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Summary

A cluster of four hut circles and two sub-rectangular structures lie on the gently sloping east flank of Lee Moor above Spanish Lake. Previously described by the Ordnance Survey in 1950 as seven huts but at least two of these features are thought to be later in date.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1018356: Stone hut circle settlement 600m ENE of Great Trowlesworthy Tor

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56SE2
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439109
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/92
• Old SAM County Ref: 495
• Old SAM Ref: 24119

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX56SE2 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV146517.

Group of seven hut circles at SX59645055 (Grid references for these huts seem rather inaccurate).
A. Diameter 4.5 metres. Very fragmentary. No obvious entrance.
B. Hut circles B and C are joined together. Both diameters are 4.0 metres. They are in a ruinous condition and there is no obvious entrance to them.
C. As above.
D. Diameter 5.0 metres. In rather better condition than the others. The walling is of small stones and turf. The height is 0.3 metres. The entrance is probably to the south.
E. Diameter 4.0 metres. Condition as D. Walling of small stones and turf. The entrance is to the south.
F. Diameter 5.0 metres. The walling is completely covered by heather but as far as can be ascertained the walls reach an average height of 0.4 metres. The entrance is not visible.
G. As description for F. The walling is completely covered by heather. Entrance is not visible.

Ordnance Survey, 1975, OS/75/369, 145-6 (Aerial Photograph). SDV254607.

Not visible on air photographs.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1977, SX56SE2, SX56SE2 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV160137.

SX 58506457. An open settlement of seven hut circles in reasonable condition, to the south of an enclosed settlement, and on a west facing slope at 360 metres OD.
The huts are of Type 2 and all have levelled interiors. The entrances are mainly to the east. The internal diameters range from 3.0 metres to 4.5 metres, with a mean of 4.0 metres the walling
averaging 1.6 metres in thickness and up to 0.7 metres in height. The two huts at SX 58496457 are cojoined, the walling indicating that the more northerly hut was the earlier.
No field system or plots are visible in the area.
Surveyed 1:10 000.

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

Not recorded.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 133395-401, 18/5/1994 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Visited in 1994. See individual records for detail. All features identified as hut circles.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 162-3, map 51, Figure 51.6 (Monograph). SDV137656.

A group of six free-standing hut circles between the two enclosures at Settlement 'B' at Upper Spanish Lake. Hut Circles '3' and '4' are markedly oval in shape.

Robertson, J. G., 1994, The Archaeology of the Upper Plym Valley (Post-Graduate Thesis). SDV139549.

Eight hut circles and several lengths of contemporary walling depicted and described by Robertson.

Probert, S. A. J. + Fletcher, M. J., 2002, Plym Valley survey (Report - Survey). SDV350782.

Centred at SX 58516458. A cluster of four hut circles and two sub-rectangular structures lie on the gently sloping eastern flank of Lee Moor above Spanish Lake. All features have been terraced into the hillside to provide level interiors.
Several of these former buildings have had later stone clearance debris placed on their walls or interiors.
There is no ground evidence to support the presence of the field walls recorded by previous records, including the Scheduling revision in 2001, though several natural stony rickles do approach some of the more southerly huts.
The form of these structures suggests two phases/periods of occupation, the sub-rectangular buildings following and perhaps reoccupying the sites of the more conventional hut circles.
See individual records for further details.

GeoInformation Group Ltd, 2010, 1:625 2010 Colour (12.5cm resolution) (Aerial Photograph). SDV346026.

Features are visible on the areial photography.

Ordnance Survey, 2015, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV357601.

Features are depicted on the modern mapping but are shown over-large and the sub-rectangular structures are shown as hut circles.

English Heritage, 2015, National Heritage List for England, 1018356 (National Heritage List for England). SDV357602.

This monument includes two agglomerate enclosures and a cluster of stone hut circles lying on a gentle west facing slope of Lee Moor overlooking the valley of Spanish Lake.
Lying between the agglomerate enclosures are eight stone hut circles, four of which are connected to each other by lengths of rubble walling. Three of these huts are circular in shape and their internal diameters vary between 2.5m and 3.6m, with the average being 2.9m. The remaining five are oval in shape and their internal lengths vary between 3m and 4m, whilst their widths are between 1.9m and 2.7m. The heights of the surrounding walls vary between 0.4m and 0.6m, with the average being 0.43m. The fragments of walling running between some of these huts may represent either part of a field system or further enclosures.
Scheduling updated 2001.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, UP-HT10 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

(16/03/2020) condition of these features assessed as moderate; vegetation encroachment is affecting site.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording photographs (Photograph). SDV363073.

Images of huts taken during 2020 site visit.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8148 - The Upper Plym Valley: The Management of an Historic Landscape

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