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Summary

Two huts within a settlement of four hut circles and associated enclosures and walling originally identified in 1977. One hut is visible as a ring of earthfast boulders and slabs up to 1.1 metres high, the interior is 5.3 metres across and the entrance was probably in the south side. It is partially enclosed by a strong boulder and slab wall. The second is a large, impressive hut circle cut into the hillslope and has an almost continuous boulder/stone wall. The interior is 6.2 metres in diameter; the position of the entrance is not evident. It is enclosed by a strong double-faced boulder wall with some slabs up to 1.2 metres high.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56SE97
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439380
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/120

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSURE (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))
• HUT CIRCLE (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between)) + Sci.Date

Full description

Greeves, T., 1977, Wotter settlement (Worksheet). SDV364290.

Three hut-circles and associated walls were found at the north east end of The Ruts, Shaugh Prior, by Messrs, Greeves and Kilvington of the Devon Committee for Rescue Archaeology, on 07/05/1977. Two of the huts (A at SX 55506185 and B-SX 55526186) were in close proximity having a north east/south west alignment, situated in the right-angle of a prominent enclosing wall consisting of large upright stones. The third hut (C-SX 55556187) was approximately 6 metres to the north east with large stones in the northern wall. All the huts are clearly visible being sunken in the centre.

Smith, K. + Wainwright, G. J., 1978, Department of the Environment Summary Reports, 447 (Article in Serial). SDV153128.

Wainwright, G. J. + Smith, K., 1979, The South Dartmoor Project 1976-1979 (Article in Serial). SDV139032.

SX 555618. The remains of two enclosures with hut circles were revealed during a survey of Wotter village playground. A land boundary or reave aligned south from one of the enclosures was excavated in advance of a new road. A possible lynchet was identified to one side of the boundary.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, SX56SE97, SX56SE97, Plan (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV146723.

At SX55516184, and SX55536186. There are two enclosed huts of Type 1. The northernmost hut has an internal diameter of 5.5 metres and only the north-east half survives with slabs to a height of 0.8 metres. Fragmentary enclosure walling of single stones forms a arc 4.5 metres from the hut on the south side. The southern hut has an internal diametre of 7.5 metres and is complete save for the south-east quadrant with single walling of slabs up to 0.8 metres high. The enclosure, 16 metres by 20 metres is of similar construction. No entrances are discernible in the remains of the huts or the homestead enclosures.
Visited on 17th September 1980. The difficulty of identifying the huts and enclosures from the references and descriptions given by Greeves and Smith is compounded by a new road which has been driven through the area.

Smith, K., 1981, Interim Report (Report - Interim). SDV153133.

Smith, K. + Coppen, J. + Wainwright, G. J. + Beckett, S., 1981, The Shaugh Moor Project; Third Report - Settlement and Environmental Investigations (Article in Serial). SDV173752.

Survey and description of all of the sites recorded. Additionally, two stone walls to the south of enclosure 13 were excavated and thought to be contemporary with the hut-circles and enclosures. A radiocarbon date of 1730-70 BC (har 2669) from the base of the east wall gives a date for the group.

Griffith, F. M. + Timms, S. C., 1981, Wotter Bypass (Site Visit). SDV146720.

Visited on 4th September 1981. The new Wotter bypass runs just south of enclosure with hut (DOE site nos.12 and 13) these features lie under bracken. To north of the road through Wotter, a new playground has been laid out avoiding identified features.

Timms, S. C., 1981, Wotter village (Photograph). SDV146729.

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

Not recorded in project.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 102-5, Map 48, Figure 48.4 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Two hut circles with fragments of enclosures shown in field to the west of Wotter within 'Shaugh Moor field system'. The remains of four huts can be identified at Settlement 'F' in a patch of open ground between the houses, together with a few banks and lines of orthostats that once bounded the fields. The buildings are all in poor shape with only some of the larger blocks in place.

Fletcher, M. + Probert, S., 1998, Shaugh Moor, Devon: An Archaeological Survey (Report - Survey). SDV343481.

(Visited 01/12/1997) A settlement of four hut circles and associated enclosures and walling centred at SX 5550 6195 is located on a partially cleared clitter-covered south-west facing hillslope at 215 metres above OD.
SX 5553 6187. The remains of a hut circle visible as a ring of earthfast boulders and slabs up to 1.1 metres high, save on the downhill side. The interior is 5.3 metres across and the entrance was probably in the south side. It is partially enclosed by a strong boulder and slab wall.
SX 5549 6185. A large, impressive hut circle cut into the hillslope has an almost continuous boulder/stone wall. The interior is 6.2 metres in diameter; the position of the entrance is not evident. It is enclosed by a strong double-faced boulder wall with some slabs up to 1.2 metres high.
It lies within the RCHME Shaugh Moor 1:2500 scale survey area (see also related records for huts within the Dartmoor National Park Authority Administration area)

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

'Homesteads'shown as two features on modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4967 - Shaugh Moor Survey (1997-1998)

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