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Summary

Remains of a hut circle settlement on the north side of the Vitifer Mine Leat and 20 metres west of the Fernworthy Forest boundary with two enclosures and four hut circles which are thought to pre-date the enclosures

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1018709: Prehistoric stone hut circle settlement 630m south of Hemstone Rocks

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68SW20
• National Monuments Record: SX68SW58
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443943
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 444007
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SW/40
• Old SAM Ref: 28682

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1995, 3365 (Aerial Photograph). SDV224714.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX68SW20 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV244146.

(23/06/1950) Enclosure, and hut circles, approximate diameter 5m. These remains are so vague and fragmentary that the walling of both hut circles and enclosure has no height at all and can only be discerned by a few small stones and a lighter colouring in the grass.

Ordnance Survey, 1972, OS/72/066, 021 (Aerial Photograph). SDV346967.

An oval enclosure with two possible hut circles is visible on the air photograph. Approximate siting SX 64648288.

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

Not visible on 1947 aerial photographs.

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

Visited on 2nd July 1990. Two enclosures each with two associated hut circles lie on a fairly steep north-facing slope in generally stone-free moorland pasture at 445 metres O.D. SX 64688288. A sub-oval shaped enclosure, probably a pound, measures approximately 27 metres by 16 metres across with turf-covered rubble walls up to 1.5 metres wide and 0.4 metres high; there are no traces of facing slabs. The entrance was probably in the south-east adjacent to one of the huts. Much of the area including the sloping interior is covered by a layer of peat. The two huts at SX 64678288 and SX 64688286 respectively have internal diameters of 3.9 metres and walling, built up on the downhill side, of stones and small boulders 1.6 metres wide and 0.3 metres high. The interiors are now raised above the level of the surrounding ground. The position of the hut entrances are not clear.The two huts appear from the visible evidence to pre-date the enclosure. From SX 64668288 to SX 64698287. A curvilinear wall to the south of the enclosure may represent the remains of a field or plot. Composed of low upright slabs, stones and small boulders it is, on average, 0.6 metres wide and 0.4 metres high.
Centred at SX 64628287. The remains of an ovoid-shaped enclosure, now incomplete, occupy a natural shelf on the hillslope. It measures approximately 70 metres by 40 metres and the walling of stones, small boulders and low upright slabs is 1.8 metre wide and 0.4 metres high. One of the huts at SX 64648286 has been robbed, all that survives are a few irregularly-spaced small boulders which delimit an area of about 3 metres in diameter. It lies at the east end of the enclosure wall. The second hut, at SX 64628290, inside the enclosure is 3.3m in internal diameter with walling of stones and small boulders 1.6 metres wide and 0.4 metres high; no facing slabs are visible and the position of the entrance is not evident.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 144216-20 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(10/09/1997) SX 6465 8287. Enclosures forming part of a prehistoric settlement 810 metres east-south-east of the Grey Wethers. (See related records for huts). One complete and two partial enclosures survive. Rubble bank wall 1 metre wide, 0.3 metres high. Three linked huts, one internal hut. Enclosures may have once been linked to each other. Deep peat deposits in this area have obscured the detail. Grey Wethers is visible on the skyline from this settlement. The vegetation is grass, tufty grass and a few small gorse bushes. This settlement is on a relatively steep slope.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 158, Map 35, Figure 35.2 (Monograph). SDV219155.

'White Ridge North settlement' with two separate enclosures with banks no more than 0.2 metres high and two hut circles associated with each enclosure. On the southern edge of the settlement are the two channels of the Birch Tor and Vitifer Mine leats

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

Hut circles and some boundaries shown on survey.

Ordnance Survey, 2023, Mastermap 2023 (Cartographic). SDV365227.

'Enclosure & Hut Circles' shown on modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8650 - Great Stannon Newtake, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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