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Summary

A robbed hut circle lies on the moderate south-western flank of Shell Top. The levelled interior measures 3.5m in diameter and the walls are marked by a ring of upright and recumbent granite posts and blocks, the smaller stones apparently having been removed. There is no obvious entrance. Thought by Butler to be a cairn.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1015749: Partially enclosed stone hut circle settlement, a round cairn and a boundary stone 760m WSW of Shell Top

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56SE221
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1358930
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/538
• Old SAM Ref: 28789

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• (Alternate Type) CAIRN? (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 701 BC)
• HUT CIRCLE (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 140516 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Hut circle forming an outlying part of a large partially enclosed hut settlement. Survives as 0.6 metres wide and 0.7 metres high single orthostat wall surrounding a 3.6 metres long by 2.5 metres wide oval internal area.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 161-2, Map 51, Figure 51.5 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Shell Top west Cairn '2' at SX58976379 of 3.0 metres diameter. A kerb-like ring of slabs is probably sepulchral in character. All the stones are present but only those around the downhill quadrant remain upright and there is no trace of a cairn within.

Robertson, J. G., 1994, The Archaeology of the Upper Plym Valley (Post-Graduate Thesis). SDV139549.

Hut circle depicted and described by Robertson.

Thackray, C., 1994, The Upper Plym Valley: the management of an historic landscape, 137-8/102.506 (Report - non-specific). SDV143510.

Probert, S. A. J. + Fletcher, M. J., 2002, Plym Valley survey (Report - Survey). SDV350782.

(23/04/2002) SX 58996378. A robbed hut circle lies on the moderate south-western flank of Shell Top. The levelled interior measures 3.5m in diameter and the walls are marked by a ring of upright and recumbent granite posts and blocks, the smaller stones apparently having been removed. There is no obvious entrance.

English Heritage, 2005-2008, Prehistoric Survey Information (Cartographic). SDV345521.

Hut circle shown on survey.

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

Visible on aerial photograph.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1015749 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

Within Scheduled area.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8148 - The Upper Plym Valley: The Management of an Historic Landscape
• EDV8155 - Plym Valley Survey: EH Project (Feb 2001 - Dec 2002)

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