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Summary

Hut Circle '1' (Butler) within prehistoric settlement east of Deep Swincombe

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Central western section of the Bronze Age Venford Reave at Swincombe, with a number of attached hut circle settlements and enclosures, as well as an extensive Bronze Age field system, a cairn and a post-Medieval blowing house on Down Ridge

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67SW46
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67SW/73
• Pastscape: 443367
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Royal Air Force, 02/07/1964, F61 58 6399, 032-033 (Aerial Photograph). SDV262020.

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

Hut circle marked.

Burnard, R., 1887-1888, Unknown, 111-112 (Article in Serial). SDV263134.

National Monuments Record, 1976, NMR SX6472, SX6472/3/73 (Aerial Photograph). SDV245616.

Robinson, R., 1982, Hut Circle, 10 (Personal Comment). SDV263135.

Possibly re-used by tinners.

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

Visible and recorded. There is a short stretch of wall leading from this hut circle which joins the Venford Reave at SX64357207.

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

Hut Circle '1' at prehistoric 'Deep Swincombe East 2' settlement on the east side of the Swincombe Valley. The partly built hut has a diameter of 7 metres and is associated with some lines of slabs on the boundary reave.

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

Hut circle shown on survey.

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

Hut circle clearly visible.

Ordnance Survey, 2014, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV355681.

Hut circle depicted.

National Monuments Record, 2020, Pastscape, 443367, SX67SW46 (Website). SDV363416.

Field Investigation on 11th february 1980. On a north-west slope at 357 metres OD. is a hut circle which appears to have been rebuilt. It has a level interior and an internal diameter of 6.3 metres and was probably of Type 1. The enhanced rubble walling measures 1.0 metre thick and 1.0 metres high but no original entrance is visible.
Field Investigation on 25th July 1988. The hut circle has an internal diameter of 7 metres; the surrounding wall appears rebuilt, possibly in comparatively recent times in a drystone wall tradition with random-coursed small and medium moorstones together with some large, flat slabs around the whole north-west to south-east arcs. Here the wall is 0.8 to 1.7 metres wide and up to 0.75 metres high. The coursing is particularly evident on the inside. The remainder of the circuit is less upstanding; a low rubble wall 1.8 metres wide and up to 0.5 metres high with some large edging stones still in position. The south-west section is in a poor state of preservation. An upright stone "post" 0.85 metres high can be seen in the south-west; it is set transversly to the wall line and may indicate the position of an entrance. The interior of the hut circle contains some tumbled stone. It is cut into the slope circa 0.2 metres on the east and south-east.
A number of field walls are associated with the hut circle, possible in part forming two small fields or enclosures to the north-west; one wall joins the hut circle at the entrance on the west and another runs south-east. 50 metres south-west of the hut circle is another ruined wall, aligned north-west to south-east. The remaining 36 metre stretch has a small structure attached to its east side at SX 6427 7202. The structure is approximately circular, with an internal diameter of 2.7metres , defined by low, turf-covered walls of small stone rubble 1 metre wide and 0.2 metres high. It is possibly a hut circle but too little remains to be certain.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 25/07/1988, RCHME Site Visit (Report - Survey). SDV263131.

Site visit 25th July 1988. Hut circle and associated field walls situated on sloping ground 150 metres east of Deep Swincombe, apparently cleared from an area of medium clitter which still surrounds the area. Internal diam of 7 metres; the surrounding wall appears rebuilt, possibly in comparatively recent times in a drystone wall tradition with random-coursed small and medium moorstones together with some large, flat slabs around the whole north-west to south-east arcs. Here the wall is 0.8-1.7 metres wide and up to 0.75 metres high. The coursing is particularly evident on the inside. The remainder of the circuit is less upstanding; a low rubble wall 1.8 metres wide and up to 0.5 metres high with some large edging stones still in position. The south-west section is in a poor state of preservation. An upright stone 'post' 0.85 metres high can be seen in the south-west; it is set transversly to the wall line and may indicate the position of an entrance. The interior of the hut circle contains some tumbled stone. It is cut into the slope circa 0.2 metres on the east and south-east.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, Unknown, SX67SW46 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV263132.

1. Site visit 23rd Nobember 1951. Circle clearly defined. 185-275 metres north of Deep Swincombe Blowing House. Diameter 7.3 metres, walls 1.3 metres high. Similar to hut circle above Week Ford.
2. Not visible on 1964 aerial photographs.
3. Site visit 11th February 1980. On a north-west slope at 357 metres Ordnance Datum is a hut circle which appears to have been rebuilt. It has a level interior and an internal diam of 6.3 metres and was probably of Type 1. The enhanced rubble walling measures 1 metre thick and 1 metre high but no original entrance is visible.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8146 - Royal Commission Survey at Down Ridge and Swincombe

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