See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

Possible enclosure east of Smallacombe Rocks, near to a cairn and other features. This feature may be Medieval or later in date. Feature comprises a circular ditch with a level interior and slight external bank. The well-defined ditch has a V profile and a diameter of 24m. It is 1.9m wide and survives to a depth of 0.6m. The external bank, where visible is approximately 1.5m wide. The southern quadrant has been overlain by a modern footpath. The unsilted appearance of the ditch suggests this is not a prehistoric feature.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Earthworks of a Bronze Age parallel reave system with three main east-west boundary works, an enclosure hut circles and cairns, a medieval enclosure, a pillow mound, an area of post-medieval tin pits and a post-medieval field system on Haytor Down

Other References/Statuses

• Dartmoor Non-designated Heritage Asset (Historical): NI Site
• National Monuments Record: SX77NE6
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 444993
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX77NE/55

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSURE (Constructed, Early Medieval to XIX - 1066 AD? (Between) to 1900 AD? (Between))

Full description

Cambridge University Collection, CUC/RC8-X, 65-6 (Aerial Photograph). SDV314869.

Other details: Location: NCC Taunton?.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1960, SX77NE6 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV314868.

(03/05/1960) At SX 7659 7814, upon the summit of a spur with a wide view of the surrounding country, there is a shallow ring-ditch. It is best preserved in the north and west quadrants where the ditch is 2.5 m. wide and 0.7 m. deep. In the south and east it is traceable but unsurvey able. Its origin and purpose are obscure.
A 25" survey has been made.

National Monuments Record, 1977, NMR SX7677, 2 (Aerial Photograph). SDV314870.

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

Small ovoid enclosure visible.

Everett, C., 1988, Haytor Down - Summary of Archaeological Features, HD87, Map 6 (Report - Survey). SDV359684.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume One - The East, 28-9, Map 2, 6 (Monograph). SDV299725.

A curious structure; a ditch (2.5m wide) with traces of a low bank on the outside up to 0.2m high. The interior is level with the ground surface outside and the feature is not quite circular, measuring a maximum 21.0m in diameter inside the ditch. A nearby track appears to have destroyed the southern edge of the feature, where Butler supposes there may originally have been an entrance.

Newman, P., 1999, 2002, Haytor Down, Ilsington, Devon (Revised), 6, Figure 2 (Report - Survey). SDV346395.

(30/01/1999) Sited at SX76597814 on a gently sloping northern summit of the Haytor Down spur, is a circular ditch with a level interior and slight external bank. The well-defined ditch has a V profile and a diameter of 24m. It is 1.9m wide and survives to a depth of 0.6m. The external bank, where visible is approximately 1.5m wide. The southern quadrant has been overlain by a modern footpath. The unsilted appearance of the ditch suggests this is not a prehistoric feature.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 2002, Haytor Down: The Archaeology (Plan - measured). SDV359685.

Circular feature shown on survey with an opening to the south and a small circle outside the north-east side.

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

Depicted on this shapefile layer, although is suspected of being more modern.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7021 - Haytor Down: Survey Report (Ref: A1/2/1999)

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.