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Summary

Group of at least 12 hut circles scattered throughout the reave system east of Mountsland Common. Also, a European palstave was found on Horridge Common in this area in the 1960s.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1019603: Coaxial fields, prehistoric settlements and cairns on Halshanger and Horridge Commons, forming part of the Rippon Tor coaxial field system
• SHINE: Earthworks and stone walls of a Bronze Age parallel reave system on Mountsland, Halshanger and Horridge Commons, comprising the remains of a field system, hut circle settlements, enclosures and cairns, and surface remains of 19th century Hemsworthy Mine

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX77SE1
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 445196
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX77SE/5
• Old SAM County Ref: 346
• Old SAM Ref: 28774

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HUT CIRCLE SETTLEMENT (Constructed, Iron Age - 700 BC (Between) to 42 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 1320 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

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

Horridge Common: A fine series of huts and fields. Huts 20-27 feet in diameter, double-walled, orthostatic, and of early Iron Age type. Fields divided by orthostatic walls overlaid by ? Medieval cultivation lynchets. There is a droveway at SX 7563 7449 from one hut to a spring. Deep in bracken. Lychetted fields also near Bagtor Wood.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1960-1966, SX77SE1 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV315180.

(17/05/1960) There is a group of five hut circles centred at SX7569 7456 and a group of four centred at SX7570 7433. All are in fairly good condition and in several the entrances are clearly defined. A 25" survey has been made.
An extensive field system as described by Lady Fox is centred at SX 7585 7450. There is a superimposition of probable Medieval and modern field boundaries upon early fields apparently contemporary with the huts, and the whole is similar to the settlement at Foale's Arrishes (Devon 108 NW 7).
(September 1965) A track has recently been bulldozed through this area and I picked up a bronze chisel on the surface at SX 75767436. The implement has been identified by Lady A. Fox, who states that it is an unusual type, hitherto unrepresented in the south west. Presented to Exeter Museum (W. J. Hopkins, reviser, Sept 1965).
The palstave found by Mr. Hopkins is of a type unique in Britain and probably hails from Czechoslovakia. Note to be published in Antiquaries Journal (citing letter Lady A. Fox, 09/06/1966).

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

(Centred SX 758 745) Settlement (NR).

Barber, J., 1967, Twenty Ninth Report on Archaeology and Early History, 317-8, plate 1 (Article in Serial). SDV280587.

Fox, A. + Britton, D., 1969, A Continental Palstave from the Ancient Field System on Horridge Common, 220 (Article in Serial). SDV315181.

Part of an extensive track of cultivation of south facing slopes of moor. Bronze Age system enlarged by Medieval strip fields and later enclosures with drystone walling. Three large huts 8 metres in diameter and one smaller (6 metres in diameter). The huts stand in small irregular enclosures with entrances between them. Fields enclosed by lines of upright granite slabs. Fifteen surviving fields with a total of 7.6 acres.
Palstave found on Horridge Common near the hut circles and extensive field system. The palstave is heavily worn and damaged by corrosion. There is a marked constriction at the base of the blade, which then expands into a broad flanged haft with a V-shaped notch. Does not belong to the British series of Middle Bronze Age palstaves; therefore must be an import from the Continent. Its nearest analogies are in the central European series, of Bohemian palstaves which were in use in the south-west of Germany, Czechoslovakia and Hungary in the 15th century BC.

Fox, A., 1973, South West England 3,500BC - AD600 (Revised Edition), 114, figure 336 (Monograph). SDV16216.

Pearce, S. M., 1976, The Middle and Late Bronze Age Metalwork of the South-West and its Relationship to Settlement, 26 (Article in Serial). SDV338753.

Palstave, square butt, very low flanges, V-shaped stop ridge. Length 130 millimetre, blade width 28 millimetres, butt width 22 millimetres.

Pearce, S. M., 1979, The Distribution and Production of Bronze Age Metalwork, 142 (Article in Serial). SDV322230.

Pearce, S. M., 1983, The Bronze Age Metalwork of South Western Britain, 445 (Monograph). SDV341822.

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

Nine hut circles visible on the aerial photographs between SX75707460 and SX75677445.

Devon County Council, 1990, DAP/QD, 4-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDV297846.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 152309-22, est. 2000 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

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

Huts visible on the aerial photography. Map object based on this source.

Newman, P., 2015, Rippon Tor Premier Archaeological Landscape, Dartmoor National Park, Devon, figure 21 (Report - Survey). SDV359145.

Depicted on maps and described individually.

Ordnance Survey, 2016, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV359352.

A number of the huts are depicted on the modern mapping. Map object based on this source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV2669 - PALSTAVE (Middle Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1001 BC)

Associated Events

• EDV6836 - Rippon Tor Premier Archaeological Landscape survey

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