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Summary

Bronze Age settlement comprising the remains of some 14-18 stone-built huts together with a fragmentary enclosure, the north-west side of which has been damaged by tin pits. Most of the huts are 3.0-3.5 metres diameter and found in pairs but the settlement also includes a larger hut, 4.8 metres diameter which is joined by curved walls to a neighbouring hut and abutting onto another with an annexe.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1019224: Partially enclosed stone hut circle settlement 900m and 940m north west of Warren House Inn

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68SE20
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443804
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/92
• Old SAM Ref: 28744

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1952, SX68SE20 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV258578.

(09/09/1952) Group of 13 hut circles.

National Monument Record, 1977, SX6681, 4, 5 (Aerial Photograph). SDV352768.

Fleming, A., 1979, The Dartmoor Reaves. Boundary Patterns and Behaviour Patterns in the Second Millennium BC, 127 (Article in Serial). SDV258579.

Suggested that this is an example of a summer site converted to a permanent site.

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

Nine of the hut circles are visible, one of them incorporated into, and three others enclosed by, a rectilinear enclosure that has been partially destroyed by a leat.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

Centred on SX66668146 is a cluster of 14 poorly preserved hut circles and a fragmentary enclosure on the southern flank of Assycombe Hill 1 kilometre west-north-west of the Warren House Inn. The huts are overgrown and have apparently suffered heavy robbing with little of the original walling material now remaining. Only 3 of the huts display possible entrances, all in the east quadrant. [One of the] huts seems to have been refurbished possibly using stone salvaged from the surrounding huts and a walkers' letter box is partially concealed in its walls.
The associated sub-rectangular enclosure is bounded by turf and stone banks up to 1.4 metres wide and 0.5 metres high. Its north-west side has been damaged by tin pits.
Depicted and described by Butler (1991, 35). Three of the huts noted by Butler at SX 66628140 SX 66628143 and SX 66598138 appear, on ground investigation, to be tin pits (SX 68 SE 201).
All the huts are slightly ovoid.
These huts lie within the Stannon Parallel Reave System (SX 68 SE 77).
For detailed 1:2500 plan see RCHME Statts Brook survey. Further information on the hut circles is held in the archive.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., 152147-65 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(10/06/1999) Prehistoric settlement 920 metres north of Statts bridge.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 35-36, Map 26, Figure 26.2 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Assycombe Hill South settlement with some 16 small heather-covered huts, most of them in pairs with single-slabbed walls 3.0 - 3.5 metres across. The most interesting one is slightly larger, 4.8 metres diameter, joined by curved walls to a neighbouring hut and abutting onto another with an annexe. The only enclosure visible, about 30 metres by 18 metres, is associated with a pair of huts to the north of the track.

Ordnance Survey, 2022, Mastermap 2022 (Cartographic). SDV364674.

Group of ten 'Hut Circles' shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2022, National Heritage List for England, 1019224 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364675.

The monument, which falls into two areas of protection, includes a stone hut circle settlement situated on a gentle south facing slope overlooking the Walla Brook. The settlement includes at least one enclosure and 18 stone hut circles, which survive as circular or oval banks each surrounding an internal area which varies from 3.8 square metres to 15.2 square metres. The height of the surrounding walls varies between 0.2 metres and 0.8 metres. Eight of the huts have visible doorways and two lie within the enclosure. The three hut circles centred at NGR SX66698142 are especially complex in character, with the northern one possessing a hooked porch, whilst the other two are connected to a small irregular shaped courtyard. The enclosure is situated within the northern part of the settlement and includes a 1.5 metres wide and 0.5 metres high earthwork bank with occasional large orthostats surrounding an area measuring 19 metres long by 15 metres wide.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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