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Summary

Within a large area of peat cutting is a structure which could be a hut circle re-used by peat cutters. The internal diameter is 2.8 metres by 2.5 metres with rubble walling. Outside the entrance is one upright and one prone slab suggesting a former "porch". The peat has not been stripped enough to expose any associated features such as field walls but a similar hut lies 230 metres to the south-west.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Structural remains of a post-medieval peat cutters' hut on Whitehorse Hill

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68NW33
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443751
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68NW/60
• Pastscape: 443751

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HUT (Constructed, Post Medieval - 1540 AD (Between) to 1750 AD (Between))

Full description

Burnard, R., 1890, Dartmoor Pictorial Records, 22 (Article in Serial). SDV346960.

Le Messurier, B., 1975, Ruined hut on Whitehorse Hill (Worksheet). SDV268790.

Ruined hut (a poor hut). Possesses several large stones, but not much else. No fireplace. May have been robbed to supply stone for mutes inn. Floor is of stone tumbled in. Peat cutting nearby. Saved from being a nonentity by the large stones, which form the east-side door.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1979, SX68NW33, photograph (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV268792.

(06/09/1979) Within a large area of peat cutting is a structure which could be a hut circle re-used by peat cutters. The internal diameter is 2.8 metres by 2.5 metres with rubble walling. Outside the entrance is one upright and one prone slab suggesting a former "porch". The peat has not been stripped enough to expose any associated features such as field walls but a similar hut lies 230 metres to the south-west.

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

Not visible on Royal Air Force 1947 aerial photograph.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 154, Map 34 (Monograph). SDV219155.

One of a group of at least seven buildings on Whitehorse Hill as far south as Quintin's Man in an area favoured by the peat cutters. These are squarish in plan and smaller than the typical tinners hut, up to 3 metres across and are sited near the hilltop rather than beside streamworks.

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

(02/09/1993) SX 61908516. The remains of a poorly preserved sub-rectangular structure lie in an extensive area of peat workings on the moderate south-east slope of the ridge running south from Hangingstone Hill.
This feature is generally as described by the Ordnance Survey (1979).
There is no trace of an external face to the walls suggesting that the outside of the hut was clad in peat to give added protection from the elements.
This structure probably functioned as a shelter or habitation for peat-cutters working the surrounding peat deposits. The remains of three other buildings of similar function lie in the general area.
This shelter might reoccupy the site of a prehistoric hut circle, as suggested by the Ordnance Survey in 1979, though the diameter (c.2.5m) is smaller than normal for this type of feature.

Probert, S. A. J. + Newman, P., 2003-2004, Measured survey North Dartmoor Military Range Okehampton Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey, M. Fletcher (Report - Survey). SDV350801.

(20/10/2003) This structure is as previously described. It is under no threat.

English Heritage, 2005, Industrial Survey Information (Report - Survey). SDV346396.

Map object based on this source.

English Heritage, 2005, Survey Information (miscellaneous date) (Report - Survey). SDV345855.

Building shown on survey.

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

Remains of this feature may be visible on the aerial photograph; appears more likely to be at this location, than the original location metres to the south-south-west (SX61908515). Map object based on this source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8679 - Okehampton Range: Management Survey
• EDV8291 - Okehampton Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey
• EDV8695 - Survey of Okehampton North Dartmoor Military Range

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