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Summary

Small hut settlement located on the west bank of the River Walkham consisting of ten hut circles, a small circular stone feature and a short curved fragment of wall to the north. Similar to the Langstone Moor settlement but huts are small with smaller interiors and crudely built walls with no apparent facing stones. Likely to have been a seasonally occupied camp, perhaps a group of sheilings used in summer months. No evidence of enclosure.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1007983: Unenclosed stone hut circle settlement and tinners' buildings west of Dead Lake

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57NE10
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439597
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57NE/6
• Old SAM County Ref: 557A,B
• Old SAM Ref: 22217
• Old SAM Ref: 22218

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Worth, R. H., 1897, 16th Report of the Barrow Committee (Article in Serial). SDV356961.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1978, SX57NE10 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV255306.

(24/10/1950) A group of seven hut circles.
(08/09/1978) On a slight south facing slope to the north of the River Walkham at SX 564782 is an open settlement of eleven hut circles at approximately 430.0 m OD. There is no evidence of cultivation or that the huts were enclosed. The huts are in fair condition and of Type 2 with internal diameters varying from 1.5 m to 4.0 m. They have levelled interiors and walling averaging 1.4 m thick and 0.5 m high with southern entrances. The hut at SX 56407819 has a circular annexe attached to its east side. It is not possible at present to distinguish whether the outer wall around the hut at SX 56457817 is a windbreak or the remains of an earlier larger hut, though the entrance has two orthostats.
There is a possible hut at SX 56377821 represented by a 3.0 m diameter circular depression (not surveyed on plan). Three huts at SX 56417821, SX 56437821, and SX 56407820 have the appearance of later adaptions. The first now has three parts; the original hut, a smaller and later hut built inside and a third structure, possibly a tinner's cache, built upon the two previous constructions. The second adapted hut has a sub-rectangular structure built into it which is probably Medieval and associated with tinning. The feature at SX 56427819 has a 1.0 m internal diameter with walling 0.4 m thick and 0.2 m high with a levelled sunken interior. There is no entrance to this feature. It is possibly a work pit or similar feature. (Type site: SX 56 NE 71).
Revised at 1:10 000 on PFD.

Royal Air Force, 1964, RAF/F64/58/6399, 038-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDV255307.

National Monument Record, 1979, SF1510, 196 (Aerial Photograph). SDV224088.

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

Eight hut circles visible on the 1964 and 1979 aerial photographs.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., 1992 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Unenclosed settlement.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 67-68, Map 30, Figure 31.1 (Monograph). SDV219155.

'Dead Lake Foot Settlement' A prehistoric settlement along the River Walkham consisting of 14 hut circles consigned by a steep hillside to a narrow plain on the north bank of the river, without any obvious remains of surrounding enclosures. Several of the huts have unusual features (see related records). The remainder are equally small, 2 – 4 metres in diameter, the walls of most of them having collapsed into the interior.

Newman, P., 2003, The Langstone Moor Stone Circle, Peter Tavy, Devon and its Prehistoric Environs, 8-10, figs 2, 11, Appendix IV (Report - Survey). SDV255420.

An English Heritage survey in 2003 showed a group of nine hut circles, a small circular stone feature and a short curved fragment of wall to the north. The huts are small with crudely built walls with no apparent facing stones. The largest hut to the southeast has an internal diameter of 5.2 metres with a smaller hut of 2.5 metres diameter inside it. Most of the huts have been disturbed since abandonment with some recently remodelled. There is no evidence of any enclosure wall and the huts may have only been occupied on a seasonal basis. The settlement includes a further hut to the east (MDV50597).
Most of the huts seem to have been disturbed since abandonment, in particular huts 5, 6 and 7 have been remodelled, probably fairly recently. Huts 1, 2, 4 and 5 are of particularly slight construction and may have been robbed or disturbed. Hut 10 has an additional semi-circular external wall, of slight construction added to the south-east exterior.
There is no evidence of any enclosure walls and the site is likely to have served as summer sheilings or dwellings occupied only on a seasonal basis. No record of any of these huts having been archaeologically excavated.
Map object based on this source.

Newman, P., 2004, Merrivale Range Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV346874.

(10/08/2003) Condition is poor. Huts show signs of recent interference.

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

Some of the huts are visible on the aerial photograph.

Ordnance Survey, 2017, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV359962.

The modern mapping shows a group of 12 circular features at this site but they are not accurately plotted; instead represented by standard symbology with each hut appearing larger than its surveyed area. Also, one additional circular feature indicated at SX56419 78198.

Historic England, 2017, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV359963.

This monument includes thirteen stone hut circles, forming the largest part of an unenclosed stone hut circle settlement, and four medieval or post-medieval tinners' buildings. The monument is situated on a gentle south-facing slope within the valley of the River Walkham and the huts are all terraced into the hillside. Ten of the huts are circular in plan and measure between 2.6m and 4.3m in diameter. The remaining huts are oval in shape and measure between 1.7m and 3.5m long and 1.1m and 2.3m wide. The walls of all the huts are composed of stone and earth and measure between 0.2m and 0.7m high. One of the huts has an annexe, another has a courtyard, one has a porch and seven have visible doorways. The tinners' buildings are all built inside the earlier stone hut circles. Two are rectangular in plan and are composed of rubble walls, whilst the others are small circular structures with corbelled walls. These buildings are associated with the nearby tin streamworks at Dead Lake.

Newman, P., 2018, Archaeological Sites within Merrivale Training Area, Dartmoor National Park, Devon: A condition survey on behalf of Defence Infrastructure Organisation, 10/01/2018 (Report - Survey). SDV361635.

A small hut settlement with eleven hut circles on the west bank of the River Walkham. Most seem to have been disturbed since abandonment.

Historic England, 2021-2022, NRHE to HER website, Accessed 20/08/2021 (Website). SDV364039.

(01/10/2003) Due west of Dead Lake Foot, at 420m above OD, is a small hut settlement located on the west bank of the River Walkham within and at the edge of the alluvium at the foot of the deep valley slope.
There is a total of ten huts plus a section of curve wall which may also be remains of a hut, and a small circular stone feature that is unlikely to have been a dwelling but could have been a building of some description. The interiors of the huts are generally smaller than those at the main Langstone settlement (SX 57 NE 16) and the walls are crudely built apparently lacking the inner and outer rock facings. The hut at SX 5645 7817 is an exception. This is the largest hut in the group, though much disturbed with an internal diameter of 5.2m A second smaller hut with a diameter of 2.5m has been constructed within the interior of the larger hut.
Most of the huts appear to have been disturbed since abandonment, probably fairly recently.
There is no evidence of any enclosure walls and no record of any of these huts having been archaeologically excavated.
Resurveyed using GPS September 2003 (Newman P 01-Oct-2003 English Heritage Archaeological Field Investigation).

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7275 - Survey of the Langstone Moor stone circle and other prehistoric monuments nearby
• EDV7441 - Condition survey of the archaeological sites of Merrivale Training Area
• EDV7570 - Condition survey of Merrivale Range training area
• EDV8713 - Merrivale Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey

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