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Summary

Shavercombe Pound is sub-circular enclosure 48 metres by 46 metres with walls up to 1.5 metres wide and 0.8 metres high. There is no obvious entrance gap in the walls which feature large upright granite slabs. A short length of stony bank leads 30 metres east-south-east from the eastern side of the enclosure before it is incorporated into a later drainage ditch. There are no contemporary features visible within the enclosure, however, later disturbance on the inner face of the wall has created a number of hollows interpreted by Robertson (1994) as hut circles.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1019082: Multi-period remains at Hentor Warren

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56NE97
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 438776
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/54
• Old SAM County Ref: 496
• Old SAM Ref Revised: 24230(P)
• Old SAM Ref: 10681

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'Enclosure' Shown on 19th century map.

Worth, R. H., 1943, The Prehistoric Pounds of Dartmoor, 274-275 fig.1 (Article in Serial). SDV320337.

Shavercombe pound is not circular. There is no hut circle within the pound. It is one of two main enclosures in a scheduled area which also includes three isolated hut circles. The fence or wall consisted of granite with large stones in the bottom courses. There are many long stones like broad gateposts laid lengthwise along both faces of the wall and filled between in the centre with small stones. The upper part was probably similarly faced with smaller blocks. Two or three large hut circles lie further up the hill. They are mounded up, rather than built, in quite small stones, mainly altered slate, with none of the usual slabs lining the inner faces of the wall.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 4284-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

Worth, R. H., 1967, Worth's Dartmoor, 135-6 (Monograph). SDV337618.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1979, SX56NE97, SX56NE97 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV148977.

(14/03/1979) On a slight north slope at 350m OD there is an almost circular enclosure approximately 46.0m in diameter. It is in fair condition mostly with orthostatic walling, double faced with infill. At best it is 1.2m thick and 0.8m high. No entrance is visible and the interior is featureless. With seven hut circles to the west and including other enclosures and huts (SX 56 NE 98 and 99) it may be part of a settlement spread over 5.0 ha. The seven huts are all of Type 1 and generally in poor condition. All have levelled interiors from 3.0m to 7.0m in diameter and walling which averages 1.7m thick and 0.5m high. There are no clearly visible entrances but most have suffered some depredation either by robbing or being added to during field clearance.
Seven huts and two enclosures are within or abut a complex field system which, though apparently based upon linear and parallel reaves, has been adapted and re-used in both Medieval and Napoleonic times. (See SX 56 NE 125).
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on MSD.

National Monuments Record, 1983, NMR SF2134, 47-49 (Aerial Photograph). SDV238551.

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

Circular enclosure, one hut circle attached to eastern exterior wall visible on the historic aerial photographs (1940s/1970s). Incorporated into field system SX56NE/385 on north slope of Hentor Warren by boundaries on north and east side of enclosure. Area approx 0.3 hectares.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 140493 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Enclosure lies within an historic field in Hentor Warren. It is sub circular, 54m by 50m and is defined by a 2m wide and 0.6m high double faced rubble wall. It contains at least two hut circles and these are attached to its western inner face. Both huts are of the simple plan type and survive as banks of stone and earth surrounding a circular internal area.
The interior of the northern hut is 2.5m in diameter and is defined by a 1.2m wide rubble bank wall standing up to 0.6m high.
The southern hut survives as a 2m wide and 0.6m high single orthostat wall surrounding a 3m diameter internal area.
According to Worth this enclosure contains no visible hut circles, whilst Butler records one built against the north wall. No trace of Butler's hut could be seen during this Monument Protection Programme field visit. A 1.5m wide and 0.4m high boundary wall leading east from the enclosure is considered by Butler to be of historic date. It is however of similar construction type to the enclosure wall and although it abuts the enclosure it is probably of Prehistoric origin. 22m from the enclosure, this boundary changes alignment, character and develops a ditch on its southern side. This length of boundary is not Prehistoric in appearance and whilst it may have had a Prehistoric origin it appears to have been refurbished in historic times and possibly adopted for military training. Two pits dug into the bank each contain several barbed wire entanglement stanchions.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 123-4, Map 49, Figure 49.9 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Enclosure 'A' to the west of the Shavercombe Brook is a roughly circular pound defined by a well-preserved wall of large slabs which seems to have had an outer riverside enclosure on the east side, its boundary later reinforced as part of the medieval field system. The internal ground level of the enclsure has risen considerably possibly burying some buildings, and only one small hut circle of circa 3.5 metres diameter is identifiable against the northern margin.

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

Enclosure, hut circles and unidentified hollows and mounds depicted and described by Robertson.

Thackray, C., 1994, The Upper Plym Valley: the management of an historic landscape, 265-6/ 102.964. (Report - non-specific). SDV143510.

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

(15/01/2002) Centred SX 5936 6629. A sub-circular enclosure measuring 48m north to south by 46m internally with walls up to 1.5m wide and 0.8m high. There is no obvious entrance gap in the walls which feature large upright granite slabs. A short length of stony bank leads 30m east-south-east from the eastern side of the enclosure before it is incorporated into a later drainage ditch. There are no contemporary features visible within the enclosure, however, later disturbance on the inner face of the wall has created a number of hollows interpreted by Robertson (1994) as hut circles. Of the seven hut circles to the south-west of this feature only one can be identified as such.

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

Enclosure shown on survey.

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

Visible on the modern aerial photography.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, UPHT-38 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

(24/03/2020) Condition assessed as moderate. HER description is accurate. Top of enclosure lightly grazed as open grassed area, (see photos). Lower part and east side covered with dead bracken at time of survey, approximately 50% of enclosure area covered in bracken. Otherwise, site appears stable.

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

Site photographed in March 2020.

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

Enclosure shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1019082 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

Within scheduled area.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8148 - The Upper Plym Valley: The Management of an Historic Landscape
• EDV8155 - Plym Valley Survey

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