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Enclosure with hut circles to the north-east of Piles Copse

A Scheduled Monument in Harford, Devon

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Coordinates

Latitude: 50.4458 / 50°26'44"N

Longitude: -3.905 / 3°54'17"W

OS Eastings: 264838.850107

OS Northings: 62394.399022

OS Grid: SX648623

Mapcode National: GBR Q7.VBNQ

Mapcode Global: FRA 27QW.0JF

Entry Name: Enclosure with hut circles to the north-east of Piles Copse

Scheduled Date: 5 June 1972

Last Amended: 18 October 1991

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1013106

English Heritage Legacy ID: 10529

County: Devon

Civil Parish: Harford

Traditional County: Devon

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Devon

Details

The Dartmoor landscape includes many discrete plots of land enclosed by stone
walls or earth and stone banks, which acted as stock pens or protected areas
for crop growing. Some of them were subdivided to accommodate hut dwellings
for farmers and herdsmen. Many examples date to the Bronze Age (c.2500-500BC)
though earlier and later ones also exist.
This enclosure, on a steep west-facing slope overlooking the River Erme, is
approximately 45m. wide and 65m. long, with a drystone wall 0.3m. high and
up to 2m. thick and a probable entrance at the south-east. There are two hut
circles joined to the inside of the east wall, one 5m. in diameter with
walls up to 2m. thick and 0.3m. high, the other 10m. in diameter with
walls up to 3m. thick and 0.7m. high. Immediately outside the enclosure
wall on the west side there are two hut circles built on a slight terrace.
They are 5m. and 10m. diameter with walls up to 3m. thick and 0.3m. to
0.5m. high. The site is covered by dense bracken up to waist height.

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 provides 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.
This is a well-preserved enclosure with hut circles, forming an integral part
of the concentration of settlement along this stretch of the Erme Valley. It
provides important insight into farming practices on the Moor during the
Prehistoric period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
SX66SW-016,

Source: Historic England

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