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 provides 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.
This site south-west of Gutter Tor is a well-preserved example of an
unenclosed hut settlement and provides important evidence of how early
farming and stock-rearing communities lived on the Moor.
Details
Low stone walls or banks enclosing a circular internal floor area form the
remains of timber and turf or thatch-roofed dwellings occupied by farmers of
the prehistoric period. They may occur singly or in larger groups and were
sometimes built within a surrounding boundary bank or enclosure. On Dartmoor
the long tradition of building stone-based round houses can be traced back
to the second millennium BC, probably from 1700 BC onwards.
This unenclosed hut settlement south-west of Gutter Tor consists of six hut
circles terraced into the south-facing slope some 500m from the tor. The
group is orientated broadly north-west/south-east; four huts are single and
two are joined together. The huts range from 7.5m to 10.5m in diameter and
the walls, built of small stones and earth, range from 1.5m to 3m in
thickness and from 0.5 to 1.5m in height. There are entrances in the
southern sides of the huts, one retains its jambs.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
10598
Legacy System:
RSM
End of official list entry
