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Summary

Submerged hut circle of 9.8 metres diameter with walls 1.1 metres wide by 1 metre high and an entrance to the south 420 metres west-north-west of Metherall farmstead at Fernworthy Reservoir. Seen in 1995 when water levels were low. Considered by Worth to be the remains of a cairn

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Walling remains of a group of partially submerged Bronze Age hut circles and associated fields with Tudor secondary occupation at Fernworthy Reservoir

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68SE49
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443845
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/82
• Old SAM County Ref: 610

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• (Alternate Type) RING CAIRN? (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 701 BC)
• HUT CIRCLE (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Ormerod, G. W., 1864, On the Hut Circles on the Eastern Side of Dartmoor, 303 (Article in Serial). SDV304174.

Ormerod notes the existence of 6 hut circles on right side of South Teign, opposite Thornworthy. Five were of typical construction, the sixth was built with horizontal layers of stone.

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

The eastern and largest of a group of three 'Hut Circles'.

Worth, R. H., 1937, Thirteenth Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee, 147-150, figs. 4-6, Pl. 26-28 (Article in Serial). SDV256641.

Excavation of three circles in 1936, prior to the construction of new reservoir at Fernworthy, showed the eastern circle, "No 6" (SX66858402), to represent the remains of a cairn with a probable cremation burial in a pit beneath a cover-stone.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1952, SX68SE49 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV348015.

(22/10/1952) All these features are now below the water-line of Fernworthy Reservoir.

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

Not visible on 1946 Royal Air Force aerial photographs.

Griffith, F. M., 1990, DAP/TV, 5-8 (Aerial Photograph). SDV160790.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 41-2, 62, 71 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Turner describes this as a "double kerb circle" (C2), an outer circle of closely set large orthostats 9.2 metres in diameter, with an inner kerb of stones set on edge 8.2 metres in diameter. On a low platform generally under reservoir but occasionally visible. Damaged by waters and visitors.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 155-6, Map 35, Figure 35.1 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Large hut circle '5' of 10.1 metres diameter. Worth considered the hut to be the remains of a cairn with all the small stones removed, though in appearance it is not dissimilar to the huts. Features he considered unusual were that the wall-stones on the inside were set more evenly than normal and were shorter than those forming the outer face, and that there was an inner ring of small slabs. The wall on the south edge where the entrance to a hut would be expected was too badly damaged to determine the matter. The only probable contemporary finds were some flint chips and four quartz crystals but none of the usual household waste such as pottery or charcoal. Beneath the rubble floor another exceptional feature was a large flat slab covering a shallow depression in the subsoil containing charcoal, which Worth interpreted as an interment pit.

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

(02/08/1995) Centred SX 66838402. Three hut circles normally below the surface of Fernworthy Reservoir were exposed during the summer of 1995. All huts are well-built utilising large upright slabs and blocks up to 1.1m high and possess entrances in the S or SE quadrants. Several lengths of later boulder walling containing some drill-split stones were exposed adjacent to the huts.
SX 66858402 Hut measures 9.8m in diameter, with walls 1.1m wide, 1.0m high. Entrance to S. Excavated.

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

A group of three Bronze Age hut circles and cairn with Tudor secondary occupation. The huts have large upright slabs of up to 1.1 metres high. Their diameters range from 6.7 to 9.8 metres.

Newman, P., 2013, The Archaeology of Fernworthy Forest, Dartmoor, Devon. Supplement. The Lakeside Area and Lowton Farmsteads, 11, 27, Fig. 9 (Report - Survey). SDV356884.

Worth's excavations proved this submerged 'hut' to be the most unusual of the group and perhaps not a hut at all. It is the largest of all the Metherall huts, with an internal diameter of 9.8 metres, and its method of construction is different with an inner and outer ring of slabs, the inner lower than the outer. Worth also identified a third inner circle, although only three stones are depicted on his plan. No domestic artefacts were found and the removal of a large flat slab on the floor exposed a pit containing charcoal which was interpreted as an interment pit. Worth concluded therefore that this was a cairn rather than a hut circle.
Newman throws doubt on this interpretation. The different construction method could be explained as a variant hut type and the lack of domestic finds is not unusual during excavations of this period. The only available photograph of the site prior to excavation shows that it did not have a central fill which would have been expected had this been a cairn. Newman suggests that this site now be re-assessed in the light of more recent discoveries at Dartmoor hut circles.
The northern arc of the structure is better preserved than the southern side.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6533 - Archaeological Survey of South-West Lakeside Trust Land around Fernworthy Reservoir
• EDV8514 - Excavation at Metherall huts, Chagford
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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