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Summary

A settlement comprising five identifiable hut circles and two sub-divided ovoid enclosures on a slight shelf above the right bank of the Cowsic River at Broad Hole.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1008014: Enclosed stone hut circle settlement on the south-east slope of Conies Down Tor

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57NE6
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439581
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57NE/26
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57NE/26/3
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57NE/26/4
• Old SAM County Ref: 550
• Old SAM Ref: 22223

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950-1952, SX57NE6 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV275041.

Hut circles south-east of Conies Down Tor. Group of four huts with walls composed of the usual partly turf-covered stones. Marked on 1950s mapping.

Royal Air Force, 1964, RAF/F64/58/6399, 0035 (Aerial Photograph). SDV255307.

Robinson, R., 1983, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1983 (Un-published). SDV345762.

Visited 19/1/1983.

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

Enclosed settlement.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 65, Map 29.13 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Two enclosures and five huts are depicted and described.

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

(30/11/2004) Merrivale Range baseline Condition Survey visit. The huts and fragmentary enclosure walls are in a stable condition in an area of short grassland.

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

An enclosed settlement consisting of five internal hut circles with two sub-divided enclosures and two external hut circles All sited on a shelf just above the west bank of the Cowsic river.

Ordnance Survey, 2018, MasterMap 2018 (Cartographic). SDV360652.

Depicted on the modern mapping.

Historic England, 2018, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV360653.

This monument includes an enclosed stone hut circle settlement situated on the south-east slope of Conies Down Tor on a terrace close to the River Cowsic. Six stone hut circles are associated with two sub-oval enclosures. The interior of the northern enclosure measures 65m long by 48m wide and is defined by a low rubble wall standing up to 0.3m high and 0.8m wide. An entrance survives in the northern length of the wall. A stone hut circle lies within this enclosure and two others are attached to the southern wall. The interior of the southern enclosure measures 62m long by 50m wide and is also defined by a low rubble wall. This enclosure is subdivided by a boulder wall into two main compartments. A stone hut circle lies within the enclosure, another is attached to the southern wall and another lies immediately outside the western wall. The stone hut circles are all circular in plan and measure between 2.2m and 4.8m in diameter. The walls of all the huts are composed of stone and earth and measure between 0.4m and 0.7m high. Two of the huts are freestanding and the remainder are attached to the enclosure of boundary walls.

National Monument Record, 2018, Pastscape, (1978 and 1994 data) (Website). SDV360651.

SX 59177882 On a shelf on the south east slope of Conies Down Tor, just above a terrace at 452.0 metres OD, is an enclosed settlement of seven huts with two outer huts above the enclosure. The site comprised two connected sub-oval enclosures 65.0 metres by 48.0 metres and 62.0 metres by 50.0 metres with low rubble walling 0.3 metres high and 0.8 metres wide. Two probable entrances are at the northern and southern ends of the enclosures. Within the southern enclosure is a natural rise with large boulders which is partly surrounded by single stone walling.
The huts are of Type 1 with internal diameters of 1.5 metres to 4.5 metres, though averaging 3.0 metres, with walling 0.7 metres thick and 0.3 metres high. They are mostly in poor condition with east-facing entrances.
The huts at SX 59207882 and SX 59207880 on the river terrace have lost part of their walling. Those at SX 59127883 and SX 59157881 are outside the enclosure. The former has a smaller hut, internal diameter 2.0 metres, attached to its north-east side. While the latter, along with the hut at SX 57177877, is cut into the hillslope. The hut at SX 57197875 has incorporated a large natural boulder in its construction. There is no evidence of a field system in the vicinity.
Along with SX 57 NE 7 and 8 this site is on the only suitable ground in a relatively flat sheltered valley.
Revised at 1:10 000 on PFD. See ground photographs (citing Ordnance Survey 30/08/1978, Field Investigators Comments).
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Centred SX 59197884. A settlement comprising five identifiable hut circles and two sub-divided ovoid enclosures on a slight shelf above the right bank of the Cowsic River at Broad Hole.
The huts (see related records) are all of relatively simple construction, most being a crude circle of stones. The interiors are generally flat with diameters in the range 2.8 metres to 4.3 metres. Entrances, where apparent, face the north-west.
The enclosures, both measuring on average 70 metres (north to south) by 50 metres, are formed by low turf and stone walls up to 1.0 metres wide and 0.5 metres high. Several apparently divorced sections of low walling formerly sub-divided the two large enclosures. All huts are slightly ovoid; the internal diameters are averages and all dimensions are in metres.
The huts recorded by the Ordnance Survey in 1978 at SX 59127883, SX 59157881 and SX 57178777 are merely rocky outcrops and hollows in the steep east-facing slope above the enclosures (citing Probert, S. A. J., 19/09/1994, Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments in England Field Investigation).

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7441 - Condition survey of the archaeological sites of Merrivale Training Area
• EDV7570 - Condition survey of Merrivale Range training area
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8713 - Merrivale Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey

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