Details

The monument includes a prehistoric enclosure, refurbished in the medieval and
post-medieval periods and now disused, containing a prehistoric stone hut
circle and situated in a remote position on the lower eastern slope of
Roughtor, in the upper valley of the De Lank River on north west Bodmin Moor.
The enclosure is visible as a pentagonal area of 0.4 hectares measuring
internally 66m NNE-SSW by 68m maximum WSW-ENE. Its perimeter is defined, in
its final, post-medieval, form by an earthen bank up to 1.75m wide and 1m
high, faced, along its outer side only, by a vertical dry-stone wall of
boulders and coursed rubble. A largely silted ditch, up to 1.75m wide and
0.4m deep, runs immediately outside the bank and pertains to the earlier,
medieval, form of the enclosure bank. An entrance gap, 1.5m wide, is present
on the enclosure's north side, flanked by slabs up to 1.4m high. The
relatively recent refurbishment of this enclosure is evidenced by corroded
stumps of iron fence posts at intervals along the crest of the bank. The
earlier, medieval use of this enclosure as an isolated cultivation plot is
indicated by two features. The form of the earthen bank, stone-faced and
ditched only on its outer side, is characteristic of a medieval corn-ditch,
providing a steep obstacle to stock trying to enter the plot but facilitating
their escape if they became trapped inside. Studies of corn-ditches on nearby
Dartmoor indicate their construction there, due to legal constraints, during
and before the 12th century. Medieval use is also indicated by a series of
cultivation ridges, low parallel banks up to 2m wide and 0.1m high, visible on
a WNW-ESE axis in parts of the enclosure surface. An even earlier,
prehistoric, origin for the enclosure is characterised by the focal position
of its contained and intact stone hut circle which results in the enclosure
including quite densely boulder-strewn areas within its western and southern
extent that could have been avoided if laying out a cultivation plot afresh on
this largely open hillslope with extensive stone-free areas. The inclusion of
the stone-spreads indicates that the medieval enclosure was constructed with
minimum effort by refurbishing a prehistoric enclosure already in existence
with boundaries respecting the hut circle at its centre.
The hut circle survives with a circular wall of heaped rubble, up to 1.4m wide
and 0.3m high, incorporating occasional outer facing slabs and an almost
complete circuit of inner facing slabs up to 0.7m high. The wall defines a
circular internal area, 5.5m in diameter, levelled into the hillslope. A
break, 0.6m wide, in the wall's eastern sector marks the entrance, flanked on
each side by unusually large slabs, 0.9m across.
Some 70m to the SSW of this monument is a linear group of nine broadly
contemporary small cairns located along the valley side, as well as other
broadly contemporary settlement sites, field systems, funerary and ritual
monuments on the slopes of Roughtor.

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

Bodmin Moor, the largest of the Cornish granite uplands, has long been
recognised to have exceptional preservation of archaeological remains. The
Moor has been the subject of detailed archaeological survey and is one of the
best recorded upland landscapes in England. The extensive relict landscapes of
prehistoric, medieval and post-medieval date provide direct evidence for human
exploitation of the Moor from the earliest prehistoric period onwards. The
well-preserved and often visible relationship between settlement sites, field
systems, ceremonial and funerary monuments as well as later industrial remains
provides significant insights into successive changes in the pattern of land
use through time.

Within the landscape of Bodmin Moor are many discrete plots of land enclosed
by stone walls or banks of earth and stone, 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 animal shelters and hut circle settlements
for farmers or herders. The stone hut circles so contained were the dwelling
places of prehistoric farmers on the Moor, mostly dating to the Bronze Age.
These stone-based round houses survive as low walls or banks enclosing a
circular floor area; remains of a turf or thatch roof are not preserved. The
longevity of use of both enclosures and stone hut circles and their
relationships with other monument types provide important information on the
diversity of social organisation and farming practices among prehistoric
communities.
This enclosure with its contained stone hut circle on the eastern slope of
Roughtor has survived well. Its proximity to other broadly contemporary
funerary, ritual and settlement monuments indicates the nature of land use and
farming activities during the Bronze Age, while the enclosure's refurbishment
during the medieval and post-medieval periods and its subsequent lapse into
disuse demonstrate the continuity of prehistoric boundaries amid changing land
use regimes in this remote upland landscape from the prehistoric period to the
present day.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Fleming, A, Ralph, N, 'Medieval Archaeology' in Medieval Settlement And Land Use On Holne Moor, Dartmoor, , Vol. 26, (1982)
Other
1992, Carter, A/Fletcher, M J /RCHME, 1:2500 AP transcription and field trace for SX 1580,
consulted 1992, Carter, A/Fletcher, M J /RCHME, 1:2500 AP transcription and field trace for SX 1580-1,
consulted 1992, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 3519,
consulted 1992, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 3520,

Source: Historic England