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 inwards. 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 pair of linked hut circles is a well-preserved example of hut dwellings
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 about 1700 BC
onwards.
These two stone hut circles in dense bracken on the south-east slope of
Stalldown, are 6m. in diameter with walls over a metre high and are joined
by a sinuous wall of large granite boulders up to a metre high and
approximately 30m. long.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
10514
Legacy System:
RSM
End of official list entry
