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Summary

Hut Circle of 5.8 metres diameter with walls 1.6 metres wide by 0.9 metres high within a rectangular enclosure at the Assycombe Brook settlement

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1017981: Stone alignment, hut circle settlement, medieval long house and post-medieval farmstead at Assycombe

Other References/Statuses

• MPP Archaeological Item Dataset: 144161
• National Monuments Record: SX68SE91
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443868
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/16
• Old SAM Ref: 28655
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX68SE91

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Turner, J. R., 1976, Ancient Monuments on Forestry Commission Land. Fernworthy and Bellever (Report - non-specific). SDV351823.

Fernworthy Plantation. Assacombe 4C. At SX 65968275, in Fernworthy Forest, is a hut circle
5.8m in diameter. It is cut into a west slope with walling 1.2m thick and up to 0.5m high on the south side by the entrance. The largest stone is the entrance porch stone on the southern side of the hut. Not investigated. Has been planted over.
February 1976. Four trees in stone wall. Eight posts ringing clearance zone. Nine trees standing within. Trees outside the post ring are within falling distance of the hut.
Not included in 1955 Spooner and Dixon report.

Turner, J., 1978, Report of Work Carried Out by the Forestry Commission since January 1976 (Report - non-specific). SDV351816.

Trees removed from inside clearance zone.

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

Hut circle not visible on 1946 RAF aerial photos due to tree cover.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., 144161 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Site visit 29th April 1997. Hut circle forming part of settlement at Assycombe. Diameter 5.8 metres. Wall 1.6 metres wide, 0.9 metres high. Internal area 26.4 square metres. A gap at 173 degrees defined by a leaning orthostat may represent a doorway.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 157, Map 35, Site 5 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Hut circle at 'Assycombe Brook settlement'.

Smith, N., 1992, Condition Survey of Identified Archaeology with Woodland Areas 1992 (Un-published). SDV351819.

Fernworthy. Assycombe 4C. Site visit 27th May 1992. Hut circle in clear felled area. On a platform site cut into west facing slope to south-west of farmhouse. Stable condition. Site marked. Under grass. Suggest current vegetation management regime be maintained. Photo.

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

(03/06/1995) SX 65958275. A hut circle occupies a slight shelf in the steep W facing slope within the former fields of Assycombe Farm, now part of Fernworthy Forest. The area was overplanted with conifers but has been clear felled and is now maintained as an open area by the Forestry Commission. The hut measures 5.8m N to S by 5.6m internally with coursed boulder walls topped by loosely piled boulders and stones. A break in the S wall probably marks the site of an entrance. A short section of contemporary field boundary runs S from the hut. The survival of this hut in the in-bye fields of Assycombe Farm and the loosely piled stone on the walls must point to its reuse as an outbuilding during the lifetime of the farm. Two other huts (SX 68 SE 2) some 100m to the N have been similarly reconstructed and probably served the same function.

Dartmoor National Park Authority, 1996, Condition Survey of Identified Archaeology within Woodland Areas 1996 (Un-published). SDV351820.

Fernworthy. Assycombe Group 4C. Site visit 27th September 1996. Site marked by nine posts.

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

Hut circle visible on aerial photograph.

Fugro-BKS, 2013, Fernworthy Forest LiDAR survey (Cartographic). SDV351778.

Hut circle visible.

Newman, P., 2013, Fernworthy Forest Sites Survey (Un-published). SDV351708.

Newman, P., 2013, The Archaeology of Fernworthy Forest, Dartmoor, Devon, 23 (Report - Survey). SDV351784.

Hut circle within a rectangular enclosure. An earthwork hut circle with only fragments of the inner stone wall surviving. The interior diameter is between 5.7 and 6.3 metres and the walls are up to 3.0 metres thick and 0.45 metres high. A cairn recorded 4.5 metres south-east of the hut circle in the 1990s looks to be a natural earthfast boulder that has accumulated some additional stone.

English Heritage, 2014, National Heritage List for England, 1017981 (National Heritage List for England). SDV355683.

[Part of] stone alignment, hut circle settlement, medieval long house and post-medieval farmstead at Assycombe.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6203 - Archaeological Survey of Fernworthy Forest
• EDV6216 - Condition Surveys of Ancient Monuments on Forestry Commission Land
• EDV7389 - Fernworthy Forest condition survey 1996
• EDV7410 - Fernworthy Forest condition survey 1992
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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