Details

This monument includes a sub-circular enclosed settlement situated on a gentle
west-facing slope on the edge of the Walla Brook disused tin streamworks. The
enclosure measures 68m long by 65m wide, with an entrance on its east side
providing access to the interior. The enclosure wall is of rubble
construction, measures 1.8m wide and stands up to 0.8m high. The eastern and
western lengths of the enclosure wall are lyncheted and the northern side has
been removed by a later tinworks. Four stone hut circles are attached to the
internal face of the enclosure boundary, two are attached to the external face
and three lie within the interior. Two short lengths of boundary wall survive
within the enclosure.

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.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

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. Within the landscape of Dartmoor
there are many discrete plots of land enclosed by stone walls or banks of
stone and earth, most of which date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC), though
earlier and later examples also exist. They were constructed as stock pens or
as protected areas for crop growing and were sometimes subdivided to
accommodate stock and hut circle dwellings for farmers and herdsmen. The size
and form of enclosures may therefore vary considerably depending on their
particular function. Their variation in form, longevity and relationship to
other monument classes 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 close association of this enclosed settlement with the nearby tin
streamworks makes it a likely source of information relating to Prehistoric
tinworking. Important and informative archaeological structures, features and
deposits will survive within a waterlogged environment such as this, the
conditions being conducive to the preservation of environmental information.
Such evidence will provide a valuable insight into the economy of the site's
inhabitants and the landscape in which they lived.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SX58SW75, 1981,
Gibson, A, Single Monument Class Description - Stone Hut Circles, (1981)
Gibson, A, Single Monument Class Description - Stone Hut Circles, (1987)
Gibson, A, Single Monument Class Description - Stone Hut Circles, (1987)
Gibson, A., MPP Dartmoor - Evaluation of Enclosures, (1988)

Source: Historic England