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Summary

Enclosure 'D' (Butler) is a small enclosure of 60 metres by 60 metres with walls 1.5 metres wide by 0.6 metres high attached to the north side of a broad reave on Nattor Down surrounding six or seven hut circles

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1008712: An enclosure boundary wall, thirteen stone hut circles and a round cairn on Nattor Down and Hamlyn's Newtake

Other References/Statuses

• National Record of the Historic Environment: 440684
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX58SW/28
• Old SAM Ref: 22249
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX58SW8

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSED HUT CIRCLE SETTLEMENT (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1979, SX58SW8, SX58SW8 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV214691.

(29/11/1950) Remains of enclosure and hut circles. The area in which these antiquities are found is thickly overgrown with ferns and covered with rocks and boulders, consequently the antiquities can not be recognised with any degree of accuracy. Furthermore they are badly mutilated due to their being used as targets by the military. One hut circle has been rebuilt, dry stone walling and reaches a height of 1m. The diameter is 8m.
(18/08/1979) An enclosed settlement, centred at SX 54028355, on a west slope in an area of rough pasture and bracken at 376m OD.
The enclosure, with maximum dimensions of 150m by 70m, is positioned in, but does not wholly obstruct, the funnel formed by two reaves (SX 58 SW 45), and utilizes one as its south side. Its lower west side extends from the reave to the northwest and east, visible as a broad turf-covered bank. The outer slope of this bank is 6.0m long and 0.6m high, the inner slope 4.0m long and 0.4m high. Its size is evidently the result of hillwash and peat growth for at one point it has been partly eroded by a spring to reveal walling.
At the northeast corner there is a 27.0m gap probably caused by a build-up of peat, and thereafter the top of the wall appears as a single line of stones 0.3m high. This forms the northeast side but stops 5.0m short of the reave, leaving an entrance gap and then doubles back to enclose the four huts of the settlement.
The huts, of uncertain type, are visible as platforms levelled into the hillslope to a depth of 0.4m; their lower sides are formed by a bank 0.7m wide and 0.2m high. Entrance gaps are on the south. The internal diameters of the huts range from 2.5m to 3.8m and all are completely overgrown by heather.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on MSD.

Ordnance Survey, 1963-1996, 1963-1996 National Grid OS Metric (Cartographic). SDV350058.

(SX 54088355) Enclosures and Hut Circles (NR) (1965 edition).

National Monument Record, 1979, SF1510, 427-8, 230, 232 (Aerial Photograph). SDV224088.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1979, SX58SW45 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV214694.

(Detail of reaves).

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

Recorded from 1979 aerial photograph.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 133075 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(1993) This enclosure containing seven stone hut circles is attached to the outer face of a boundary wall situated on a west-facing slope. The southern edge of the enclosure is defined by boundary bank (MDV17698) whilst the east and north sides are denoted by a 1.5m wide and 0.6m high lynchetted rubble bank. No earthworks survive to indicate the position of the west side of the enclosure, though this may survive as a buried feature beneath peat deposits. The area defined by these banks measures 60m north-south by a minimum of 60m east-west.
The 7 stone hut circles are composed of circular stone and earth banks surrounding an internal area and they are all terraced into the hillslope. All of the huts are of the simple plan type and all except one are of the rubble bank walling type. See related records for Gerrard's hut details.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 99-100, Map 32, Figure 32.2, Site 3 (Monograph). SDV219155.

'Hamlyn's Newtake huts' is a group of six small and overgrown huts within Enclosure 'D' which is now open downhill but probably remains as a buried feature. A hut circle '7' of 5.8 metres diameter to the south east of the enclosure has been rebuilt probably as an animal pen.

Probert, S. + Fletcher, M. + Newman, P., 1998, Willsworthy Training Area, Peter Tavy, Devon: An Archaeological survey by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (Report - Survey). SDV350638.

(19/08/1998) Centred SX 54068354. Six, possibly seven, hut circles lie within a small enclosure attached to a broad reave (SX 58 SW 45) ascending the north-east flank of Ger Tor. The huts, tabulated below, are relatively small with internal diameters in the range 2.0m to 3.9m and well-preserved. All are terraced into the slope to provide level interiors and none possess a discernible entrance. Two of the huts are incorporated into the wall of the enclosure which measures 75m east-west by 53m. The dimensions for this feature given by the Ordnance Survey (1979) are incorrect and probably relate to a natural scarp covered by dense heather moorland.
NGR, DIAMETER (INTERNAL), WALLS (WIDTH, HEIGHT), ENTRANCE, COMMENTS
SX54068356 3.9m 1.4m 0.4m
SX54078355 3.8m 1.7m 0.4m
SX54088355 3.0m 1.2m 0.4m Slightly sloping interior
SX54088354 3.5m 1.5m 0.5m
SX54098354 3.2m 1.4m 0.3m Sloping interior
SX54098353 3.0m 1.4m 0.25m
SX54048357 2.0m Crude circle of stones
The settlement lies on granite bedrock.

Probert, S., 2001, Willsworthy Training Area, Peter Tavy, Devon. Integrated Land Management Plan Implementation: Archaeological Condition Baseline Survey Appendices 2-5 (Report - Survey). SDV357727.

(10/01/2001) No change.

English Heritage, 2005-2008, Prehistoric Survey Information (Cartographic). SDV345521.

Boundaries shown on survey.

English Heritage, 2015, National Heritage List for England, 1008712 (National Heritage List for England). SDV357602.

This monument includes an enclosure boundary wall, thirteen stone hut circles and a round cairn situated on the west facing slope of Nattor Down and Hamlyn's Newtake overlooking the valley of the Willsworthy Brook.
A smaller enclosure containing seven stone hut circles is attached to the outer face of the boundary wall at SX54078354. This enclosure is defined by a boundary bank on three sides, with no earthworks surviving to indicate the position of the western side of the enclosure, though this may survive as a buried feature beneath peat deposits. The area enclosed by the surviving banks measures 60m north to south by a minimum of 60m east to west. The seven stone hut circles lying within this enclosure are composed of circular stone and earth banks surrounding an internal area and they are all terraced into the hillslope. The internal diameters of these huts varies between 2m and 4.4m with the average being 3.68m. The height of the surrounding walls varies between 0.2m and 0.5m with the average being 0.36m.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7368 - Survey of the Willsworthy Training Area, Peter Tavy (1998)
• EDV6663 - Survey of the Willsworthy Training Area
• EDV6664 - Survey of the Willsworthy Training Area
• EDV6665 - Survey of the Willsworthy Training Area
• EDV8141 - Condition survey of the Willsworthy Training Area

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