Enclosure with a hut circle on the west side of Corringdon Ball

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1010209

Date first listed: 13-Feb-1992

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

National Park: DARTMOOR

National Grid Reference: SX 66849 60963

Summary

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

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. Within the landscape of Dartmoor there are many discrete plots of land enclosed by stone walls or banks of stone and earth, most of which date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC), though earlier and later examples also exist. They were constructed as stock pens or as protected areas for crop growing and were sometimes subdivided to accommodate stock and hut circle dwellings for farmers and herdsmen. The size and form of enclosures may therefore vary considerably depending on their particular function. Their variation in form, longevity and relationship to other monument classes 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.

This enclosure forms part of a concentration of contemporary occupation evidence surviving on Corringdon Ball, near the ceremonial and ritual complex at Glasscombe.

History

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Details

This enclosure with a hut circle lies on the western slope of Corringdon Ball, some 50m above Corringdon Leat and forms part of the concentration of occupation evidence in the area. The enclosure is defined by a bank of stone which contains an oval interior 40m by 20m. The bank is 1m in width and 0.4m in height and has a single hut circle, some 7m in diameter, attached internally to its northern side.

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: 10860

Legacy System: RSM

Sources

Other
SX 66 SE-380, SX 66 SE-380, (1991)

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.