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Summary

An enclosed settlement (and three extra-mural hut circles) situated on an east facing slope, and as described and planned by Fleming and Collis in 1973. The settlement is earlier than or contemporary with the construction of Penn Moor reave (SX 66 SW 68) which abuts it, while the two hut circles attached to the reave are presumably of subsequent construction.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1012805: Part of Penn Moor contour reave incorporating two stone hut circles and an enclosed hut settlement

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX66SW40
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442292
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66SW/96
• Old SAM County Ref: 445
• Old SAM Ref: 10782
• Old SAM Ref: 10784

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSED 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.

Seven 'Hut Circles' shown within an oval enclosure on 19th century map interupting the east to west reave with two more huts shown on the reave to the east.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1977, SX66SW40, Plan (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV154491.

(30/03/1950. Pound and hut circles, south east of Penn Beacon.
(17/08/1977) An enclosed settlement (and three extra-mural hut circles) situated on an east facing slope at 400.0m OD, and as described and planned by Fleming and Collis. The settlement is earlier than or contemporary with the construction of Penn Moor reave (SX 66 SW 68) which abuts it, while the two hut circles attached to the reave are presumably of subsequent construction. All the huts are of type 2. The hut at SX 60246287 has a porch. No associated fields or plots are visible. (Type 2 huts: SX 56 NE 71).
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on MSD.

Fleming, A. + Collis, J. + Jones, R. L., 1973, A Late Prehistoric Reave System near Cholwich Town, Dartmoor, 13, Plan, Figures 5-6 (Article in Serial). SDV358808.

(April 1972) [10] Penn Moor Settlement. The enclosure itself is approximately circular, though extremely irregular in its outline and in the thickness of the walls. Where it is well preserved, the wall consists of orthostatic facing stones with a rubble core. There is one definite entrance to the north-west. One end of the wall is incurved, but there is no sign of any other elaboration. A second probable entrance opens to the east alongside the reave, and both entrances lie on the north side of the reave. The only break in the southern wall is caused by a later hole of unknown purpose, but the gap does not seem wide enough to have originally been an entrance. Inside the enclosure there are seven free-standing circular huts, and one that is attached to the northern enclosure wall. One has a clearly defined porch, but one or two are so ruinous that even the position of the entrance is not clear. Just south of the enclosure there is an outlying hut. It is of interest to note that this hut and the two attached to Penn Moor Reave, east, lie on the opposite side of the reave from the enclosure entrances.

National Monuments Record, 1976, SX6062, 2 (Aerial Photograph). SDV142425.

Photograph taken on 8th April 1976.

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

Sub-circular enclosure visible incorporated within Penn Moor Reave. Seven hut circles visible freestanding inside the enclosure, with four attached to walls. Three hut circles are close to, or attached to, Penn Moor Reave (two to the east one to the south), and one hut circle lies just outside the southern perimeter of the enclosure.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 178-9, Map 52, Figure 52.4 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Oval enclosure to the east of Penn Beacon of 62 metres by 70 metres which interupts the reave. Eight hut circles are crowded into the western half with two more built against the reave to the east and another a few metres south of the enclosure. Numeruos pits and fractured blocks scattered over the hillside show that a considerable amount of moorstone has been gathered from the vicinity as well as from the interior of the pound. A particularly large pit breaks the southern perimeter wall which was not constructed with the usual precision. The width between facing slabs varying between 1 nd 2 metres apart and now spread to 3 metres in places. Only one gap in the boundary wall is without displaced stones and so likely to be the original entrance which is on the eastern side of the enclosure on the northern side of the junction with the reave.

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 2015-2017, 2015-2017 Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV361462.

Enclosure and hut circles visible on aerial photograph.

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

Enclosure shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1012805 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

The enclosed hut settlement, known as Penn Moor Settlement, consists of a sub-circular bank enclosing at least eight stone hut circles. Two further hut circles lie to the east of the enclosed settlement, attached to the south side of the reave.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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