Trout Hill 2: a stone setting on the north east end of Trout Hill 610m south of the foot bridge over Badgworthy Water

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1014265
Date first listed:: 10-Mar-1969

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1014265
Date first listed:: 10-Mar-1969
Date of most recent amendment:: 22-Mar-1996

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Somerset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Exmoor
National Park:: EXMOOR
National Grid Reference:: SS 79554 43124

Reasons for Designation

Exmoor is the most easterly of the three main upland areas in the south western peninsula of England. In contrast to the other two areas, Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor, there has been no history of antiquarian research and little excavation of its monuments. However, survey work has confirmed a comparable richness of archaeological remains with evidence of human exploitation and occupation from the Mesolithic period to the present day. The well-preserved and often visible relationships between settlement sites, major land boundaries, trackways and ceremonial and funerary monuments give insight into successive changes in the pattern of land-use through time. Stone settings consist of a group of standing stones set out in an irregular or random pattern. There are a number of such sites on Exmoor where they appear to be a regional variation of the more common stone alignments. Stone settings are often sited close to prehistoric burial monuments, such as small cairns and cists, and to ritual monuments, such as stone circles, and are therefore considered to have had an important ceremonial function. Stone settings were being constructed and used from the Late Neolithic period to the Middle Bronze Age (c.2500-1000 BC) and provide rare evidence of ceremonial and ritual practices during these periods. Due to their rarity and longevity as a monument type all surviving examples are considered to be of national importance.

Despite the damage to the central stone of the monument, the Trout Hill 2 stone setting survives well and will retain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the construction and use of the monument. Its importance is increased by being part of a linear group of three other similar sites which extend for 600m.

Details

The monument includes three standing stones, a recumbent stone and the archaeologically sensitive area between and around those features. The site is located on the north east facing slope of the ridge at the north east end of Trout Hill 610m south of the foot bridge over Badgworthy Water. The stone setting occupies a trapezoidal shape and extends for 0.02ha. The standing stones mark the northern, western and southern limits of the site and are between 400mm to 830mm high, 200mm to 330mm wide and 130mm thick. The recumbent stone lies on the easternmost edge of the site and is 800mm long, 250mm wide and 140mm thick. A central stone survived until the 1970s when an unexploded shell was detonated against it leaving a shell crater that is 1.5m in diameter and 400mm deep.

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:: 25222
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
McDonnell, R R J, Recommendations for the Management of Archaeological Sites in, (1985), 49
Quinnell, N V, Dunn, C J, Lithic Monuments within the Exmoor National Park: A New Survey, (1992), 43

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.