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Summary

Hut circle of 5.0 metres by 4.5 metres with walls 0.7 metres wide by 0.7 metres high and a soutern entrance within dispersed settlement to the west of Lowton Brook in Fernworthy Forest

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1017983: Dispersed stone hut circle settlement and associated fields 490m south east of Silk House

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/26/1
• Old SAM County Ref: 957G
• Old SAM Ref: 28671

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Morley, 1975, Ancient Monuments Division Site Visit (Unknown). SDV351964.

Site visit 4th May 1975. Terrace hut. Internal orthostats remain. D-shaped.

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

Fernworthy Plantation. West Lowton 6B.
Hut circle 5.3 metres diameter on a platform site, cut into an east facing slope. Very ruinous low stone wall. Largest stone 0.6 by 0.3 metres, standing 1.7 metres above the ground. Has been planted over. Not investigated. Part of an enclosure wall visible on southern side of hut running east-west.
February 1976. Ten posts ring the clearance zone, enclosing 6B, 7B, 8B and part of the enclosure wall. All agreements carried out.
Included in 1955 Spooner and Dixon report (A) Region south of the Teign (Assacombe and Lowton), Site No. 5.

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

Not work has been carried out to the West Lowton group of sites since 1976.

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

Department of Environment Field Monument Warden site visit 16th December 1983.

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

Not visible on 1946 RAF photos due to tree cover.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 144115 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Site visit 30th May 1997. Hut circle forming part of dispersed settlement. 5.0 metres by 4.5 metres. Single orthorstat wall. Oriented north-west to south-east. A length of boundary wall leads off from the hut.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 157, Map 35, Site 4 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Hut circle at 'Lowton Brook West' settlement.

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

Fernworthy. West Lowton Group 6B. Site visit 27th May 1992. [One of] three hut circles next to one another in a clearing on an east facing slope. Just down from trackway. Site marked. Stability good. Land currently grazed and vegetation mechanically controlled. Suggested maintain current management regime. Other details: photo.

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

Visited on 3rd June 1995. Hut circle st SX66318318 of 5.3 metres diameter with walls 0.7 metres wide by 0.7 metres high with an entrance to the south.

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

Fernworthy. West Lowton Group 6B. Site visit 27th September 1996. [One of] three hut circles next to one another in a clearing on an east facing slope. Adjacent to a trackway. Only 1 post marks all three sites. At least one marked post is recommended for each site.

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

Site recorded.

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

Site 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.

English Heritage, 2013, National Heritage List for England, 1017983 (National Heritage List for England). SDV350785.

The monument, which falls into six areas, includes a dispersed stone hut circle settlement and associated fields situated on a north east facing slope overlooking the valley of the Lowton Brook. The settlement contains at least 12 stone hut circles together with a number of lengths of rubble walling forming part of a field system. The stone hut circles within the settlement all survive as banks each surrounding an internal circular area which varies from 14.51 to 55.39 square metres with the average being 30.56 square metres. The height of the surrounding walls vary between 0.6m and 1.3m, with the average being 0.91m. Four of the huts have visible doorways and the orthostatic, rubble bank and coursed walling building traditions are all represented.
Despite afforestation, the dispersed stone hut circle settlement and associated fields lying west of Lowton Brook survives well and contains archaeological structures, features and deposits, relating to the exploitation of this part of the moor during the Bronze Age period.

Newman, P., 2013, The Archaeology of Fernworthy Forest, Dartmoor, Devon, 26, Fig. 20 (Report - Survey). SDV351784.

Hut located at the base of a lynchet which formed a boundary wall or reave. Although the levelled interior and an outline portion of the hut's wall on the south-west side is visible, robbing has left only a circular earthwork. Interior diameter 5.4 metres.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, Unknown, SX68SE46 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV277957.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

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

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