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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: SX 57 NE 10
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57NE/6
• Old SAM County Ref: 557A,B
• Old SAM Ref: 22217
• Pastscape: 439597

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

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

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

A group of seven hut circles (24/10/1950).

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

NMR, 1979, SF1510, 196 (Aerial Photograph). SDV224088.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Interpretation). 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 30.1 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Dead Lake Foot Settlement
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.

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.

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

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.