| Summary : A cluster of irregular and incompletely preserved enclosures containing 20 hut circles lie between the clitter west of Hen Tor and the former enclosed land around Hentor Farm. The Bronze Age settlement site, recorded by previous authorities, is visible as stony structures and earthworks on Environment Agency 1m Lidar data flown in 2019 and 2021 Historic England orthomosaic aerial photography. The site was mapped from aerial sources in 2023 during the Historic England Dartmoor-Plym project.
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| More information : (SX 59056540) Enclosure and Hut Circles (NR). (1-2)
Below Hentor on a north-west facing clitter-covered slope, between 347.0m and 370.0m OD, are the remains of a partly enclosed settlement of twenty-six huts occupying an area of 4.5 hectares. There are two main enclosures, each incomplete, constructed of piled stones to form walling 1.5m thick and 0.5m high. No distinctive entrances are visible. The majority of the huts are connected by a rickle of stones.
Six lie within the first enclosure and two in the second. The huts appear to be of Type 2 with southern entrances and levelled interiors. The internal diameters vary from 2.0m to 5.0m with a mean of 3.3m. The hut walling averages 1.0m thick and 0.6m high. The site is generally in poor condition. (Type site: SX 56 NE 71).
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD. (3)
Depicted and described by Robertson and Butler. (5-6)
Centred SX 59106543. A cluster of irregular and incompletely preserved enclosures containing 20 hut circles lie between the clitter W of Hen Tor and the former enclosed land around Hentor Farm. It is impossible to determine the original extent of this settlement as it has been severely disturbed by later activity which seems to have resulted in the removal of several elements and the obfuscation of most others. The enclosure banks are generally 1.5m wide and exist up to 0.7m high though some have been heightened by the addition of clearance stone in the post medieval period and others have been robbed to ground level.
Of the 26 huts recorded by Authority 3 only 20 can be positively identified, the remainder existing as small hollows in the clitter. All have been partially or wholly infilled by clearance material and few original features are apparent.
SX 59016552. 4.6m in diameter with walls 1.0m wide and 0.4m high. Some internal facing stones are visible.
SX 59066550. An infilled hut presenting a levelled platform 4m in diameter.
SX 59056548. 4.0m in diameter with walls 1.1m wide and 0.3m high. Some internal facing.
SX 59046545. A levelled platform 4.6m in diameter with some uprright slabs and blocks. Heavily robbed.
SX 59086545. 3.6m in diameter with walls 1.0m wide and 0.6m high.
SX 59106545. A possible hut 2.0m in diameter with walls 1.5m wide and 0.75m high. Open to the W and subject to much later dumping.
SX 59126545. A terraced platform 2.7m N to S by 3.6m with walls 1.5m wide and 0.6m high. A semi-circle of large blocks form the W margin.
SX 59106538. An infilled hut roughly 3.2m in internal diameter with walls 1.6m wide and 0.7m high externally.
SX 59106538. Infilled hut 4.4m in diameter with a well-defined entrance in the N side. The walls measure 1.5m wide and 0.75m high.
SX 59116539. A massively built hut 3.9m N to S by 4.6m with walls 1.1m wide and 0.6m high.
SX 59146533. 3.0m in diameter with walls 1.0m wide and 0.4m high.
SX 59136533. A largely infilled hut 3.2m N to S by 4.2m with walls 1.3m wide and 0.8m high.
SX 59116532. 2.3m in diameter with walls 1.3m wide and 0.4m high. Open to W.
SX 59116530. 3.4m in diameter with walls 1.4m wide and 0.4m high. A possible entrance lies in the E wall.
SX 59006537. A crude circle of massive boulders and slabs3.3m in diameter with a possible entrance in the SE.
SX 59006536. A circle of large boulders and slabs, noe recumbant, 3.0m in diameter.
SX 58986538. 5.9m in diameter with walls 1.3m wide and 0.7m high.
SX 58986539. 4.4m in diameter with walls 1.2m wide and 0.3m high and an entrance in the E.
SX 58976538. A circle of large slabs and boulders 6.5m in diameter with an almost complete circle of internal facing stones.
SX 59036537. 4.0m in diameter with walls 1.1m wide and 0.3m high. An entrance is situated in the E side.
(7)
Scheduling amended. (8)
The Bronze Age settlement site, recorded by previous authorities, is visible as stony structures and earthworks on Environment Agency 1m Lidar data flown in 2019 and 2021 Historic England orthomosaic aerial photography. The site was mapped from aerial sources in 2023 during the Historic England Dartmoor-Plym project. At least 20 hut circles stand amongst incomplete enclosures on the north-west facing slope at the edge of the Hentor Farm field system (NRHE 438864). The field system cuts the northern-most enclosure in the environs of SX 59064 65479. A length of earthwork bank is cut by the stony wall of the northern enclosure at SX 59101 65426, suggesting that it and other sections of bank in the environs are earlier in date than the rubble-built walling. Scheduled monument NHLE 1019082. (9-10)
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