| More information : Centred SX 7443 7914. Three sub-circular enclosures with huts(1a)
Centred SX 7435 7917. An ovoid enclosure containing a possible hut platform and traces of four further huts lie on the gently sloping NE flank of Houndtor Down 150m NE of the tor. The enclosure, bisected by a later cornditch measures 28m NW to SE by 20m and is marked on the N and E by stoney banks up to 2.5m wide and 1.3m high. The W and S sides are formed by a scarp 1.0m high, presumably partly the result of stone robbing. Little interior detail is apparent. Of the two hut circles depicted by Butler only one possible stance is recognisable as a crude ring of stones approximately 4.5m in diameter. There is no obvious entrance and the interior is sloping.
At SX 7438379149, immediately east of the enclosure, an ovoid platform is partially overlain by a later boundary. The levelled stance measures 6.0m N to S by 4.5m in diameter with low spread walls 1.2m wide and 0.25m high. Again there is no obvious entrance.
The remains of the three huts in the area of Houndtor 2 have all been disturbed. One has been reused, one incorporated into a longhouse while the third has been heavily robbed. The hut at SX 7450079113 is 6.4m in diameter and the most complete having been reused as a store or pen during the medieval period. There is little more than an arc of stones left of the hut formerly centred at SX 7450079097, from this a diameter of 5.8m has been calculated by Butler (1991 52). At SX 7447879080 on the steeper hillside above these two are the remains of the third hut, 5.2m in diameter and heavily disturbed by later stone robbing. The walls of this hut, where they survive, measure 0.9m wide and up to 0.5m high with traces of internal facing on the S. There is no obvious entrance.
The enclosure centred SX 74467915 depicted by Butler is a combination of later field boundaries and natural features. (1a)
Two further hut circles at SX 74377915 and SX 74397913, immediately SE of the ovoid enclosure, were exposed during the winter of 1995/6 after a heathland fire.
Both are terraced into the slope and slightly ovoid. The former measures 4.2m N to S by 3.7m internally with a possible entrance in the N wall while the latter is slightly larger at 6.7m N to S by 6.0m with a N facing entrance. The walls on both huts are well-built with walls around 2.3m wide and up to 0.5m high. (2)
A group of three fragmentary Bronze Age enclosures with hut circles are visible on 2015 Next Perspectives APGB vertical aerial photography and visualisations of Environment Agency 1m Lidar data flown in 2021. The features were mapped from aerial sources in 2023 during the Historic England Dartmoor-Plym project. They were previously recorded during field survey in 1995/1996 and some were described by Beresford (1979). These features are immediately to the north-east of Hound Tor.
The first enclosure centred at SX 74355 79165 comprises five short lengths of curving enclosure bank surrounding at least two hut circles, one of which is attached to the southern enclosure wall. The enclosure is divided by a medieval ‘corn-ditch’ type of field boundary. There are three hut circles outside the enclosure to its south-east. One is cut by the medieval field boundary, the other two stand to its south.
The second enclosure is centred at SX 74462 79141. Two sections of enclosure bank remain, enclosing a hut circle. The enclosure’s southern boundary may have been used by the medieval field boundary that passes from the first enclosure. The enclosure and hut circle are cut by a medieval wall running north to south.
The third enclosure, centred at SX 74499 79099, was adapted to form the medieval farmstead known as Hound Tor 2 (NRHE 445183). It is formed of four short lengths of curving enclosure bank with a scarp to the north side. It may have been joined to the second enclosure in the environs of SX 74484 79120 but a medieval wall passes across this area. The hut circles within the enclosure were adapted to form some of the medieval farmstead’s buildings. (3-5)
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