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Summary

A circular scoop and a few stones are all that survive of a hut circle adjacent to and above a narrow footpath. A breach in the south-east side of the earthworks marks the location of the entrance. Part of the Lowton West hut circle settlement.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1017983: Dispersed stone hut circle settlement and associated fields 490m south east of Silk House

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68SE90
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443895
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/131
• Old SAM Ref: 28671
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX68SE90

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

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

Fernworthy Plantation, West Lowton, 10B.
Site visit 1976. Hut circle 7.6 metres diameter on a platform cut into an east facing slope. Ruined, low stone walls. Unable to determine thickness. Highest stone 0.27 metres above the ground. Not investigated. Has been planted over.
January 1976. Seven posts ringing clearance zone, clear of trees and other debris. Wire fence running north-south, inside west ringing post. Crop height outside post ring correct.
Included in 1955 Spooner and Dixon report (A) Region south of the Teign (Assacombe and Lowton), Site No. 9.

Dartmoor National Park Authority + Forestry Commission + Dartmoor Preservation Association, 1976, Conservation of Ancient Monuments. The Report of a Working Party, 2 (Report - non-specific). SDV248248.

Fernworthy Plantation, West Lowton, 10B

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

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

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

Depicted by Butler.

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

Fernworthy Plantation, West Lowton, 10B. Site visit 27th May 1992. Hut circle adjacent to and above a narrow footpath. Set in east facing slope. Site marked. Stability good. Vegetation mechanically controlled and grazed. Recommendation: Maintain programme of vegetation management.

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

(03/06/1995) SX 66358306. A disturbed hut circle lies on the steep NE facing slope above the left bank of the Lowton Brook within Fernworthy Forest. The hut is terraced into the slope and measures 7.4m N to S by 6.8m internally with low turf-covered walls 1.2m wide and 0.3m high. An entrance marked by a recumbent jamb lies on the S side. Four hut circles and traces of an associated field system are visible 90m NW of this site.

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

Fernworthy Plantation, West Lowton, 10B. Site visit 27th September 1996. Remains engulfed in vegetation and difficult to trace. Marked by one post.

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

Hut circle recorded.

Fugro-BKS, 2013, Fernworthy Forest LiDAR survey (Cartographic). SDV351778.

Hut circle visible.

Newman, P., 2013, Fernworthy Forest Sites Survey (Un-published). SDV351708.

Newman, P., 2013, The Archaeology of Fernworthy Forest, Dartmoor, Devon, 28, Fig. 20 (Report - Survey). SDV351784.

Hut survives only as a circular scoop in the hillside with just a few stones visible forming an inner curb on the north-east side. The internal diameter is 7.6 metres. A breach in the earthwork on the south-east sides marks the position of the entrance.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, Unknown, SX68SE90 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV244349.

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
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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