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Summary

Prehistoric hut circle settlement with enclosures east of the River Erme with about 22 hut circles grouped along the contour

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1012765: Unenclosed stone hut settlement with enclosures north of Piles Copse

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX66SW45
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442309
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66SW/44
• Old SAM County Ref: 813
• Old SAM Ref: 10521

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

National Monuments Record, 1969, NMR SX6463, 3 (Aerial Photograph). SDV165976.

Photograph taken on 12th April 1969.

Hankin, C. F., 1977-1980, Harford Parish Checklist (Worksheet). SDV149931.

Site visited in May 1977 and April 1980. On the south-west facing slope of Harford Moor, north of the Piles Copse, east of the River Erme, just above the scarp where the ground falls steeply to a prehistoric enclosure. Long grass and bracken. An open site of about 22 hut circles grouped along the contour over an area of circa 250 metres by 100 metres. The external diameters of the huts vary from 5 metres to 11 metres, some huts have walls 2 metres - 3 metres wide and up to 1 metre high. The condition varies from good to very poor.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1978, SX66SW45 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV169166.

(16/01/1978) On a steep south-west facing slope of Harford Moor, between approximately 333.0 metres and 383.0 metres OD is an open settlement of thirty-five hut circles. The bracken covered and boulder strewn settlement covers an area of 0.35 hectares. The huts appear to be grouped in two areas at SX 64366274 and SX 64456284. (Some huts are omitted due to scale), have levelled interiors, and in places are connected by walling averaging 1.0 metre wide and 0.4 metres high. At SX 64316277 and SX 64446283 the walling forms small enclosures (omitted due to scale). Some huts appear to be built on older sites while the hut at SX 64456282 is built within an earlier and larger hut. The fifteen type 1 huts vary from 2.4 metres to 5.0 metres in internal diameter with walling averaging 0.4 metres high and 1.4 metres wide with mainly south-western entrances. The Type 2 huts have walling averaging 1.7 metres wide and 0.5 metres high with internal diameters from 3.0 metres to 9.5 metres. The majority of the entrances are in the south. There are the remains of fields visible within the area.
(Type 1 huts: SX 56 SE 19; Type 2 SX 56 NE 71). Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD/AM.
SX 644627 Scheduled ancient monument No 813.

Robinson, R., 1982, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1982 (Un-published). SDV345608.

Site visited on 2nd June 1982.

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

Fourteen hut circles are visible, two of them attached to each other. Three short linear banks or walls are attached to some of the huts.

Robinson, R., 1986, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1986 (Un-published). SDV345664.

Site visited on 19th December 1986.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 48-50, Map 54, Figure 64.9 (Monograph). SDV337765.

'Three Barrows West 3' consists of a group of huts of 4.4 metres diameter to 6.1 metres diameter which appear to have been enclosed by comparatively feeble embankments, fragments only surviving around the central group. A separate small enclosure includes Huts '12' to '15' on the perimeter with Hut '15' opening directly to the exterior through an inturn of the pound wall. The outlying structure Hut '16' appears to have its own courtyard of 23 metres across.

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

Settlement shown on survey.

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

A prehistoric settlement of 20 ruined hut circles and three enclosures on the moderate lower eastern slope of the River Erme, which forms part of a large, spread prehistoric settlement extending along the flank of Harford Moor. The enclosures comprise partly turf-covered stony banks, now degraded and spread to approximately 2.5 metres wide by up to 0.8 metres high. The central enclosure (SX 64402 62778) has an incomplete circuit but would have covered an area of approximately 0.37 hectares, and probably contained at least five free-standing huts and a further five incorporated into the enclosure circuit. The western enclosure (SX 64323 62780) has an area of 0.62 hectares and a single hut circle incorporated into the south wall. The eastern enclosure (SX 64479 62779) also has a single hut circle and an internal area of 0.047 hectares. Eight more hut circles appear un-associated with any of the enclosures. The approximate internal diameters of the hut circles is between 4.5 metres and 8.7 metres. The walls are degraded and spread, but all are of similar construction with many stones of both inner and outer walls surviving in situ. Five of the huts have visible entrance openings on the south-south-east arc of the circle.

Historic England, 2020, National Heritage List for England, 1012765 (National Heritage List for England). SDV363414.

This unenclosed stone hut settlement on the steep eastern slope of the Erme Valley, consists of twenty-two hut circles, with enclosures and lengths of bank. The huts are terraced into the hillside and lie in two main groups, ranging in size from 5 to 11 metres diameter with walls up to 3 metres thick and 1.0 metre high, there are small enclosures and sections of wall or bank associated with the huts.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8082 - Survey of the Upper Erme Valley

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