Details

The monument includes an unenclosed stone hut circle settlement and cairn
lying on an east facing slope overlooking the valley of the River North Teign.
The settlement survives as a linear cluster of five stone hut circles, each
surviving as a bank surrounding a circular internal area. Their interiors
vary from 4.15 square metres to 14.51 square metres, with the average being
11.53 square metres. The height of the surrounding walls vary between 0.4m and
0.7m, with the average being 0.56m. Four of the huts have visible doorways and
the walls themselves survive as earthworks.
The cairn lies a short distance east of the stone hut circles and survives
as a 5m diameter mound standing up to 0.7m high.

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. 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 unenclosed stone hut circle settlement 1.1km south east of Gartaven Ford,
south west of Rippator survives well and forms part of a group of at least six
similar settlements overlooking a substantial natural basin formed by the
North Teign River, the Gallaven Brook and Walla Brook. Together this group of
settlements represent an important insight into this particular form of
relatively rare prehistoric settlement.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
MPP fieldwork by S. Gerrard, Gerrard, S., (1997)

Source: Historic England