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Summary

Four ruinous enclosures and ten hut circles spread over the slopes south-west of Gutter Tor (see also MDV5650). Surveyed in April 2022.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1012251: Enclosed stone hut settlement south-west of Gutter Tor

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56NE57
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 438662
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/21
• Old SAM County Ref: 574
• Old SAM Ref: 10597

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

Group of five 'Tumuli (sites of)' shown as crosses on early 20th century map.

Ordnance Survey, 1906, 112SE (Cartographic). SDV337418.

Visited on 14th October 1964 by Ancient Monuments and scheduled. Recorded as a group of four round barrows to south-south-west of Gutter Tor. Low and much robbed.

Breton, H. H., 1914, Beautiful Dartmoor and its Interesting Antiquities, 59 (Monograph). SDV256843.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1977, SX56NE57, Plan & photograph (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV216495.

(20/12/1950) Sites are identical to the rest of the group in the vicinity. Small mounds are discernible at all the sites shown by symbol.
(28/05/1977) These nine supposed tumuli are in fact all hut circles of type 2 (Type site: SX 56 NE 11) and are situated on the south west - facing slope of Gutter Tor at 325-330m OD. Their average internal diameter is 7.0m and width of wall 1.0m; (the largest measures 8.5m internally, the smallest 5.0m). The two northernmost circles are integral with the banks of a small field (the only evidence of any field system). All the huts have entrances on the south-east and all have been cut back into the hillslope to produce level interiors.
One of the huts has been almost flattened; the rest are in fair condition.
There is no trace of the four scheduled round barrows and it must be assumed they are four of the hut circles misidentified. Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD.

National Monuments Record, 1976, NMR SX5766, 1/423 (Aerial Photograph). SDV232536.

Photograph taken on 8th April 1976.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 166 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

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

Two of these four hut circles at SX57576662 are attached to a small circular partitioned enclosure with two elements. The other two are freestanding to the southwest at SX57496656.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 117, Map 49 (Monograph). SDV137656.

To the south of Gutter Tor is an important settlement of at least ten well-proportioned hut circles of 4.2 metres to 7.5 metres diameter together with four enclosures but little now remains above ground. The site was effectively quarried to construct the nearby warren boundary. The hut circles are reduced to dish-shaped hollows, some with a raised rim and a gap at the site of south-facing entrances. Enclosure walls where present are barely visible rubble banks. (Map 49 shows the configuration of the enclosures and huts).

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

(01/04/2005) Centred SX 57506654. Ten disturbed hut circles and four associated enclosures lie on the gentle south flank of Gutter Tor. The majority of the huts appear to have been the subject of unrecorded excavations and most have apparently been reused either as stone clearance dumps or military positions. Where unobstructed the interiors of the huts are level and cut unusually deeply into the slope. Most display wide entrances on the downslope, south, side. Very little stone is visible in the walls which are turf and bracken covered. All diameters are internal.
SX 57486650. Measuring 6.7m in diameter this seemingly excavated hut has a wide gap in its south side and is enclosed by walls 2.0m wide and 0.9m high.
SX 57466645. A very poorly defined hut 6.9m in diameter with walls a maximum of 0.2m high. A large gap lies in the south side and vehicle tracks bisect the interior.
SX 57506654. Turf-covered stony banks 1.5m wide and 0.25m high enclose a level area 5.4m in diameter. Wide gap in south side.
SX 57526654. Measuring 5.7m in diameter this hut has walls 2.0m wide and 0.65m high with some stone protruding through the turf. The level interior is accessed via a small break in the south side.
SX 57536654. A seemingly excavated hut 6.4m in diameter with original walls 2.0m wide and 0.2m high. The wall on the north side has been increased to 3.0m wide and 1.0m high by the addition of material presumably derived from the interior. Large gap in south side.
SX 57566662. A hut circle measuring 5.9m in diameter reused as a repository for field clearance stone. The partly obscured walls are around 2.0m wide and 0.3m high. There is no obvious entrance.
SX 57556662. An excavated and reused hut 6.3m in diameter enclosed by a bank 2.4m wide and 0.5m high A wide gap lies in the south side. This hut circle has had its interior deepened to a maximum of 1.0m below the current ground level. Small embanked hollows to the N are suggestive of ammunition stores for a mortar position.
SX 57526661. Measuring 5.5m in diameter with walls 1.6m wide and 0.4m high this hut has been reused as a repository for field clearance stone. The inside face of the walls has been sharply cut back.
SX 57526661. Adjoining the previous hut this feature measures 9.0m in diameter with walls 2.2m wide and 0.3m high. A large gap lies in the south and the interior face of the walls has been cut back. Possible ammunition caches lie in the area.
SX 57506661. A small hut 4.2m in diameter with walls 2.7m wide and 0.6m high. Again a large gap in the south side.
The enclosures consist of fragmentary turf covered banks averaging 1.5m wide and 0.25m high. All are irregularly shaped and the largest occupies an area of only 0.2 hectares.

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.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, UPRM-20 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

(08/11/2019) Condition assessed as ?very good by volunteer recorders, although bracken cover all features and requires monitoring.

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

Features photographed during November 2019 visit.

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

Five hut circles shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1012251 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

This enclosed hut settlement south-west of Gutter Tor consists of a sub- rectangular enclosure approximately 30 metres by 20 metres on a south-facing slope. The boundary bank is on average 2 metres in width and 0.3 metres in height. Within it there are five hut circles: two attached to the bank and three smaller ones within it. The huts range in diameter from 2.0 metres to 10.5 metres, with walls, built of small stones and earth, from 0.4 metres to 2.0 metres in width and from 0.3 metres to 1.75 metres in height. There are entrances on the southern sides of the huts.

Historic England, 2021-2022, NRHE to HER website, Accessed 29/06/2021 (Website). SDV364039.

Also there are four scheduled round barrows south east of Gutter Tor at SX 575666 [citing List of Ancient Monuments in England 1971 56 (Department of Environment Inspector of Ancient Monuments)].

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

Four ruinous enclosures and ten hut circles spread over the slopes south-west of Gutter Tor. SX 57516 66536. Four ruinous enclosures and ten hut circles spread over the slopes south-west of Gutter Tor (see also MDV5650). The northernmost enclosure is a sub-rectangle of 29m by 19.5m, built against the slope with slight terracing of the north and south walls. The walls are turf covered and spread up to 3m wide and the interior has had four modern, military, slit trenches cut into it. Remains of two large hut circles are built into the southern wall. They are very ruinous and probably robbed of any large stone, comprising turf-covered stony banks forming a collar surrounding a circular hollow with sloping sides, terraced into the hillside 0.76m. One has an opening on the southern side, probably marking the position of an entrance. The overall diameter of the hollows in 9m for the western hut and 7m for the eastern. Extending south from both huts are faint earthwork vestiges of very spread banks up to 4.5m wide by 0.2m high, forming an incomplete enclosure, the southern side of which is absent. To the SW of the enclosure are three more huts of similar appearance. The western of these has an internal diameter of 6m and an entrance opening on the south side. The other two huts are conjoined, the largest being approximately 9.4 m and the smaller is 5.5m and up to 0.3m high. The larger hut interior has been partly filled with loose stone, possibly associated with field clearance. A very poorly defined enclosure of 0.12ha to the west of these three has the form of a parallelogram, though its circuit is not completely visible and contains no huts. Surveyed at 1:1000 scale using GPS, 14 April 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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