Two stone hut circles north of Spanish Lake, Lee Moor

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. These two hut circles are well-preserved examples and with other settlements and cairns in the vicinity, indicate the wealth of evidence for occupation and the ritual side of life on this part of 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. These two hut circles lie on a west-facing slope at the western end of Lee Moor, north of Spanish Lake. They are built of earth and stone and are 5m and 4.5m in diameter with walls 1m in thickness and 0.5m in height and entrances in the west and north-west respectively. The larger, eastern hut circle has traces of a bank leading from its north-east side and curving back towards the other hut. There are two cairns close by and other cairns and occupation sites a few hundred metres to the north.

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:

10695

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Devon County SMR SX 56 SE 16,

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