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Summary

One of a group of four hut circles forming part of the East Lowton settlement. A well-preserved hut circle of 9.7 metres diameter with double walls of 1.0 metres wide by 1.45 metres high, the inner face being lower than the outer face. The entrance faces east. It was considered by Worth and Turner to be a ring cairn.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1017990: Partially enclosed stone hut circle settlement 780m south west of Metherall

Other References/Statuses

• MPP Archaeological Item Dataset: 144185
• National Monuments Record: SX68SE44
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/29
• Old SAM County Ref: 610B
• Old SAM Ref: 28678
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX68SE44A
• Pastscape: 443840

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• (Former Type) RING CAIRN (Bronze Age - 2200 BC to 701 BC)
• 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.

One of four 'Hut Circles' shown on 19th century map.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1952-1978, SX68SE44A (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV277863.

Site visit 2nd September 1952. Hut B. One of a group of four hut circles. Recorded as in bad condition at this time with trees planted within the bounds of the feature.

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

Fernworthy Plantation. East Lowton 2A. Ring cairn with inner kerb circle, and hut circle. 10.1 metre diameter ring cairn constructed of large stones. There is an inner 9.5 metre diameter circle. Conparable to kerb circle at Metherel. The cairn could have been reused as a hut, because of the entrance porch stone on the eastern side. Not investigated or planted over.
January 1976. 11 posts ring the clearance zone enclosing sites 1A and 2A. There are trees standing within and trees outside the post ring are within falling distance of the hut.
Included in 1955 Spooner and Dixon report (A) Region South of the Teign (Assacombe and Lowton) Site No. 17.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 146 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

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

No work has been carried out on this group of sites since January 1976. Site 2A, the ring cairn is an important monument.

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

Department of Environment Field Monument Warden site visits 11th July and 16th December 1983. Considered by some to be a ring cairn.

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

Not visible on 1946 RAF aerial photos due to tree cover.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 41-42, 62, Fig. 13 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Turner describes this site as a double kerb circle. An outer circle of large orthostats with apparent entrance on the south side. Stone at 90 degrees to the entrance merges with field wall. Continuous inner kerb standing an average of 0.5 metres above ground. Where there is a gap between the two circles it is part filled with small stones, soil and occasional trigger stones. The site has not been planted. Cut into hillside to provide a level surface. Outer ring 10.1 metres diameter, inner kerb 9.5 metres diameter.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., 144186 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Site visit 30th April 1997. Hut circle forming part of partially enclosed settlement. Diameter 9.7 metres. Double and single orthostat wall, 1.0 metres wide, 1.45 metres high. Internal area 73.86 square metres.
A visually impressive house. There is a bench of lower facing stones around the interior. This is almost certainly a house because a length of orthostatic walling leads from the structure towards MDV6588. This walling may originally have formed part of the eastern length of the enclosure.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 156, Map 35, Site 2 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Large double walled hut cirlce at 'Lowton Brook East settlement' of 10.0 metres diameter with its shorter inner wall face almost complete and the tops of a few small earthfast slabs showing above the turf within. Worth supposed this may have been a cairn but the abutting enclosure wall on the east side is more likely to be associated with a hut.

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

Fernworthy. East Lowton Group 1A/2A. Site visit May 1992. Hut circle and ring cairn adjacent to modern trackway. Site marked with posts. Under grass. Not planting within marked area or 15 metres beyond. Suggested that current vegetation management regime be maintained. Photos.

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

Visited on 3rd June 1995. Hut circle at SX66588371 of 9.6 metres diameter with double orthostat walls 1.0 metres wide by 1.5 metres high and an entrance to the east

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

Fenworthy. East Lowton Group 1A/2A. Site visit 29th September 1996. Site now marked by a single post. More posts are required and clearance is needed on the north side of site 1A.

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

Hut circle shown on survey.

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

Hut circle visible. Map object based on this source.

Newman, P., 2013, The Archaeology of Fernworthy Forest, Dartmoor, Devon, 30-1, 63, Figs 24, 27, 29 (Report - Survey). SDV351784.

A fine, well-preserved hut circle. The hut's striking appearance caught the attention of William Crossing in his Guide to Dartmoor and was later examined by R. H. Worth while excavating the Metheral huts in 1934-6 in advance of reservoir flooding. Because of the unusual construction method worth concluded that a similar circle at Metheral was not a hut circle but a cairn circle and it followed that this hut was also, therefore, a cairn circle. The circle is constructed with a double thickness slab wall, the outer face being, unusually, taller than the inner face. The space between the two, according to a survey undertaken by Turner in 1990, is packed with smaller stones although these are less visible today due to the overgrowth of turf. The interior of the circle appears artificially flat suggesting that it is a hut circle rather than a cairn with an internal diameter of 9.5 metres. Some robbing of stones has occurred. The entrance appears to be on the east side which is atypical for Dartmoor huts.

Newman, P., 2013, The Archaeology of Fernworthy Forest, Dartmoor, Devon. Supplement. The Lakeside Area and Lowton Farmsteads, 27 (Report - Survey). SDV356884.

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

Hut circle depicted. Map object based on this source.

English Heritage, 2014, National Heritage List for England, 1017990 (National Heritage List for England). SDV355683.

The monument includes an enclosure and four stone hut circles situated on a north facing slope overlooking Fernworthy Reservoir. The stone hut circles within the settlement all survive as banks each surrounding an internal circular area which varies from 16.6 to 73.86 square metres. The height of the surrounding walls vary between 0.65 and 1.45 metres.

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
• EDV8525 - Cairn investigated, Fernworthy Forest
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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