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Summary

Group of seven hut circles and associated fields on south Yartor Down, 450 metres north of the River Dart. Part of the Dartmeet parallel reave system, these enclosures have been overlaid by later boundaries and are associated with post-medieval pillow mounds.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Dartmeet Parallel Reave System. Earthworks of an extensive area of prehistoric remains including complex field system, numerous hut circles, enclosures and cairns, overlain by medieval remains including Vaghill Warren, farmsteads and a large field syste

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 442998
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67SE/94
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• UNENCLOSED HUT CIRCLE SETTLEMENT (Early Bronze Age to Late Iron Age - 2200 BC to 42 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, OS/72/066, 018 (Aerial Photograph). SDV346967.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 2375-2376 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950 - 1951, SX67SE49 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV283272.

Group of six Bronze Age hut circles with associated fields. Annotated plan showing location may be stored at Devon County Council. Huts A,B,D and E are turf-covered.
A: Diameter 8.0 meters, height 0.2 - 0.4 meters.
B: Diameter 7.0 meters, height 0.2 meters.
C: Diameter 8.0 meters, height 0.4 meters.
D: Diameter 10.0 meters, height 0.2 meters.
E: Diameter 7.0 meters, height 0.2 meters.
F: Additional hut circle at SX67688563. Diameter 8.0 meters, height 0.2 meters.

Fox, A., 1954, Celtic Fields and Farms on Dartmoor in Light of Recent Excavations at Kestor, 99,101 (Article in Serial). SDV231175.

Other details: Figure.

National Monuments Record, 1977, NMR SX6672/1, 80-84 (Aerial Photograph). SDV244382.

Beeson, M. M. R. + Masterman, M. C. H., 1979, An Archaeological Survey of Enclosed Land in Widecombe-In-The-Moor Parish, 1010 (Report - Survey). SDV337078.

Other details: Volume 5.

Ordnance Survey, 1980, Ordnance Survey Field Investigators Comments (Report - Survey). SDV315817.

Exact location of huts and field walls shown on Ordnance Survey drawing (undated, approximately 1980?) in Sites and Monuments Record. The huts are interspersed with later pillow mounds.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, SX67SE49 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV347088.

Centred at SX678726, within the parallel reave system (PRN 6030), and medieval fields, are four Type 1 and five Type 2 hut circles. The level internal diameters vary from 2.5 meters to 7.4 meters with walling averaging 1.2 meters wide and 0.6 meters high. Several huts are linked to the prehistoric field walls but all are generally in poor condition. Where visible entrances range from east to south. The hut at SX67887261 (PRN79817) has double-faced orthostatic walling 2.0 meters thick and 0.6 meters high with an outer wall or annex on the south-west.
There is no visible entrance to this compartment which is linked to the hut to the south.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Interpretation). SDV319854.

Hut circles within field system of medieval date, set within parallel reave system (PRN 6030). Hut circles at SX67887259 attached to a boundary, SX67897261 within an enclosure attached to a boundary, SX67827260 attached to a boundary, SX67807265 attached to a boundary, SX67787265, SX67817267 attached hut circle with field boundary coming from it, SX67687262 where several field boundaries converge and SX67677271. Visible on 1977 National Monuments Record and 1946 Royal Air Force aerial photographs.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume One - The East, 122 (Monograph). SDV299725.

Prehistoric reaves and field walls crowd the summit and upper slopes of Vag Hill, in many places fossilised under rebuilt walls or banks with ditches of medieval and later reconstruction. Hut circles are spaced singly or in pairs evenly around the south and west hillside well above the River Dart, where the reave system appears to peter out. Each of the huts is surrounded by a few fields built onto the reaves. Around the huts and the Vag Hill warren buries is a regular strip field pattern which has become disturbed over time (for hut circle detail, see related records). Other details: Map 13, 1-5.

Gerrard, S., 2004, List of Sites Remaining to be Considered for Designation on Dartmoor (Un-published). SDV345444.

Part of Dartmeet coaxial field system (Northern Part) which was considered for designation as a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 2004. Other details: Site 43.

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

Map object based on this Source.

Newman, P., 2008, Dartmeet Premier Archaeological Landscape (PAL) Field Investigation Project (Report - Survey). SDV347061.

Seven dispersed hut circles and a series of small enclosures which are associated with the Dartmeet reave system on the moderate south slope of Vag Hill. The mostly regular enclosures define areas between the reaves which run approximately north-east to south-west across the slope. One large enclosure at SX67907259 appears to have been added. This enclosure along with another to the west at SX67467269 and other elements of the boundaries were refurbished during the medieval or post-medieval period when the walls were rebuilt as banks with ditches or with external stone facing. A number of post-med pillow mounds are sited within the large enclosure and traces of cultivation ridges. Prehistoric walls, where not refurbished, survive as low turf and stone banks which lack an external ditch.

Ordnance Survey, 2011, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV346129.

Map object based on this Source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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