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Summary

This settlement consists of 6 enclosures, mostly in poor condition, with 13 associated hut circles and
17 detached ones and extends over 5.0 hectares.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1012771: Unenclosed stone hut settlement north-east of Yadsworthy

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 442223
• National Record of the Historic Environment: SX66SW21
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66SW/21
• Old SAM Ref: 10518

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• 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.

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

Royal Air Force, 1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2494, 3050-1 (Aerial Photograph). SDV147533.

Visible.

National Monuments Record, 1976, NMR SX6361, 1 (Aerial Photograph). SDV138823.

Photograph taken on 22nd April 1976.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1977, SX66SW21 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV165980.

(04/08/1977) Centred SX 63746117. This settlement consists of 6 enclosures, mostly in poor condition, with 13 associated hut circles and 17 detached ones and extends over 5ha of a gentle to moderate, well drained, southeast facing slope at 270m above OD.
'A' : SX 63656119. This irregular enclosure, 100m by 60m and 0.6 ha., has had its lower side destroyed by a recent track. The remaining walling, 2.0m wide and in fair condition, is built of small stones and heavily lynchetted. The interior is partly cleared and divided by boulder strewn lynchets, 0.4m high, possible the remains of walls. It contains six Type 2 hut circles, average internal diameter 6.0m, walls 1.4m wide and mostly in fair condition. These are cut back, into the hillside, to a depth of 1.5m. Two huts have south facing entrances. Four of the huts are integral with the enclosure wall, the remainder freestanding. A very small enclosure, 20m by 15m, possible a yard, is built on to one hut and the outside of the main enclosure.
B: SX 63676108. This sub-rectangular enclosure, 45m by 40m and 0.2 ha., has walls 1.5m wide. It is in very poor condition, built mainly of small stones and the interior has evidently been cleared. Two, probably Type 2 hut circles have an average internal diameter of 6.0m with walls 1.3m wide. Both are terraced into the hillside and predate the enclosure wall which links them.
'C' SX 63806111. This enclosure, 65m by 60m and 0.4 ha, has walls 1.2m wide, 0.2m high and is in very poor condition. The interior has been cleared. A terraced, Type 2, hut circle, internal diameter 6.7m wall 1.5m wide has an east facing entrance evidently predates the enclosure wall with which it is integrated.
D: SX 63856121. This sub circular enclosure, 65m diameter and 0.3 ha, has lynchetted, double faced orthostatic walling, 1.2m wide and, with two possible, single entrances on the east side. The interior is clear of boulders. Two Type 2 hut circles, have average internal diameters of 7.0m and walls about 1.2m wide. They predate the enclosure; one, in fair condition, is built on the wall line, the other, fragmentary, is on the outside.
E: SX 63756122. This small oval enclosure, 30m by 25m and 0.05 ha, has double faced orthostatic walling, 1.2m wide and a clear interior. The remains of a terraced, possible Type 1 hut circle is on the line of the enclosure wall. It has an internal diameter of 4.5m, a wall 1.0m wide and is constructed of small stones.
F: SX 63726127. This small enclosure, 25m by 25m and 0.05 ha, has a single faced orthostatic wall, 1.6m wide, backed by small boulders. The interior is clear of stone and a terraced hut circle with an internal diameter of 5.5m and a wall 1.2m wide is built on the line of the enclosure wall.
Centred 63746117. These 17 hut circles, have an average internal diameter of 6.0m and walls 1.3m wide. All are terraced and are interspersed between the enclosures. Five have south to southwest facing entrances, one 0.8m wide. The condition ranges from fair (5) to fragmentary (5). One of the huts is exceptionally massive, being 8.0m diameter internally, with walls up to 3.0m wide, and cut back to a depth of 1.2m. Four huts form two integrated pairs and one has attached to it a possible yard, 4m by about 13m.
The enclosures, especially B, C and D, and the area between the settlements and the newtake wall to the south seem to have been cleared of surface boulders and this, together with the lynchets in enclosure A and to the south, would suggest that limited cultivation was practised.
(Type 1 huts: SX 56 SE 19; Type 2, SX 56 NE 71).
1:10 000 scale surveyed revised on MSD.

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

Six enclosures visible with thirty-four hut circles. Fifteen hut circles are attached to walls or fragments of bank, and four more are attached to each other.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 41-42, Map 54, Figure 54.3 (Monograph). SDV337765.

At 'Stalldown South-east 1' is one of the largest settlements in the Erme valley developed across the south-eastern foot of Stalldown. Huts and enclosures are almost continuous for about a kilometre on the edge of the open moorland, and may well have extended even further west into Yadsworthy outer newtake. There is abundant evidence of older enclosures within the adjacent field, partially cleared walls and curved lines of slabs on low banks, which could well be of prehistoric origin. A modern track cuts across the centre of the site damaging both huts and enclosures. Originally there appears to have been two separate communities sharing this part of the hillside, becoming closer neighbours as the settlements expanded. A wall midway between the communities created a boundary rather than a barrier. This wall encircled the upstream group though northwards it never reached the river. It was laid out as a line of spaced slabs set in a rubble bank. Below the track the boundary curves northwards to end at a hut just above the valley floor.

Newman, P., 2018, Erme Valley Survey data (GIS and Excel spreadsheet) (Cartographic). SDV361913.

Enclosures and hut circles shown on survey.

Newman, P., 2018, The Upper Erme Valley, Dartmoor National Park, Devon: An Archaeological Survey, Appendix 1 (Report - Survey). SDV362921.

A dispersed prehistoric settlement of six enclosures and 35 hut circles with additional lengths of detached enclosure walls, on the lower southern slopes of Stall Down.

Ordnance Survey, 2020, MasterMap 2020 (Cartographic). SDV363413.

'Settlement' shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2020, National Heritage List for England, 1012771 (National Heritage List for England). SDV363414.

This unenclosed stone hut settlement, comprising thirty-four hut circles and six enclosures, lies on a gentle slope north-east of Yadsworthy. The archaeological features lie on either side of a modern track. Fifteen of the huts are attached to enclosures or banks, four are in two attached pairs, the rest are detached and they vary in size and construction, remaining up to a metre high and 12 metres in diameter with orthostatic walling and entrances. The banks also include orthostats, remaining over a metre in height in some places. The modern waterworks track is excluded from the scheduling, but the underlying deposits are included.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8082 - Survey of the Upper Erme Valley

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