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Summary

Boundaries banks of up to 1.4 metres wide by up to 0.7 metres high within the settlement on east bank of Rattle BrooK

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1007539: Enclosure and unenclosed stone hut circle settlement 510m north of Deadlake Foot

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: S58SE6
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 440594
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX58SE/25
• Old SAM County Ref: 487
• Old SAM Ref: 20352

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BOUNDARY (Constructed, Early Bronze Age to Late Iron Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 42 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1995, 2378 (Aerial Photograph). SDV224714.

Ralegh Radford, C. A., 1952 /1953, Prehistoric Settlements on Dartmoor and the Cornish Moors, 65-66 (Article in Serial). SDV337080.

A straggling settlement of over 20 huts, 18 of them excavated. Internal diameters 3.0m - 6.1m. There are slight traces of walls linking some of the huts. The excavation produced sherds of twisted-cord ornamented pottery.

Ancient Monuments, 1961/1990, Schedule notes (Schedule Document). SDV235055.

September 1961 Partly enclosed hut settlement on the slopes of Hare Tor, north-east of Deadlake Foot. At least 9 small hut circles with field and enclosure walls above the stream. Late Bronze Age/Iron Age. Tumulus in mine dump; very overgrown with bracken. Walling of the enclosure is very fragmentary, consisting of a few turf covered stones. Remains of the hut circles are in a very poor condition.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1970-1979, SX58SE6 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV235056.

Visited on 5th Novemebr 1979. SX 5625 8457 On the east bank of Rattle Brook at 445.0 metres OD is the remains of a partly enclosed settlement with twenty-four Type 1 hut circles. The small complete sub-circular enclosure measures 29m by 24m with an entrance gap on its west side. Like the walling that links many of the huts it is of rubble construction, 1.1m wide and 0.4m high.

National Monuments Record, 1979, NMR SF1510, 250 (Aerial Photograph). SDV273995.

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

(03/09/1983) Department of Environment Field Monument Warden visit.

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

Two fragments of an enclosure recorded by the Ordnance Survey visible on the aerial photographs. Northernmost enclosure oval with flat south side. Incomplete on west circuit. Four hut circles attached to interior wall. Southernmost enclosure, right angle of walling, the limbs orientated west and south with hut circle attached to western limb termination. Hut circle within junction of the right angle of walling. Two hut circles attached to each other and to the southern limb of the right angle.

Robinson, R., 1986, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1986 (Un-published). SDV345664.

(29/09/1986) site visited.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 103, Map 32, Site 7 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Poor remains of a settlement extending for about 150 meters along the east bank of the Rattle Brook. Many huts seem to have been joined by walling but the visible remains are very fragmentary. Some fifteen huts of 1.5 metres to 4.5 metres in diameter are clear enough but odd piles and arcs of stones are probably remnants of others.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1993-1998, Dartmoor Royal Forest Project (Report - Survey). SDV346608.

(17/08/1995) Centred SX 5624 8455. A settlement comprising 22 hut circles, two other structures, two clearance cairns and several irregular enclosures. The site occupies the gently sloping west-facing slope immediately above the left bank of the Rattle Brook some 800m upstream of its confluence with the River Tavy. The huts (see related records) are generally small and well-built though some are merely crude circles of stone. They vary in internal diameter from 1.8m to 4.2m and there appears to be no preference for entrance direction.
The two other structures are triangular platforms which adjoin enclosure walls. Many of the huts are linked by stony banks on average 1.4m wide and up to 0.7m high which form small enclosures of less than 0.15 hectares. Within these are two clearance cairns in this case rather amorphous piles of stones and boulders between 3.0 and 4.5m in diameter and up to 0.5m high.

Probert, S. A. J. + Newman, P., 2003-2004, Measured survey North Dartmoor Military Range Okehampton Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV350801.

(21/08/2003) This settlement remains as described and in good condition.

Historic England, 2023, National Heritage List for England, 1007539 (National Heritage List for England). SDV365228.

This monument includes an enclosure and a large unenclosed stone hut circle settlement situated on the lower part of a west-facing slope overlooking the Rattle Brook. The enclosure measures 29 metres long by 24 metres wide, with an entrance on its west side. The wall is of rubble construction, measures 1.1 metres wide and stands up to 0.4 metres high. Four stone hut circles are attached to the enclosure boundary and another lies in the centre. The unenclosed stone hut circle settlement includes twenty-one stone hut circles, eight of which are attached to boundary walls. The internal diameters of the huts vary from 1.7 metres to 5 metres. The walls are composed of stone and earth and stand between 0.2 metres and 0.7 metres high. All the huts are circular in plan with the exception of one which is sub-rectangular. One hut has a porch.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8679 - Okehampton Range: Management Survey
• EDV8291 - Okehampton Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey
• EDV8695 - Survey of Okehampton North Dartmoor Military Range

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