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Summary

Remains of a Bronze Age settlement and irregular aggregate field system on the north west side of Laughter Tor. The settlement includes at least four stone hut circles, two of which lie to the east of the field system. The huts survive as circular or oval banks standing to an average height of 0.55 metres. One hut has a visible doorway and two are butted by field boundary banks. The easternmost hut circle has a very unusual wall, with the inner and outer edges, along with the core, formed by relatively small edge-set slabs. The field system is defined by a series of low rubble banks, some of which are lynchetted, which together form at least 11 fields.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1021046: Prehistoric settlement and irregular aggregate field system 600m west of Laughter Hole Farm

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67NE27
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442473
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NE/25
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NE/25/3
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NW/216
• Old SAM County Ref: 878

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946 - 1949, Royal Air Force Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV342938.

Visible on the aerial photographs.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1979, SX67NE27 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV230121.

(27/02/1950) SX 65027576. Settlement containing hut circles, pounds and field system west of Laughter Tor.
(14/02/1979) Centred at SX 650758 on the W slope of Laughter Tor around 379m OD, and in an area of rough pasture, are the remains of a settlement and field system (see plan). On the air photographs and for most part on the ground, it is visible as 'crop marks', where heather represents lightly concealed walling. Further fields must exist, and probably huts, but are sufficiently beneath the surface to preclude the establishment of heather.
At SX 64697588 a flat bottomed depression, 6.5m in diameter and 0.2m deep, may indicate a hut that has been stripped of all stone. There are two huts of Type 1 (SX 56 SE 19), both with levelled interiors but in poor condition. One, at SX 65017576, has an internal diameter of 4.3m with rubble walling 1.0m wide and 0.3m high. There is no visible entrance but a field wall can be seen abutting two sides. The second hut has an internal diameter of 6.6m with very spread walling up to 2.7m wide and in one part up to 0.8m high. It has an entrance on the S. This hut is within a small field of 22.0m by 17.0m and which seems to be the nucleus of the system suggesting an initial homestead.
It is impossible to determine the precise boundary of the field system though it extends over at least 7.0ha. Where they occur above ground the fields are defined by rubble walling 1.0m wide and up to 0.4 m high. Those near the nucleus are commonly of about 0.12 ha but larger areas may have subdivisions that do not appear even as crop marks.
Huts surveyed at 1:10 000 on MSD and, with the fields, at 1: 2500.

Royal Air Force, 1964, RAF 58/6399, 028-029 (Aerial Photograph). SDV225229.

Ancient Monuments, 1971/2003, Schedule notes (Schedule Document). SDV222106.

(02/02/1971) A pound and two hut circles made of dry stone walls. Rectangular fields. Pound length 16.5m, hut diameters (A: 4.5m, B: 6.5m).
(30/09/2003) Amendment. SX 65077578; SX 65247583; SX 65297576. Remains of a Bronze Age settlement and irregular aggregate field system on the north west side of Laughter Tor. The settlement includes at least four stone hut circles, two of which lie to the east of the field system. The huts survive as circular or oval banks standing to an average height of 0.55 metres. One hut has a visible doorway and two are butted by field boundary banks. The easternmost hut circle has a very unusual wall, with the inner and outer edges, along with the core, formed by relatively small edge-set slabs. The field system is defined by a series of low rubble banks, some of which are lynchetted, which together form at least 11 fields. Scheduled.

Ordnance Survey, 1972, OS/72/066, 051, Tracing of this in parish file. (Aerial Photograph). SDV346967.

(16/09/1976) The enclosure and hut circles are surrounded by extensive remains of the banks of a field system with Iron Age characteristics. At SX 654756 are similar field walls. A Bronze Age enclosure with hut circles lies at SX 652759.

National Monuments Record, 1979, SF1509, 212-220 (Aerial Photograph). SDV346618.

Visible on the aerial photograph.

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

SX65037577 Agglomerate enclosure visible on aerial images extending onto SX67NW (see SX67NW/215). Comprises six possible elements with three hut circles, one incorporated into a bank on this part of the map. Comprise fragmentary banks covered in heather or bilberry.
SX64717582 Fragmentary bank which possibly forms a field extending out from the enclosed forest land. It has a hut circle attached to the bank at SX64707580, while within the area of the banks is another hut circle (MDV27255). Visible on 1979 National Monuments Record aerial photograph.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

Haythornthwaite, R. L., 1988, Brimpts Farm, Dartmeet, Princetown (Duchy Farms Survey) (Report - Survey). SDV223270.

(07/09/1988) A settlement and field group, situated at SX 6502 7567 (centre), on a moderate slope on the W side of Laughter Tor. The area consists of rough moorland within Brimpts Newtake. (The site lies partly within the adjacent 1:10000 sheet SX 57 NW.)
The settlement comprises two hut circles, (A) and (B) around which are a tight group of fields. This covers c. 5.5ha and appears discrete. There are further field fragments situated to the NW at SX 6492 7592 and SX 6472 7580, covering another 3ha. Around (A) and (B) is a core of smaller, sub rectangular fields (1 to 9) with two large ones to NW and SE (10 and 11). In plan the relationships between field boundaries suggest outward expansion from a small nucleus around the hut circles, perhaps two fields i.e. 1 and another formed from 5+6+7+8. The precise sequence is obscure.
At least nine smaller fields remain, varying in area between 0.04 and 0.5ha. The larger are incomplete but are at least 1.5 (no 10) and 2ha (no 11) in area. The fields lie under long, coarse grass with heather and bilberry and appear to have been cleared except on the extreme E where medium clitter persists. The boundaries are mostly vegetation-covered but are prominent banks concealing rubble walls 1.5 - 2.8m wide and 0.3 - 0.8m high. Large stones and boulders have been incorporated.
Hut circle (A) is sited towards the N end of its own small, sub rectangular enclosure. Measuring 20 x 16m. It is approached from the NE along a way between field boundaries (C) 30m long x 4m wide. That there was another, perhaps earlier, entrance is indicated by (D) a funnel-like approach-way 2.7 - 3.5m wide but now blocked by the enclosure around hut (A).
HUT CIRCLE (A) SX 6503 7577. A well-preserved hut circle with internal diameter 6m N-S x 7.3m E-W. It is defined by vegetation-covered rubble and earth banks averaging 2m wide, 0.5m high internally, and 0.6m high externally. There are traces of internal and external slab facing on the W and NE arcs. No entrance clearly pierces the circuit but there is a slight break to the bank on the SW, 0.8m wide. The interior is terraced into the slope.
HUT CIRCLE (B) SX 6501 7577. 20m W of (A); a smaller circle of internal diameter 4.2m. Wall form is similar to (A), 1.6m wide and 0.5m high, but there is some damage resulting in a pushed-in effect on the S arc. No entrance is visible and the interior is uneven but terraced into the slope. Field boundaries join the circle on the NW and SE.
A possible hut circle recorded at SX 6469 7558 (5) is in fact the result of peat cutting which is extensive in the area. Three other hut circles and more field boundaries recorded from APs (1985 project) are not visible as surface archaeological features.
At (E) are the remains of a coursed, drystone wall in two short lengths. It is 0.2 - 1m high, with up to six courses on the W but only one to the E, and 0.6m wide. Most probably it is a Post-Medieval structure. Its isolation in an area of clitter is puzzling.
The settlement and field group is of a type generally regarded as of Bronze Age context. The comment regarding "Iron Age characteristics" is groundless and should be discarded (Ordnance Survey, 1976). The enclosure at SX 652 759 and field walls at SX 654 756 are separate sites now recorded as SX 67 NE 66 and 67 respectively.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 157095, 157097+ (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(May 2002) Irregular aggregate field system 780m west of Laughter Hole Farm. Irregular aggregate field system with at least 11 fields formed by low rubble walls. Dense gorse over most of the site, with some narrow paths with small-scale erosion problems.

GeoInformation Group Ltd, 2010, 1:625 2010 Colour (12.5cm resolution) (Aerial Photograph). SDV346026.

Field system visible on the aerial photographs;

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
• EDV8634 - Brimpts Farm, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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