Stone hut circle settlement, cairnfield and field system 580m north east of Gartaven Ford

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1019489
Date first listed:: 08-Dec-1997

The Missing Pieces Project

Share your view of unique places.

Add your contribution

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1019489
Date first listed:: 08-Dec-1997
Date of most recent amendment:: 09-Nov-2000

Location

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

County:: Devon
District:: West Devon (District Authority)
Parish:: Gidleigh
County:: Devon
District:: West Devon (District Authority)
Parish:: Throwleigh
National Park:: DARTMOOR
National Grid Reference:: SX 64014 88754

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. Stone hut circles and hut settlements were the dwelling places of prehistoric farmers on Dartmoor. They mostly date from the Bronze Age, with the earliest examples on the Moor in this building tradition dating to about 1700 BC. The stone-based round houses consist of low walls or banks enclosing a circular floor area; remains of the turf or thatch roof are not preserved. The huts may occur singly or in small or large groups and may lie in the open or be enclosed by a bank of earth and stone. Although they are common on the Moor, their longevity and their relationship with other monument types provide important information on the diversity of social organisation and farming practices amongst prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

The stone hut circle settlement, cairnfield and field system 580m north east of Gartaven Ford survive well and contain information relating to the character and development of this area in prehistoric times. This settlement also lies on the interface between rich tin deposits and extensive areas of upland grazing and therefore information concerning the exploitation of these resources may survive.

Details

The monument includes a stone hut circle settlement, cairnfield and field system situated on a gentle south west facing slope overlooking the Ruelake Pit. The stone hut circle settlement includes three stone hut circles, which survive as circular or oval rubble banks each surrounding an internal area which varies from 18 sq m to 22 sq m, with the average being 19.7 sq m. The heights of the surrounding walls vary between 0.3m and 0.6m, with the average being 0.43m. All of the huts have visible doorways and one is attached to a short length of field wall. The cairnfield includes a cluster of at least 14 mounds varying in diameter between 1.5m and 4m. The cairns stand between 0.2m and 0.6m high and two of them are denoted by a stone kerb. The field system survives as lengths of sinuous walling in the area between the huts and the cairnfield.

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:: 22351
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Butler, J, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities, (1991)
Other
MPP Fieldwork by S. Gerrard, Gerrard, S., (1999)
Unpublished plan, Turner, J, Ruelake Pits cairnfield, (1982)

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.