Unenclosed stone hut settlement north-east of Yadsworthy

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, north-east of Yadsworthy, is a well-preserved example of an extensive unenclosed hut settlement with enclosures and provides exceptional 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. This unenclosed stone hut settlement, comprising thirty-four hut circles and six enclosures, lies on a gentle slope north-east of Yadsworthy. The archaeological features lie on either side of a modern track. Fifteen of the huts are attached to enclosures or banks, four are in two attached pairs, the rest are detached and they vary in size and construction, remaining up to a metre high and 12m. in diameter with orthostatic walling and entrances. The banks also include orthostats, remaining over a metre in height in some places. The modern waterworks track is excluded from the scheduling, but the underlying deposits are included.

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:

10518

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Devon County SMR,

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