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Summary

The southern of three prehistoric settlements on Chagford Common divided into four enclosures with four hut circles and two small external enclosures

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1018926: Three agglomerated enclosures containing stone hut circles, a cairn cemetery, post-medieval fields and tinworks on Chagford Common

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68SE73
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443873
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/120/4
• Old SAM Ref: 28728

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1964, RAF/F64/58/6399, 20-21 (Aerial Photograph). SDV255307.

Cropmark of an oval enclosure at SX 67868311. There is a hut circle on its northern boundary and faint traces of a hut circle on the southern boundary. There appears to be a central division running north-south.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 149383-4 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Site visited on 29th January 1999. Southern of three agglomerated enclosures forming part of an enclosed Prehistoric settlement on Chagford Common.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 29-30, Map 25 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Three independent settlements (5,6 and 7) developed along the west bank of the River Bovey. Each settlement contains a number of enclosures and huts sited around the edges of the fields. Southern Prehistoric settlement (5) on Chagford Common consisting of 4-5 enclosues has been incorporated within later fields and the walls are much denuded. There are four associated hut circles. Hut 1 is little more than a levelled circular platform. Hut 2 of circa 6.9 metres diameter lies on the outer edge of the enclosure ditch. Hut 3 of 6.6 metres diameter is built across the farmstead wall next to a D-shaped paddock. Hut 4 of 3 metres diameter is on the opposite side of the D-shaped paddock.

Cosford, J., 1991-2, Chagford Common (Worksheet). SDV244606.

Bank enclosure encroached upon by Medieval ditch and which may represent the central division mentioned above. Cosford identifies one internal and two external hut circles (subsheets 6-8). Traced on the ground as a series of irregularly spaced stones up to 0.8 metres high

Passmore, A. J., 1997, Boveycombehedd, Chagford, Devon: an archaeological investigation of a Diachronic landscape, 10-12, Figure 2 (Post-Graduate Thesis). SDV360382.

Enclosure A covers an area of nearly 3 hectares. It consists of a large enclosure with internal divisions. It is suggested that some of these divisions have vanished and originally the enclosure was subdivided into four smaller units of fields ranging in size from 0.2 - 2 hectares (A to D). Two later ditches and banks cut through the site and narrow ridge and furrow covers the southern half of the enclosure. There are four hut circles associated with the enclosure.
Hut 1: with internal dimensions of 8 metres by 7 metres and an entrance on the south side and levelled into the hillside. This hut is affected by the ploughing which overlays the southern half of the enclosure.
Hut 2: with internal dimensions of 6 metres has been disturbed by later cutting of the ditches. The entrance is on the south-east side.
Hut 3: built into the exterior wall of the enclosureand constructed of orthostats. This hut may have been the one investigated by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1900 and yielded a flint knife. It has internal dimensions of 7 metres by 6 metres with an entrance on the east side.
Hut 4: built onto the outside of the enclosure with internal dimensions of 4 metres by 3 metres with an entrance on the south side.
Attached to the outside of the north side of the enclosure are two small enclosures (E and F) probably used for livestock stabling. The northern enclosure (E) measures 12 metres by 16 metres and the southern enclosure (F) is 18 metres by 18 metres.

Environment Agency WMS, 1998-2016, LiDAR DSM data JPEG image (1m resolution) (Cartographic). SDV360209.

Earthworks visible on Lidar data.

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

Some of the earthworks visible on aerial photograph. Map object based partly on this source.

Historic England, 2018, National Heritage List for England, 1018926 (National Heritage List for England). SDV360653.

The monument includes three agglomerated enclosures containing stone hut circles, a cairn cemetery, post-medieval fields, an openwork, streamworks, and a tin mine situated on an east facing slope of Chagford Common overlooking the Walla Brook. The northern agglomerated enclosure includes at least five elements denoted by boundary banks, some of which contain large numbers of substantial orthostats. There are six stone hut circles within the enclosure and another lies a short distance to the east. The central agglomerated enclosure includes at least eleven elements and contains six stone hut circles. The southern agglomerated enclosure which has been partially overlain by a post-medieval field system containing ridge and furrow is associated with at least five stone hut circles. The stone hut circles survive as circular or oval banks each surrounding an internal area which varies from 6 sq m to 78.5 sq m, with the average being 34.6 sq m. The height of the surrounding walls varies between 0.6m and 1.05m, with the average being 0.74m. Six of the huts have visible doorways, nine are attached to field boundary banks and they are all of orthostatic or rubble bank construction. The cairn cemetery includes five mounds, some of which may have been excavated by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1900. Four of the mounds are circular in shape and vary between 4.3m and 7.5m in diameter and stand between 0.4m and 0.8m high. The remaining mound is oval in shape, measuring 5m long by 4.5m wide and standing 0.5m high. The historic field system includes two fields denoted by substantial ditches. The southern field contains ridge and furrow and is denoted on the southern side by an openwork. There are several other tinworks within the monument and amongst these are an openwork, prospecting gully, shafts, a whim platform, areas of alluvial and eluvial streamworking and a 19th century tin mine known as West Vitifer Mine.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7505 - Boveycombehedd, Chagford: An Archaeological Investigation of a Diachronic Landscape

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