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Summary

Five circular and curvilinear enclosures incorporating three hut circles are arranged with main axis along the contour. The enclosures have rubble walls, mainly of medium size stones with rare traces of external slab facing. Walls following the contour are now lynchetted. Large boulders have been cleared onto the walls in several locations.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1021393: Medieval strip field system, tinworks, part of a prehistoric settlement, a cairn and reave on Challacombe Down

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68SE63
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443864
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/113

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Royal Air Force, 13/04/1947, CPE/UK/1995, 4358-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDV217286.

Photograph taken on 13th April 1947.

National Monuments Record, 1977, SX6880, 1 (Aerial Photograph). SDV281707.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1979, OS 72/066, 014-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDV262465.

Photograph taken on 17th April 1972. Rectangular and circular enclosures and various banks visible on aerial photographs. Possibly a settlement contemporary with the hut circles to the north.

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

Three hut circles are visible amongst rectilinear enclosures and banks. The 'enclosures' are not complete, and may be the remains of a field system.

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

(23/05/1990) At SX68598022 is an agglomerated prehistoric settlement situated on the moderate west slope of Challacombe Down.
The settlement occupies 0.5 hectares of a mainly cleared area. Five circular and curvilinear enclosures incorporating three hut circles are arranged with main axis along the contour. The enclosures have rubble walls, mainly of medium size stones with rare traces of external slab facing. Walls following the contour are now lynchetted. Large boulders have been cleared onto the walls in several locations.
Enclosure 1 at SX68608018 is circular, with internal area of circa 0.1 hectares. The north and south walls are 2.5 to 3 metres wide and 0.6 metres high while the east and west arcs are marked stony scarps 0.9 to 1.2 metres high. There is no certain entrance but a marked break on the southern arc is a possibility. The southern section of the interior is badly disrupted by animal burrows and by a series of tin pits which have also cut into the perimeter wall. At:
(A) A sub-rectangular stony mound 4 metres north to south by 6 metres and 0.7 metres high, situated against the internal face of the northern arc, may be a robbed hut or other structure.
Enclosure 2 at SX68608021 is curvilinear with walls defining an internal area of circa 0.08 hectares. It appears to be an addition to Enclosure 1. An amorphous scatter of stone outside the extreme south-west arc is the result of undated digging into the perimeter wall. There are two hut circles associated with this enclosure:
(B) SX68618022 situated towards the north-east corner where the enclosure walls blend into clitter. It has an internal diameter of 4 metres defined by walls 1 metre wide and 0.5 metres high of medium size stones with clear remnants of internal and external facing and incorporating on the north two massive natural slabs. It is terraced in 0.5 metres on the east and built up to 0.5 metres on the west. No entrance visible.
(C) SX68588022 on the north-west arc has an internal diameter of 3.8 metres with partly turf-covered walls circa 0.9 metres wide but visible inside the enclosure only as vegetation marks. The hut is terraced by building up the west arc to 1.7 metres where it forms the enclosure wall. A large upright stone on the southern may flank an entrance.
Immediately to the south of C is a low stony line 0.8 metres wide and 0.1 metres high defining an oval area 3.9 metres north to south by 2.5 metres, possibly an annexe to Hut (C) or a poorly preserved adjacent hut.
The interior of enclosure 2 is clear apart from a few large boulders.
Enclosure 3 at SX68568026 is curvilinear and incomplete but possibly once circular with an internal area circa 0.07 hectares A break on the north is caused by a later field wall. The interior of the enclosure is cleared and a single hut circle lies against the east perimeter internal face:
(D) SX68588026 has an irregular interior of circa. 4.9 metres diameter with walls 1 metre wide (except on the south-west where there is a large concentration of stone) of medium and large size stones with traces of internal facing. It is terraced in 0.5 metres on the east and built up 0.9 metres on the west. No entrance is visible.
Enclosure 4 at SX 68598027 adjoining Enclosure 3 is curvilinear and incomplete, fading into clitter on the south-east side. The perimeter wall, a bank averaging 1.5 metres wide and 0.4 metres high of medium and large stones encloses an area of circa 0.05 hectares and is of smaller dimensions to the other enclosures. The interior is only partially cleared, with a light scatter of earth-fast boulders remaining.
Enclosure 5 at SX68588024 is irregular and incomplete, linking Enclosures 1 and 2 with Enclosure 3 and 4 (possibly these two 'groups' were originally discrete) with an internal area circa 0.11 hectares. The perimeter walls are stony scarps 2 to 4 metres wide and up to 0.9 metres high, fading into clitter on the east and ending abruptly on the west. The interior is cleared.
At SX68578019 is a straight, west-facing stony scarp, 2.7 metres long and 0.9 metres high which may be a fragment of another enclosure or part of the later field system which adjoins the present site on the north and west.
Enclosure 1 is the only part of the settlement depicted on an air photo transcription (1985). Two hut circles shown to the SE of the enclosure by the Royal Commission do not exist.
The site is visible on additional A.P's. Surveyed at 1:2500.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 16-18, Figure 24.1 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Settlement 'A' at Challacombe Down West consists of at least four enclosures with three hut circles. The wall of the main enclosure is still substantial and stands to 1.2 metres high but without internal dwellings. A rectangular annexe of similar size was constructed on the north side with hut circles on the north-west and north-east perimeters. A pair of semi-circular banks to the north were probably additional enclosures with a hut circle in the angle where they join.

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

Settlement shown on survey.

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

'Settlement' shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2022, National Heritage List for England, 1021393 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364675.

Remains of prehistoric date include part of a settlement, a length of reave and a cairn. The settlement lies in the north western corner of the monument and survives as two agglomerated enclosures containing three stone hut circles together with a further single enclosure containing one hut.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8658 - Challacombe, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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