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Summary

An irregularly shaped stone enclosure with three possible internal stone hut circles plus internal and external walled pens, associated with an extensive settlement of huts and enclosures, south of Legis Tor. Survey carried out in March 2022.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1019876: Prehistoric settlement, three round cairns and a post-medieval rabbit warren at Legis Tor

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56NE68
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 438695
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/71
• Old SAM County Ref: 591
• Old SAM Ref Revised: 22289
• Old SAM Ref: 10697
• Old SAM Ref: 22289

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2494, 3131-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDV147533.

Enclosure visible. Hut circles not visible.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX56NE68 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV229129.

Rather vague enclosure (citing Crawford annotation, undated).
(01/06/1950) These hut circles are rather fragmentary and difficult to recognise with any degree of certainty.
The walls are composed of large stones, and are in poor condition. The average diameter of the hut circles is 6.0m. There is an enclosure (omitted from the Ordnance Survey 6 inch 1906 historic map). The walling is made up of fairly large stones. Its dimensions north-south are approximately 110m, and 90m east-west. Average width of walling is 3.0m.
Plan shows one hut roughly central to the enclosure and two or more hurts on/just outside the boundary of the enclosure (south-west boundary).

National Monuments Record, 1976, SX5765, 4/21 (Aerial Photograph). SDV155850.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1977, SX56NE68 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV363486.

(20/06/1977) Three huts within an enclosure of 0.5 hectares, and a hut circle, situated on a south facing slope at 280m OD. It is part of general settlement extending along the River Plym east from Legis Tor Settlement (See SX 56 NE 69, 70, 148).
The sub-oval enclosure measured 90.0 m by 50.0 m with single walling of natural boulders except on the north side where it is of double walled construction suggesting a different phase of construction. The walling averages 2.0m wide and 0.9m high with many small modern gaps and follows the line of the river cliffs on the lower south east side. The entrances are to the south and west. Attached to the west side of the enclosure are
three roughly rectangular yards one within, two without. The largest, 12.0m by 20.0m has been later utilized in part as a vermin trap. The two smaller yards are externally placed. (The
smallest yard is not portrayed at 1:10 000 scale).
All the huts are Type 1 (Type site: SX 56 SE 19). One hut is integrated within the enclosure wall, three huts are inside the enclosure while one is outside. All are in poor condition and
have levelled interiors with entrances mainly on the east side.
The internal diameters vary from 4.5m to 6.0m with a mean of 5.0m; the walling averages 1.2m thick and 0.6m high. The hut at SX 57566538 has a porch outside its entrance.
There is no visible field system or evidence of cultivation plots. Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD.

Robinson, R., 1983, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1983 (Un-published). SDV345762.

(03/08/1983) Visited.

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

Enclosure visible on aerial photographs on south-facing bank of Legistor Warren. Small partition on its western side. Two hut circles attached to enclosures external walls. One hut circle to immediate west at SX 5751 6537. Area approximately 0.6 hectares.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 130876 (huts) (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(see related records for possible huts)
Hut C is of the simple plan and rubble bank walling type. The interior of the building measures 4.8m in diameter and the surrounding wall is 1m wide and 0.4m high. This structure is attached to the enclosure boundary. (Gerrard shows this feature attached to the boundary wall of the enclosure, on the north-eastern side).
NB MPP 22289(p) is a revision of SAM 10697.

Crossing, W., 1992, Crossing's Dartmoor Worker, 61 (Monograph). SDV351364.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 111-4, Map 49, Figure 49.1 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Settlement 'D' at Legis Tor includes some very stony ground in the circuit but comparatively few huts. Several pens are built on both sides of the western perimeter.

Probert, S., 2005, Ringmoor Training Area: Monument Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV363484.

(07/02/2005) Centred SX 5757 6540. An enclosure and hut circle on the south-east flank of Legis Tor. Three possible hut circles also lie within the enclosure. The enclosure is an inverted pear shape measuring 120m north-north-west to south-south-east by 90m. It is enclosed by crude boulder and slab walling up to 2.0m wide and 1.1m high. There are no obvious entrances. The interior of the enclosure is largely clitter with occasional patches of grass.
The associated hut circle (MDV43600) lies at SX 5751 6537 outside the enclosure and measures 5.8m in internal diameter with walls of large earthfast slabs and boulders a maximum of 0.6m high. The interior of this hut has latterly been used as a repository for cleared surface stone. It possesses no identifiable entrance.
Four other huts are depicted within the enclosure by the Ordnance Survey (1977). See related records.

Probert, S. A. J., 2010, A Condition Survey of the Archaeological Sites of Ringmoor, Dartmoor Training Area (Report - Survey). SDV360517.

Newman, P., 2018, Archaeological Sites within Ringmoor Training Area, Dartmoor National Park, Devon: A condition survey on behalf of Defence Infrastructure Organisation (Report - Survey). SDV361636.

(05/12/2017) An enclosure with five associated hut circles, both internal and external. Three probable huts lie within the enclosure and one clearer example is attached the west. Fair condition; stable.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, UPRM-24 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

(07/02/2020 and 02/03/2020) Condition of site assessed as moderate; vegetation encroachment (heavy bracken) is seriously affecting the site. Well used footpath runs through the enclosure.

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

Photographs taken during February / March 2020 visit.

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

Enclosure shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1019876 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

The easternmost enclosure at Legis Tor is sub-oval in shape, measures internally 100 metres north to south by 95 metres east to west and is defined by single walling of natural boulders except on the north side where it is of double walled construction. The walling averages 2 metres wide and 0.9 metres high and a gap in each of the western and southern sides may represent original entrances. Attached to the inner face of the enclosure boundary on the western side are two sub-rectangular yards with internal dimensions of 8 metres long by up to 7 metres wide. A third rectangular yard straddles the western boundary of the enclosure and this measures 11 metres long by 10 metres wide. A further sub-division of the enclosure survives within the north eastern part where a 40 metres long and 20 metres wide area is defined by a 1.2 metres wide and 0.3 metres high rubble bank. Three stone hut circles are attached to the enclosure boundary and a further two examples lie within the enclosed area. The internal diameters of these huts vary between 3.8 metres and 6.5 metres. The height of the surrounding walls varies between 0.4 metres and 0.5 metres. The final stone hut circle within the settlement lies a short distance from the eastern enclosure and is situated on a narrow terrace immediately above the River Plym. This hut measures 4.3 metres in diameter and the surrounding wall is 1.4 metres wide and 0.5 metres high.

Newman, P., 2022, Ringmoor Down Premier Archaeological Landscape Dartmoor National Park, Devon. A new survey, Table 1 (Report - Survey). SDV365490.

An irregularly shaped stone enclosure of 0.63ha, associated with an extensive settlement of huts and enclosures, south of Legis Tor, containing three possible internal stone hut circles plus internal and external walled pens. The walls of the main enclosure were constructed from moorstone boulders in a variety of sizes, with an inner and outer face. Some stretches of these facings survive in situ but where collapsed the alignment of the ruined masonry is still very visible within the spread of the tumbled stone. The walls were between 1.3m and 1.5m thick and up to 1.1m high in places, the space between the faces probably packed with masonry and earth. In their ruined state the walls are now spread up to 5m. Several breaches exist within the walls though it is uncertain which if any represents the original entrance. The interior of the settlement contains a significant amount of clitter, which the occupants never cleared, amidst which two certain hut circles are visible, one free-standing and one attached to the eastern interior wall, both very tumbled and turf covered and not easily measured. A third possible hut circle or other structure is built against the interior of the enclosure wall on the SW side. Also built into the western wall, at a point where it curves, are faint remains of what appears to be the tumbled stone walls of two or three irregularly shaped small pens. A short length of ruined wall connects these pens to an external hut circle on the SW exterior (43600), which has an internal diameter of 6.8m. A small irregular pen with very faint ruinous walls on the south side of this hut measures 13m by 5.5m. A smaller arrangement of masonry on the NW interior is also possibly evidence of a structure. Nearby, attached to the western interior arc of the enclosure, a vermin trap, associated with the post-medieval Legistor rabbit warren, was built cutting through the wall with the 'V' shape funnel walls at ground level on the interior and exterior. Surveyed at 1:1000 scale using GPS, March 2022.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7443 - Condition survey of archaeological sites in Ringmoor Training Area
• EDV7569 - Condition survey of Ringmoor Down training area
• EDV8227 - Ringmoor Training Area: Monument Baseline Condition Survey
• EDV8917 - Survey of the archaeological features on Ringmoor Down

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