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Summary

'Broadun' a large enclosed prehistoric settlement overlooking the East Dart River of 300 metres by 260 metres covering an area of about 6 hectares. It contains at least 36 hut circles. Skirted on the inside by a newtake wall for most of its periphery the settlement wall is mainly reduced to a much robbed rubble bank, spread up to 5 metres in width and 0.5 metres high in places. Only a few large outer facing stones remain around the north side. No entrance can be seen, but it may have been in the south-south-east where the wall has been cut through and overlaid by the Powder Mills heat and its embankment.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1021333: Broadun prehistoric enclosed settlement, 780m NNW of Archerton
• SHINE: Earthwork remains of part of the 19th century leat supplying Powder Mills gunpowder factory, as well as a leat and reave on Chittaford Down

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68SW11
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443926
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NW/73
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SW/48
• Old SAM County Ref: 977
• Old SAM Ref: 34492

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Prowse, A. B., 1891, The Ancient Metropolis of Dartmoor, 311, figure (Article in Serial). SDV245176.

Other details: Figure.

Burnard, R., 1894, Exploration of the Hut Circles in Broadun Ring and Broadun, 191-193, 196 plan (Article in Serial). SDV246116.

Broadun. Ruined walls enclose an area more than 4.86 hectares to the south of 'Broadun Ring'. 17 huts still recognisable, many more spoiled by being robbed for newtake walls. Probably 50 habitations and storehouses.
Hut 1. Entrance fairly complete. Charcoal found round hearth. Nest of dozen cooking stones just inside the entrance. 60 cooking stones, 5 pieces of schorl, 9 small rounded river stones of white quartz (slingstones?) rubbing stone of grit, flint scrapers found in the hut. A piece of clear quartz found under a fallen stone.
Hut 2. Plain hearth stone. 3 cooking stones, 3 flint fragments, charcoal found.
Hut 3. Charcoal round hearthstone. 4 cooking stones, piece of altered grit, fragment of slaty stone found.
Hut 4. No hearth, a cooking hole near the centre full of charcoal and ashes.
Hut 5. No floor. Nothing found. Probably store house.
Hut 6. Cooking stones, flint, rubbing stone, charcoal found. No hearth visible. Floor roughly paved. Two other imperfect circles jointed these, not explored. Hut 7. Well paved. Signs of fire and charcoal near the entrance. Hut 8. Flint flake found. Hearthstone. Hut 9. Hearth in good condition. Cooking stone and charcoal found.
Hut 10. Not a circle, like a small cairn. Pit found underneath, filled with stones. Wood charcoal and ash in the bottom of the pit.
Hut 11. One cooking stone and charcoal. Plain hearthstone.

Brailsford, J. W., 1938, Bronze Age Stone Monuments of Dartmoor, 455 (Article in Serial). SDV304210.

Worth, R. H., 1943, The Prehistoric Pounds of Dartmoor, 282 (Article in Serial). SDV320337.

Worth, R. H., 1945, The Dartmoor Hut Circles, 242 (Article in Serial). SDV246120.

Royal Air Force, 1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1995, 4365-6 (Aerial Photograph). SDV224714.

Royal Air Force, 1949, RAF/540/176, 5121-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDV224083.

Griffiths, W. E., 1951, Early settlement in Caernarvonshire, 63-4 (Article in Serial). SDV224028.

Broadun. A very large pound of about 12 acres, containing 17 huts, lies on the south slope of Broad Down. The huts are circular, and range from 9 to 15 ft in diameter; they contain hearth-stones and 'cooking-holes'. Some are paved, and some have entrances with orthostatic jambs. Small finds from excavation included many pot-boilers, fragments of flint rubbing-stones, and pieces of charcoal. One heap of stones proved on examination to contain a pit, 4 ft deep and 4 1/2 ft long, containing a mixture of charcoal and bone ash. This was probably a cairn, and may be compared with the examples that occur in some of the Caernarvonshire settlements.
On the trackway leading to Broadun a large number of flints, including two arrow heads, have been found (Burnard, TDA 26, 1894, 191-3, 196 plan).

Royal Air Force, 1951, RAF/540/483, 4047-8 (Aerial Photograph). SDV224087.

Ancient Monuments, 1976, Schedule notes (Schedule Document). SDV320304.

(21/01/1976) Hut circles and enclosure west of Hartland Tor. Group of about 18 hut circles, most 6.0m - 7.6m diameter, but a few are 3.0m - 4.5m diameter and very ruined. Boulder walls with loose fill. To the south east of the group is a round enclosure about 15.24m in diameter (AM7). The outline is still tracable. There are 39-40 hut circles in it.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1978, SX68SW11, SX68SW11 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV224030.

(02/10/1978) An enclosed settlement known as 'Broadun' centred at SX 635800, on the south-facing slope of Broad Down at 425.0 - 390.0 metres OD. Its maximum dimensions are approximately 300.0 metres north east-south west by 250.0 metres northwest-south east giving an area of 6.0 hectares. the remains of the enclosure wall now form a rubble bank averaging 0.6 metres in height running parallel to and outside a newtake wall which has been largely constructed of material from the old wall. The enclosure has been cut through on the south east by a leat but the course of the wall is visible. Inside the enclosure are 36 Type 1 hut circles with a further three outside the southern perimeter. The condition of the huts is mostly poor, though three are in reasonably good condition. Their average internal diameter is 3.7 metres with an average thickness of walling of 1.3 metres; the largest has a measurement of 13.0 by 10.5 metres and the smallest a diameter 2.5 metres. Twenty three of the huts have entrances on the south-east, south or south-west side. The enclosure wall appears to be contemporary with or later than the huts. There is some indication that the interior of the enclosure has been cleared.
No trace could be found of the cairn referred to by W. E. Griffiths (1951). (Type Site : SX 56 SW 19).
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD and at 1:2500 for AO Records.

National Monument Record, 1979, SF1510, 405-408 (Aerial Photograph). SDV224088.

Robinson, R., 1983, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1983 (Un-published). SDV345762.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1983, Middle Merripit Survey Drawing (Plan - measured). SDV321106.

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

Enclosure and 16 hut circles, some small and fragmentary, visible on 1979 NMR and 1951 RAF AP. May be more hut circles. A court or small enclosure is attached to the eastern wall of the enclosure at SX63687989.

Robinson, R., 1986, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1986 (Un-published). SDV345664.

Visited 14/08/1986.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit, I. S. Sainsbury (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

(29/09/1989) SX 63547992. Situated on the rough grass covered SE flanks of Broad Down at about 405m O.D. this large enclosed settlement known as 'Broadun' contains at least 36 hut circles. (See plan at 1:2500).
Skirted on the inside by a newtake wall for most of its periphery the settlement wall is mainly reduced to a much robbed rubble bank, spread up to 5m in width and 0.5m high in places. Only a few large outer facing stones remain around the N. The wall encloses a sub circular area 300m NE-SW by 260m transversely, about 6ha. No entrance can be seen, but it may have been in the SSE where the wall has been cut through and overlaid by the Powder Mills heat and its embankment.
The hut circles are mostly constructed of turf covered stone and rubble walls, incorporating large boulders or outcrops and often severely robbed. They cover much of the interior although two, (35 and 36), are set on the outer lip of the wall in the SE. They range from 2.5m to 6.5m in diameter, inside walls 1m to 1.8m thick and 0.3m to 0.7m high. Only 11 ill-defined entrances can be determined, all in the S. arcs. (See attached table for details).
A larger oval hut, or small enclosure (40), about 12m NE-SW by 10m transversely within a turf covered rubble wall 1.5m wide 0.4m high, is set on the inside lip of the settlement wall in the ESE. No entrance is visible.
Fragments of turf covered rubble walls (41) accompany two hut circles (13 and 14) in the NW and another in the SE forms an elongated 'O' shaped enclosure (42) attached to the outer face of the settlement. One hut (38), shown by authority 6, appears to be a cairn (see SX 67 NW 220), whilst another (37) is probably no more then a fortuitous spread of rubble.
At (29) is a rather amorphous stony area 7m NW-SE by 5m, with what may be a fragment of walling on the NE side. This is almost certainly the site of Burnard's (8) No 10 which he depicts as an elongated pecked oval (though the number is apparently misplaced). He describes it as "not a circle but a heap of stones like a small cairn, near what appeared to be a short piece of straight wall". The amorphous area seems to represent the site of a cairn since Burnard's excavation records a pit with charcoal and burnt bones. A further table of information on the settlement is held in the archive.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 39-40, Map 27, Figure 27.2 (Monograph). SDV219155.

'Broadun' where a newtake wall follows the inner edge of the ancient wall which has sufferered accordingly, being in few places more than 0.3 metres high. Only on the south-east side does the modern wall part company but here the pound wall is even more severely damaged by the Powder Mills leat. Some 32 hut circles are clearly defined and a number of stone heaps scattered about may be the remains of others. They are mainly grouped towards the centre with a clear area between them and the circuit wall. Almost all the huts are small of 3.0 to 4.5 metres diameter but one hut near the centre is 7.0 metres diameter. Eleven of the huts were excavated in 1893 and appear to have been dwellings.

DNH, 1993, SMC Letter (Correspondence). SDV224032.

(27/01/1993) Consent granted for repairs to upper part of a boundary wall and erection of a stock-proof, free-standing fence to protect the wall.

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

Enclosure and hut circles shown on survey.

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 2015-2017, 2015-2017 Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV361462.

Enclosure visible on aerial photograph.

Ordnance Survey, 2022, Mastermap 2022 (Cartographic). SDV364674.

'Broadun Settlement' shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2022, National Heritage List for England, 1021333 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364675.

The monument includes a prehistoric enclosed settlement, a cairn, a short length of leat and post-medieval walling situated on a south facing slope overlooking the valley of the East Dart River. The enclosure survives as a circular shaped area denoted by a rubble bank measuring up to 5 metres wide and standing up to 0.5 metres high. The interior of the enclosure measures 300 metres north east-south west by 260 metres north west-south east and contains at least 36 stone hut circles varying between 2.5 metres and 6.6 metres in internal diameter. Eleven of the huts have visible doorways and two are attached to the outer face of the enclosure. Eleven of the huts within the settlement were partially excavated by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1894 and this work revealed hearthstones, charcoal, flints, rubbing stones and pot boilers. The inner face of the enclosure wall is surmounted by a post-medieval drystone wall along much of its circuit and this stands up to 1.5 metres high. Against the northern wall is a small drystone-built animal pen. Adjacent to the southern side of the enclosure is a cairn. This survives as a 5.5 metres diameter stony mound standing up to 0.8 metres high. This cairn is clipped on its northern side by a leat carrying water to the gunpowder mills at Cherry Brook.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV647 - Field Monument Warden Visit
• EDV648 - Field Monument Warden Visit.
• EDV649 - Unnamed Event
• EDV650 - OSA=SX68SW11
• EDV8648 - Middle Merripit Farm, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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