacon South Reave and on the west end of Penn Beacon East Reave

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Cholwich Town, Penn Beacon and Shell Top Reaves. Earthworks of Bronze Age boundary works with adjacent prehistoric enclosures and hut circles, cairns and stone rows

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56SE64
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439288
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/6

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, Devon County Council RAF/CPE/UK/1890 2292-2293 10-DEC-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

A curvilinear bank is visible as an earthwork.

Royal Air Force, 1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2494, 3056-7 (Aerial Photograph). SDV147533.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1977, SX56SE64, Plan (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV138573.

(30/03/1950) A dilapidated enclosure with two hut circles inside it. The linear earthwork which appears to be cut into by this antiquity is one of the many enclosure boundaries which abound on Dartmoor, it has no connection with the enclosure. Penn Beacon settlement.
(22/08/1977)
SX 59946281. This sub-rectangular enclosed settlement, 40m. by 40m. and 0.1 ha., has walling, 1.6m. wide and in poor condition, built of large boulders and contains two hut circles. One, freestanding, is probably type 2, internal diameter 6.3m., wall 1.2m. wide and in poor condition, terraced and with a south facing entrance, the other, integrated with the wall, is possibly type 1, internal diameter 3.7m., wall 1.0m. wide and in very poor condition, terraced.
The settlement post dates 'Rook Reave', SX 56 SE 81 and predates 'Penn Moor Reave', SX 66 SW 68 (Type sites:- 1, SX 56 SE 19; 2, SX 56 NE 71).
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on P.F.D.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1963, Monuments Threatened or Destroyed. A Select List: 1956-1962, 14 (Monograph). SDV289739.

Fleming, A. + Collis, J. + Jones, R. L., 1973, A Late Prehistoric Reave System near Cholwich Town, Dartmoor, Figures 1, 4 & 5 (Article in Serial). SDV358808.

(April 1972) There is a steep scarp just below Penn Beacon, and here lies a small enclosure, nestling in a well-sheltered hollow. The west side of the enclosure is formed by Rook Reave, and the reave was clearly constructed earlier, with the enclosure attached to it. Penn Moor Reave also meets this enclosure, but there is a small gap between the end of the reave and the enclosure wall. In this case, the enclosure must have been in existence before the construction of the reave. Thus we have a chronological sequence:
1. Rook Reave. 2. Penn Beacon Settlement. 3. Penn Moor Reave.
Inside the enclosure is a single large hut opening south, and a second smaller hut with two out-buildings attached to the enclosure wall. The irregularity of the wall here suggests that the huts are constructionally earlier than the wall. The only possible entrance to the enclosure lies on the southern side, but it is very narrow. The northern wall runs along the top of the steep scarp, and all the northern part of the enclosure is on a very steep slope. Outside, to the south and east area is heavily strewn with boulders, which would certainly have prevented any cultivation in the immediate vicinity.

National Monuments Record, 1976, SX5962 (Aerial Photograph). SDV138591.

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

Not recorded.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 177-8, Map 52, Figure 52.3 (Monograph). SDV137656.

'Penn Beacon South' enclosure at the junction of the Penn Beacon South and East reaves. The boundary walls originally 1.6 metres wide are still 1 metre high on the south side. The South reave forms the straight west wall of the enclosure, substantial enough here not to need reinforcement. Contiuing south past the junction with Shell Top West reave which curves in to meet it. Penn Beacon East reave curves in towards the enclosure becoming less clearly defined near the wall where it borders a patch of clitter. The reave butts onto the perimeter wall about midway along the east side without continuing across the interior, indicating it was constructed after both the enclosure and the South reave. The enclosure contains two hut circles one of which may have replaced one or two earlier buildings alongside, which seem to have been dismantled whilst the pound was in use. To the south are traces of a low walled extension which would have nearly doubled the enclosure in area.

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 1999-2017, Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery SX5962 01-JUN-2002 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363087.

A curvilinear bank is visible as an earthwork.

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

A curvilinear bank is identifiable as an earthwork.

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

Visible on aerial photograph.

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2019-2021, The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping Survey. Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (AI&M, formerly NMP) (Interpretation). SDV362982.

A stony bank up to 3m wide is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of 1946 defining a roughly D-shaped area approximately 42 by 55m across, apparently abutting the eastern edge of the Rook Reave bank, on the higher south-facing slopes of Penn Moor.
A hut circle approximately 6m in diameter is visible within the enclosure at circa SX59946280. A spread of disturbed stone over a roughly circular area approximately 15m in diameter might mark the site of a second larger hut circle that either abutted or had been incorporated into the south-eastern edge of the enclosure boundary bank.
No evidence for an entrance was identified from the sources available to the survey.
The enclosure remains identifiable as an earthwork on visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2013.

Ordnance Survey, 2021, MasterMap 2021 (Cartographic). SDV364015.

Eastern of two enclosure at 'Settlements' with two hut circles shown on modern mapping.

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)

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.