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Summary

An irregular aggregate field system of Bronze Age date situated within two enclosures which lie on a ridge between Bellever Tor and Lakehead Hill. The northern enclosure is agglomerated and measures overall at least 340 metres north to south by 270 metres east to west. One stone hut circle lies within this enclosure and another two are attached to the enclosure walling. The southern enclosure, which measures 500 metres north to south by 300 metres east to west, is probably oval in shape, although the eastern side is no longer visible.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1018512: A prehistoric settlement with enclosures, an irregular aggregate field system and cairn north of Bellever Tor

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67NW120
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442840
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NW/52
• Old SAM Ref: 28689.4

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• AGGREGATE FIELD SYSTEM (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))
• ENCLOSURE (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 2463-4 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

Royal Air Force, 1964, RAF/F62/58/6399, 289-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDV272301.

Ordnance Survey, 1972, OS/72/066, 36-37 (Aerial Photograph). SDV346967.

There are slight remains of an oval stone walled enclosure at SX 646769 and another at SX 646767.

Dartmoor National Park Authority + Forestry Commission + Dartmoor Preservation Association, 1976, Conservation of Ancient Monuments. The Report of a Working Party (Report - non-specific). SDV248248.

Enclosure. Not included in 1955 Spooner / Dixon report. Site No. 5b in Bellever Plantation, Bellever Tor (with sketch map) in DNP field report.
(1976) Very low walls, there may be more to add to this enclosure at a later date. Not investigated.

National Monuments Record, 1979, SF1509, 231-234 (Aerial Photograph). SDV262885.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1979, SX67NW120 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV248080.

(13/11/1979) On the NW slope of Bellever Tor at 398m OD are the remains of two enclosures of similar construction but uncertain date. The first, centred at SX 646769, is sub-oval, measuring approximately 170m N-S by 100m transversely and where extant it consists of a boulder and rubble wall 1.6m wide and 0.4m high, but it is mostly visible as a heather crop mark. The second enclosure at SX 64637666 is visible only as a crescentic crop mark. Both may be part of a field system the eastern extensions of which have been destroyed or concealed within a forestry plantation.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 and 1:2500 for AO Records.

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

Series of banks which extend into the woodland in the form of an enclosure with a hut circle attached to one of the external walls. Very clearly visible in the forested area of 1946 RAF aerial photograph.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 144284 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(08/07/1997) Enclosure forming part of a prehistoric stone hut circle settlement north of Bellever Tor.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 44-45, Map 27, Figure 27.7 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Boundary banks of two large and apparently independent field systems to north-east of Bellever Tor. The walls soon become impossible to trace amongst the trees. At least eight huts can be found alongside a forest path deep within the plantation downhill, but whether associated with these enclosures or part of yet another settlement is at present uncertain.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1993-1998, Dartmoor Royal Forest Project (Report - Survey). SDV346608.

(17/09/1992) Enclosure D. See subsheets for associated huts.

ADAS, 1995, Hut circles Bellever Tor (Report - Survey). SDV247277.

Visited on 14th February 1995. Reported as stable but with erosion from nearby footpath.

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

Feature shown on survey.

Ordnance Survey, 2022, Mastermap 2022 (Cartographic). SDV364674.

Settlement shown on modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7388 - Archaeological condition survey in Bellever Woods
• EDV7406 - Archaeological condition survey in Bellever Woods
• EDV7431 - Woodland Survey (1989-90) at Bellever, Soussons and other woodland parcels
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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