Enclosures and stone hut circles forming part of a stone hut circle settlement on Langstone Moor

Reasons for Designation

Dartmoor is the largest expanse of open moorland in southern Britain and, because of exceptional conditions of preservation, it is also one of the most complete examples of an upland relict landscape in the whole country. The great wealth and diversity of archaeological remains provide direct evidence for human exploitation of the Moor from the early prehistoric period onwards. The well-preserved and often visible relationship between settlement sites, major land boundaries, trackways, ceremonial and funerary monuments as well as later industrial remains, gives significant insights into successive changes in the pattern of land use through time. Stone hut circles and hut settlements were the dwelling places of prehistoric farmers on Dartmoor. They mostly date from the Bronze Age, with the earliest examples on the Moor in this building tradition dating to about 1700 BC. The stone-based round houses consist of low walls or banks enclosing a circular floor area; remains of the turf or thatch roof are not preserved. The huts may occur singly or in small or large groups and may lie in the open or be enclosed by a bank of earth and stone. Although they are common on the Moor, their longevity and their relationship with other monument types provide important information on the diversity of social organisation and farming practices amongst prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

The enclosures and stone hut circle settlement on Langstone Moor survive well, are visually impressive and represent particularly fine examples of their class. They contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument, the economy of its inhabitants and the landscape in which they lived and, as such, provide a valuable insight into the nature of Bronze Age occupation and land use on the west side of the moor.

Details

This monument includes 45 stone hut circles and five enclosures situated on a gentle south-facing slope overlooking the valley of the River Walkham and forming much of the large settlement on Langstone Moor. Twenty-five of the stone hut circles are attached to boundary walls. Thirty-nine of the huts are circular in plan and the internal diameters of these huts vary from 1.2m to 7m. Five huts are oval in plan and these range between 2m to 5m long and 1.6m to 3m wide and stand between 0.3m and 0.4m high. One hut is square in plan and is divided into two compartments. The average height of all the hut walls is 0.46m. One of the huts has a porch and another has a screened doorway. Eleven of the huts on Langstone Moor were excavated by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee during 1894. A raised dais, a hearth and cooking hole were found in several of them. The artefacts recovered included a flint core, five flakes and a scraper.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

20370

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Single Monument Class Description - Stone Hut Circles, (1987)
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SX57NE17,
Gibson, A, Single Monument Class Description - Stone Hut Circles, (1987)

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.