Enclosure with hut circles west of Glasscombe Corner

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 a relict upland 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 the later industrial remains, gives significant insights into successive changes in the pattern of land use through time. The enclosure west of Glasscombe Corner is a well-preserved example with hut circles. It provides important insight into farming practices on the moor during prehistoric period.

Details

The Dartmoor landscape includes many discrete plots of land enclosed by stone walls or earth and stone banks, which acted as stock pens or protected areas for crop growing. Some of them were subdivided to accommodate hut dwellings for farmers and herdsmen. Many examples date to the Bronze Age (c.2500-500BC) though earlier and later ones also exist. This enclosure lies west of Glasscombe Corner and on the north bank of a tributary of the West Glaze Brook. It consists of a circular enclosure 33.5 m. in diameter, with walls up to 1.5 m. thick and over a metre high, often incorporating large naturally embedded boulders. There are four hut circles, two within the enclosure and one internally and one externally attached to the wall, they are of similar size, 6 or 7 m. in diameter and remain up to 0.5m high.

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:

10565

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Devon County SMR SX66SE-011,

End of official list entry

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