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Summary

A hut settlement with 8 hut circles, set within parallel reaves on Blackslade Down, including the enclosure known as Foale’s Arrishes. The hut circles were contemporary with the reaves, being either attached to them or linked by shorter walls. The site is also notable for the later imposition of a rectangular stone enclosure, which incorporated some of the reave elements and hut circles. Excavated by the DEC in 1897

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1003283: Foale's Arrishes, huts and fields, Blackslade Down

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX77NW34
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 445116
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX77NW/8
• Old SAM County Ref: 262

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HUT CIRCLE SETTLEMENT (Constructed, Early Bronze Age to Late Iron Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 42 AD (Between))

Full description

Croker, J. G., 1852, A Guide to the Eastern Escarpment of Dartmoor, with a descriptive map (Monograph). SDV350854.

Ormerod, G. W., 1864, On the Hut Circles on the Eastern Side of Dartmoor, 306 (Article in Serial). SDV304174.

A few huts and enclosures organised very regularly. Six huts measuring from 4.5 metres to 7.25 metres in diameter. Chief feature is double enclosure of nearly semi-circular form. Diameter of inner semi-circle is 4.5 metres and average width between inner and outer banks is 6 metres.

Baring Gould, S., 1897, Fourth Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee, 151-156 plates 3, 4 (Article in Serial). SDV337081.

Victoria County History, 1906, The Victoria History of the County of Devon, 354-5 'Early Man' (Article in Serial). SDV238214.

Worth, R. H., 1945, The Dartmoor Hut Circles, 236,250,252 (Article in Serial). SDV246120.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824, 3120 (Aerial Photograph). SDV352344.

Cambridge University, 1950, CUC/FL, 36-38 (Aerial Photograph). SDV135873.

Cambridge University, 1952, CUC/HR, 73-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDV343547.

Ralegh Radford, C. A., 1952 /1953, Prehistoric Settlements on Dartmoor and the Cornish Moors, 71-74,77,83-84, plan (Article in Serial). SDV337080.

Fox, A., 1954, Celtic Fields and Farms on Dartmoor in Light of Recent Excavations at Kestor, 87 (Article in Serial). SDV231175.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1960, SX77NW34 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV307116.

The hut circles at Foale’s Arrishes have internal diameters varying from 5.5 - 9.1 metres. They mostly have double walls 1.2 – 1.4 metres thick. Eight of the huts were excavated by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1896, three of them producing Deveril-Rimbury pottery. One of the huts has a cooking annexe.
There are field systems of three periods covering an area of some 275 by 275 metres. The last of recent date are represented by ruined stone walls all of which are shown by the Ordnance Survey. These are the enclosures to which the name Foale’s Arrishes applies. A medieval field system is represented by long straight banks of stone running down the slope. Some of the lines are incorporated into later walls. These strips are subdivided by cross ridges, over which the banks are humped and which clearly belong to an earlier stage of cultivation. The ridges are ploughed down lynchets, belonging to fields the other sides of which are normally marked by the medieval banks. The cross banks run up to and are contemporary with the hut circles.
An early writer (Ralegh Radford?) mentions a circular enclosure almost as large as Grimspound but this feature has disappeared.
(11/05/1960) There are seven hut circles (centred at SX7375 7592) in the vicinity of Foale’s Arrishes, one being within a small pound. All appear to be of double walled type, up to 1.0 metre high, and where identifiable the entrances are to the south-south-east. The hut with an annexe is at SX7374 7584.
Three huts, published on the 1904 Ordnance Survey map at SX7379 7614, SX7383 7608 and SX7386 7605 have been destroyed, apparently as a result of field clearance.
An extensive system of early field walls and lynchets exist in the area centred at SX734756.
The pottery from Foale’s Arrishes included some Iron Age ‘A’. (Oral information from Lady A. Fox, 12/05/1960)
In Plymouth City museum there are five sherds of Late Bronze Age pottery and a perforated whetstone. (09/06/1960)

Cambridge University, 1962, CUC/AFG, 92-3 (Aerial Photograph). SDV337030.

Ordnance Survey, 1963-1996, 1963-1996 National Grid OS Metric, (1963) (Cartographic). SDV350058.

(Centred at SX 73757590) Foale's Arrishes (N.A.T.) Bronze Age Settlement (NR).

Cambridge University, 1966, CUC/ANM, 47-50 (Aerial Photograph). SDV62341.

Cambridge University, 1967, CUC/ARO, 59-61 (Aerial Photograph). SDV307136.

St. Joseph, J. K. S., 1967, Unknown title, 60-61 (Article in Serial). SDV219152.

Worth, R. H., 1967, Worth's Dartmoor, 126 (Monograph). SDV337618.

Cambridge University, 1969, CUC/BAE, 70-71 (Aerial Photograph). SDV343595.

Grinsell, L. V., 1970, Discovering Regional Archaeology: South Western England, 25 (Monograph). SDV304192.

Cambridge University, 1971, CUC/BFF, 72-75 (Aerial Photograph). SDV308638.

Fox, A., 1973, South West England 3,500BC - AD600 (Revised Edition), 100, 109, 111, 131 (Monograph). SDV16216.

National Monument Record, 1977, SX7375 (Aerial Photograph). SDV308312.

Fleming, A., 1978, Dartmoor Reaves, a nineteenth century fiasco, 16-20 (Article in Serial). SDV301196.

Beeson, M. M. R. + Masterman, M. C. H., 1979, An Archaeological Survey of Enclosed Land in Widecombe-In-The-Moor Parish, Vol V, 1040 (Report - Survey). SDV337078.

Silvester, R. J., 1979, The Relationship of First Millennium Settlement to the Upland Areas of the South West, 177,181, fig.1 (Article in Serial). SDV177352.

Site typical open settlement of huts and small embanked fields. Four of eight hut circles produced pottery, some of which can be convincingly assigned to late Bronze Age.

Griffith, F. M., 1988, DAP/JZ, 1-3 (Aerial Photograph). SDV241570.

Quinnell, H., 1998, Later Prehistoric Pottery Survey, dbid:1758 (Report - Survey). SDV336212.

10 sherds of late Bronze Age pot recovered during excavation. Also recovered Middle Bronze Age pottery. Now in city museum, Plymouth.

Ordnance Survey, 2015, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV357601.

Later rectangular stone structure and hut circles depicted on the modern mapping.

Newman, P., 2015, Rippon Tor Premier Archaeological Landscape, Dartmoor National Park, Devon, 48, Fig 25 (Report - Survey). SDV359145.

A hut settlement with 8 hut circles, set within parallel reaves on Blackslade Down, including the enclosure known as Foale’s Arrishes. The hut circles were contemporary with the reaves, being either attached to them or linked by shorter walls. The site is also notable for the later imposition of a rectangular stone enclosure, which incorporated some of the reave elements and hut circles. Excavated by the DEC in 1897. Surveyed at 1:1000 scale May 2015.
Condition of the site: bracken covered in places and covered by gorse on the east corner but stable. Evidence of antiquarian intervention

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, RT51 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

Visited 15/08/2019. Enclosure banks/reaves are obvious although most have heavy gorse cover. Good stable condition. Photo taken

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording photographs, RT51 (Photograph). SDV363073.

Visited 15/08/2019. Photo looking uphill south east towards the north west showing one of the raeves. Top tor is on the horizon

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6836 - Rippon Tor Premier Archaeological Landscape survey
• EDV8579 - Excavation of settlement, Foale's Arrishes

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