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Summary

The largest hut circle in the Assycombe Brook settlement of 8.1 metres with walls 1.5 metres wide by 0.9 metres high and the only one not to have been planted over. It is on the south side and at the west end of Assycombe Stone Row. It was excavated in 1894 in an attempt to discover the relationship between it and the stone row. Unfortunately, however, it was found to have been dug into as a source of stone and nothing useful was found.

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: 144152
• National Monuments Record: SX68SE5
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443783
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/19
• Old SAM County Ref: 595
• Old SAM Ref: 28655
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX68SE5

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.

Burnard, R., 1894, Dartmoor Pictorial Records. Plymouth (Monograph). SDV232119.

The presence of the smaller hut is not mentioned in the excavation report of 1894.

Worth, R. H., 1946, The Stone Rows of Dartmoor. Part 1, 304 (Article in Serial). SDV251172.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1948, SX68SE5 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV278445.

Site visit 19th December 1948. Two hut circles.

Worth, R. H., 1953, Dartmoor, 224 (Monograph). SDV231148.

"To the south of the row (SX 68 SE 4), and about 10 ft away from it near the south-west end is a circle, probably a hut circle".

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

Fernworthy Plantation Assacombe 8C. Hut circle beside western end of stone row. On a platform site cut into a west facing slope. Thickness of stone wall 1.3 metres. Largest stone is the entrance porch stone on the southern side of the hut. Not investigated. Has been planted over.
February 1976. The hut circle and stone row are enclosed as one area with 4 posts ringing the south and west side.
Included in 1955 Spooner and Dixon report (A) Region south of the Teign (Assacombe and Lowton), Site No. 16.

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

Trees have been removed from site.

Robinson, R., 1983, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1983 (Un-published). SDV345762.

Department of Environment Field Monument Warden site visit 24th June 1983.

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

Not visible on 1947 RAF photos due to tree cover.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., 144152 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Site visit 29th April 1997. Hut circle adjacent to stone alignment. Diameter 8.1 metres. Double orthostat wall 1.5 metres wide, 0.9 metres high. Internal area 51.5 square metres. Dorr faces 188 degrees and is faced on both sides.

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

The largest hut in the Assycombe Brook settlement, 8.5 metres diameter, is located less that 3.0 metres form the lower end of the stone row and was the only one not to have been overplanted. It was excavated by Baring Gould and Burnard in 1894 in an attempt to discover the relationship between the hut and the stone row but they were disappointed to discover that it had already been dug into as a source of stone. Nothing useful was found. They rebuilt part of the wall.

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

Fernworthy Assycombe 8C. Site vist 27th May 1992. Hut circle on west facing slope in a cleared area adjacent to western limit of stone row. Site marked. Grass. Vegetation grazed and mechanically controlled. Stability good. Suggested that original management regime be maintained. Photo.

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

(01/06/1995) The hut circle is cut into the slope with a broad apron scarp on the downhill side. It measures 8.4m in internal diameter with walls 1.1m thick and a levelled interior. The walls are faced mostly with large, flat granite blocks between 0.8m and 0.9m high. Many of these have collapsed and there is a length of later walling in the N and NE side. In the S wall there is an entrance and, to the SW, a wide break.
Within the NW quadrant are the remains of a smaller hut 3.7m in diameter, built using some of the walls of the larger hut.

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

Fernworthy Assycombe Group 8C. Site visit 27th September 1996. Site of this and the stone row marked by a single post. There should be a post by the hut circle. A fire in the hut circle has scorched the soil. Although there are no trees near the site, gorse is growing on the eastern edge of the hut circle wall and needs to be cleared.

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

Newman, P., 2013, The Archaeology of Fernworthy Forest, Dartmoor, Devon, 22 (Report - Survey). SDV351784.

Large hut circle with an internal diameter of 9.2 metres. The floor of the hut has been cut level into the sloping ground and the walls are constructed from a series of flat slabs set upright longwise. The north-west sector is the most intact section with four continguous slabs in situ standing to 0.7 metres high. Other slabs have fallen inwards and several in the southern sector appear to be missing and to the north-east a rough rubble wall has been inserted in a gap which is presumed to have once contained slabs. The position of the entrance is visible in the south-weast sector with fallen door linings. A larger opening on the west side was claimed by Burnard and Baring Gould following excavation, to be an access route for carts when stone from this hut was robbed by the builders of the medieval Assacombe walls.

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

Hut circle marked.

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.

Ministry of Public Building and Works, 26/07/1965, Hut circle S. of stone row on Assycombe Hill (Schedule Document). SDV356618.

Large isolated hut circle 30 feet diameter, well preserved, close to the south-west end of the Assycombe stone row. It lies in an afforested area, but is clear of trees.

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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