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Summary

Group of stone hut circles, four with post-medieval shelters built into them and a field boundary forming part of an unenclosed stone hut circle settlement. The stone hut circles are composed of stone and earth banks surrounding an internal area. A fragmentary field system lies south-west of the monument, but full extent has not been established.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1011177: Nine huts, five post-medieval shelters and a field boundary forming part of an unenclosed stone hut circle settlement 1180m south of North Hessary Tor

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57SE26
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 440098
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57SE/1
• Old SAM County Ref: 935
• Old SAM Ref: 22324

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

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

Group of six 'Hut Circles' shown on 19th century map.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX57SE26 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV225907.

(24/08/1950) A group of nine hut circles (see related records for detail).

Royal Air Force, 1964, F62/58/6399, 40 (Aerial Photograph). SDV272301.

Ancient Monuments, 1973, Ancient Monuments description (Report - Survey). SDV225900.

(25/4/1973) Situated just south of the Great Western Railway Princetown, (extinct) railway line, three tiny hut circles dispersed amongst five much larger examples. No enclosing wall for the group is visible. Under moorland grass.

National Monument Record, 1976, NMR SX5773/1 (Aerial Photograph). SDV225980.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, SX57SE26 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV225909.

(25/02/1980) An open settlement of eleven hut circles, situated on a slight south slope in moorland with evidence of an associated field system but within a short distance of an extensive reave.
Five huts (B, D, H, J, L; see plan) are Type 1 with rubble walling from 0.9 metres to 1.3 metres thick and from 0.3 metres to 1.0 metre high. The internal diameters range from 2.3 metres to 3.3 metres and in four huts there are entrances to the south or south-west. Of the other huts three (A, F and G) have double walling and three (C, E and K) have single walling or are a mixture of both.
Those with double-facing have walls averaging 1.5 metres thick and 0.5 metres high. Hut 'K' has rubble with inner facing slabs up to 0.9 metres high, and 'G' incorporates massive blocks up to 1.0 metres high. The internal diameters are from 5.3 metres to 7.0 metres and three have entrance gaps to the south or south-west. Each hut has a levelled interior with a circular sub-compartment attached to part of the inner face. The internal diameters of these varies between 2.8 metres and 3.4 metres, though hut 'A' has an additional external circle on the north-west wall which is merely 1.4 metres in diameter. The walling is of rubble, from 0.6 metres to 1.0 metres thick and usually 0.3 metres high. No entrances are now visible.
These six might be interpreted as enclosed huts but in all cases the interspace is of limited area and they appear to be a variation of the diametrically subdivided huts which occur 1500m. to the north-west (SX 57 SE 16). See ground photographs of huts F and G.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on MSD and at 1:2500 for AO records.

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

Nine hut circles are visible on the aerial photographs and have been recorded on the map overlay.

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

Ancient Monuments, 1992, Ancient Monument Description (Report - Survey). SDV225905.

(8/10/1992) Nine hut circles, four post-medieval shelters and a field boundary forming part of an unenclosed settlement. See related records.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 21-22, Map 44, Figure 44.3 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Twelve hut circles at 'Walkhampton Common North '1' lie in an exposed position just below the Princetown Railway track. Partially explored by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee they had previously been much pulled about by stone cutters. The larger buildings are from 5.2 to 7 metres; another hut has a 2.0 metre annexe and the smallest building lies just 8.0 metres from a major reave.

Fletcher, M. J., 2007-2008, Walkhampton Premier Archaeological Landscape; Field Investigation Project (Report - Survey). SDV359195.

An unenclosed settlement of twelve damaged structures, mostly hut circles, lies in close-cropped moorland pasture. Four of the huts are large with substantial double-faced walls of boulders and slabs each with an entrance on the southern side. Three of these huts have apparent internal subdivisions. Six of the other structures are clearly smaller, robbed huts whilst the function of the other two is not clear. Surveyed at 1:2500 scale (undated).

GeoInformation Group Ltd, 2010, 1:625 2010 Colour (12.5cm resolution) (Aerial Photograph). SDV346026.

Most of the huts are clearly visible on the aerial photography, except for some of the more ephemeral examples to the south of the group.

Historic England, 2018, National Heritage List for England, 1011177 (National Heritage List for England). SDV360653.

This monument includes nine stone hut circles, four post-medieval shelters and a field boundary forming part of an unenclosed stone hut circle settlement lying on the lower south-facing slope of North Hessary Tor, overlooking the valley of the River Meavy.
The stone hut circles are composed of stone and earth banks surrounding an internal area. Of the nine hut circles, one is oval in plan, another is triangular and the remainder are circular. The internal diameter of the circular buildings vary from 3.1m to 8m, with the average being 5.5m. The height of all the walls varies between 0.4m and 1.1m, with the average being 0.71m. One hut has an annex, seven have visible doorways, five have later structures built within them and one is attached to a boundary wall. This wall measures 36m long, 2.5m wide and 0.3m high.
Three small stone-built shelters lie within earlier stone hut circles, and a further two are attached to the outer face. These structures are probably post-medieval temporary shelters constructed during military training or tinworking in the neighbourhood.
A fragmentary field system lies south west of the monument but this is not included because, with the exception of the short length of boundary bank lying within the settlement, not enough of the fields are visible to establish their character and extent.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8351 - Walkhampton Premier Archaeological Landscape; Field Investigation Project

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