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Summary

Hut circle and associated field group situated at SX 6437 7240 on a NW-facing slope overlooking Swincombe. The hut circle has an internal diameter of 7.3 - 8m with walling composed of medium and large moorstones and boulders mainly in the form of a rubble bank, now partly turf-covered. There are, however, traces of double facing of large stones on parts of the NW and SE arcs. Where this is visible the walls are between 1.1 and 1.6m wide; elsewhere rubble is spread to a maximum width of 2.7m. Wall height varies between 0.3 and 0.5m externally and is 0.3m internally. There is a possible entrance in the NE arc 0.7m wide. The interior is level and featureless.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1002589: Hut circle 400yds (370m) SE of Swincombe

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67SW44
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443361
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67SW/67
• Old SAM County Ref: 725
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX67SW44

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'Hut Circle' shown on 19th century map.

Ordnance Survey, 1906, 107SE (Cartographic). SDV336773.

'Hut Circle' shown on early 20th century map.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1951/1980, SX67SW44 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV262173.

(23/11/1951) All stones turf covered on NW quarters, the rest partly covered.
(11/02/1980) On a north slope at 346m. OD is a Type 1 (SX 56 SE 19) hut circle in poor condition. The level interior has a diameter of 8.4m. enclosed within rubble walling 1.2m thick and 0.4m. high. The entrance is on the north-east.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on MSD and at 1:2500 for AO Records (see illustration and ground photograph).

Royal Air Force, 1964, f61 58 raf 6399, 32-33 (Aerial Photograph). SDV262014.

Photograph taken on 2nd July 1964.

National Monuments Record, 1976, NMR SX6472, 3/72 (Aerial Photograph). SDV245616.

Photograph taken on 11th April 1976.

Robinson, R., 1983, List of Field Monument Warden Visits (Site Visit). SDV114314.

Site visited on 13th May 1983.

Robinson, R., 1986, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1986 (Un-published). SDV345664.

Site visited on 30th July 1986.

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

(21/07/1988) Hut circle and associated field group situated at SX 6437 7240 on a NW-facing slope overlooking Swincombe.
The hut circle, at SX 6451 7244, has an internal diameter of 7.3 - 8m with walling composed of medium and large moorstones and boulders mainly in the form of a rubble bank, now partly turf-covered. There are, however, traces of double facing of large stones on parts of the NW and SE arcs. Where this is visible the walls are between 1.1 and 1.6m wide; elsewhere rubble is spread to a maximum width of 2.7m. Wall height varies between 0.3 and 0.5m externally and is 0.3m internally. There is a possible entrance in the NE arc 0.7m wide. The interior is level and featureless.
The hut circle is situated on the NE margin of a small field group of irregular fields which can be seen clearly in the well-grazed moorland pasture to the W and SW. The system is incomplete, having been affected by stone removal and probable peat-cutting on the N and NE. The surviving portion occupies c. 3.2ha. Its development appears piecemeal, with irregular fields, only three of which are complete, of between 0.25 and 1ha in area. At the S end of the group is a short length of trackway/lane between parallel boundaries 2.5-3.5m apart and running SW to NE for c. 50m.
The field boundaries vary in preservation. Towards the N end they are lynchets with scattered stone, 1.5m wide x 0.5m high. SE of the Wheal Emma Leat (SX 67 SW 188) which cuts through the group they are fragmentary lines of medium and large-size stones. The remainder better preserved lines and banks of medium-large size rubble, sometimes accompanied by slight lynchetting downslope, averaging 1.5m wide x 0.4m high. A band of dense clitter runs N-S across the S central part if the group.
All features are visible on AP's.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 207-208, Map 62, Figure 62.2 (Monograph). SDV337765.

Hut Circle '5' at 8.2 metres diameter was probably the most important buiding in the field system at Deep Swincombe East 2.

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

Hut circle shown on survey.

Ordnance Survey, 2020, MasterMap 2020 (Cartographic). SDV363413.

'Hut Circle' shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2020, National Heritage List for England, 1002589 (National Heritage List for England). SDV363414.

The monument includes a stone hut circle situated on a north-est facing slope overlooking the valley of the River Swincombe. The stone hut circle survives as a ring of walling surrounding a circular interior which measures up to 8 metres in diameter, the walls measure up to 2.7 metres wide and 0.4 metres high. In places they are double faced with stone, whilst elsewhere they are rubble built. There is an entrance to the north-east.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8146 - Royal Commission Survey at Down Ridge and Swincombe
• EDV8632 - Sherberton Farm, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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