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Summary

Enclosure forming part of a hut circle settlement enclosing three huts, with a further eight unenclosed huts situated on a slight south-west slope in open moorland. The enclosure measures 53 metres by 36 metres, with a substantial double faced wall 2 metres wide, 1 metre high. Two linked and one attached hut.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1019574: Partially enclosed stone hut circle settlement, two cairns and a route marker 325m north west of Yellowmeade Farm

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX 57 SE 15
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57SE/21
• Old SAM County Ref: 867A,B,C
• Old SAM Ref: 28775
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX57SE15
• Pastscape: 440065

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSURE (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

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

Enclosure and 'Hut Circles' shown on 19th century map.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX57SE15, photograph (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV271768.

(17/08/1950) Settlement containing an enclosure and 16 hut circles north-west of Yellowmeade. Designated A-P by the Ordnance Survey.
SX 5643 7452 Enclosure H, 0.1 - 1m high, containing hut circles C, D and E. Enclosure in quite a good state of preservation and the wall is composed of large stones and boulders - some set upright - and is turf covered in some places. Average height about 0.5m; some stones are around 1.0m high. It extends a little to the north than was previously shown.

Ancient Monuments, 1971, Pound and hut circles north west of Yellowmeade (Schedule Document). SDV271761.

(03/02/1971) Pound and hut circles north west of Yellowmeade. Well preserved pound and 11 hut circles. Entrance to the pound probably on the east side. Encloses three hut circles, A, B and C:
Hut A. 5.486m in diameter. Well preserved. Entrance on the south side. Possible internal partition.
Hut B. 4.572m in diameter. Well preserved wall stones but pile of pound wall rubble inside. Entrance possibly in south-west corner.
Hut C. 4.572m in diameter. Built against pound wall. Entrance on the west side. Just to north of possible entrance into pound. (ancient monuments)

National Monument Record, 1976, SX5674, 1 (Aerial Photograph). SDV267165.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, SX57SE15 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV271765.

(03/02/1980) An enclosed settlement of three huts and a further eight unenclosed huts situated on a slight south-west slope in open moorland.
The enclosure, 38m by 50m (0.19 hectares) has walling which is partly double-faced and partly rubble, originally about 1.2m wide but now tumbled to a general width of 2m. The height ranges from 0.5m to 1.3m, this applying mostly to in-situ boulders incorporated in the wall. There is a simple 2m entrance gap in the south-eastern corner. Two huts, H and E, are built against the internal face of the enclosure on the north-east side; 'H' has a small annex 'I'. A third hut 'C' straddles the wall alignment. All 11 huts of the settlement have suffered stone rubbing but the presence of some double-faced walling, even in the smallest, suggests that they were of type 2. Internal diameters range from 4m to 6.2m, the walling 1.1m wide and up to 0.4m high. Where visible entrances are mostly south-west by south-east.
Unusual characteristics of four of the huts, 'C', 'D', 'G' and 'M', are bisecting rubble walls (?later), 0.7m wide and 0.3m high. Only in 'C' is an internal entrance gap visible. Hut 'M' has a further internal wall; 'K' is not subdivided but has a rectangular annex, 2m by 4.3m, built onto the north side and open to the west. Surveyed on MSD at 1:10 000 and at 1:2500 (see illustration).

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

Eight hut circles inside pound visible on the aerial photographs. Partitioned enclosure visible with four hut circles attached to its walls seven freestanding hut circles are visible scattered around the enclosure.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 152362 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(11/06/1999) At SX 5642 7449. Oval enclosure forming part of a Prehistoric settlement 350m north-west of Yellowmeade Farm. Mesaures 53m by 36m. Substantial double faced wall 2m wide, 1m high. two linked and one attached hut. A 2m wide and 0.2m high bank with occasional orthostats subdivides this enclosure into two parts. The entrance is in the south-east part of the enclosure.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 14-18, Map 44, Figure 44.1 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Yellowmeade oval pound covering 0.15 hectares with a well preserved boundary wall of large slabs which is almost complete. Three huts are built into the perimeter wall of the pound.

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

Enclosure visible on aerial photograph.

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

'Settlement' shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1019574 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

The settlement includes an oval enclosure containing three stone hut circles, with a further nine huts lying outside. The enclosure forming the focus of the settlement survives as a substantial double faced wall standing up to 1 metre high surrounding an area measuring 53 metres long by 36 metres wide. A rubble bank leading between the two northern huts within the enclosure represents a later sub- division.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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