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Hut circles and settlements near Merrivale Bridge
Dartmoor Forest, Tavistock, Devon
Grid ref: SX 5560 7504
Main image: Photo: Tony Whitman (CC BY-SA 2.0) via Wikimedia Commons
- Period: Bronze Age, with later farm and quarry remains
- Status: Eight scheduled monuments (Historic England entries listed below)
- Huts: At least 36 stone hut circles in the main settlement, plus outliers and isolated huts
East of Merrivale Bridge, on the gentle west-facing slope of Over Tor above the River Walkham, Historic England records a large partially enclosed hut circle settlement. The main monument alone has at least 36 hut circles and four separate enclosures, with a round cairn, a post-medieval farmstead and pits where millstones were cut. Several huts and an enclosure with three huts are scheduled as outlying parts of it, and two isolated huts with slab-lined doorways stand further east on Longash Common.
The monuments in this area are sometimes known together as Merrivale Antiquities. The stone rows, standing stone, stone circle and a ring cairn have their own listings, linked below.
The eight scheduled monuments
| Historic England entry | Grid reference | What survives |
|---|---|---|
| 1013427 | SX 55551 74979 | The main settlement: at least 36 hut circles and four enclosures (the north-western one 53 m by 29 m), a round cairn, a post-medieval farmstead and millstone and stone cutting pits. |
| 1013428 | SX 55657 75121 | An outlying hut 7.4 m across inside, wall 2 m wide and up to 1 m high, with a south-facing doorway gap. |
| 1014669 | SX 55505 75168 | An outlying hut 5.5 m across inside, wall 1 m wide and up to 0.9 m high. |
| 1014670 | SX 55586 75158 | An outlying hut 6.3 m across inside, wall 1.6 m wide and up to 1.15 m high. |
| 1014671 | SX 55553 75205 | A sub-circular enclosure 38 m by 32 m with a slab-faced wall, linking three hut circles that are older than it. |
| 1019569 | SX 55289 75199 | A prehistoric settlement of at least four huts within a field system of large rubble walls, with a cairn and three pillow mounds, inside Merrivale Newtake. |
| 1013432 | SX 55809 74765 | An isolated hut 5.6 m across inside, wall 1.4 m wide and up to 0.8 m high, one side formed by a boulder, with a slab-lined doorway. |
| 1013433 | SX 55920 74729 | An isolated hut 7 m across inside, wall 1.4 m wide and up to 1 m high, with a slab-lined doorway facing south-south-east. |
Grid references are from the Historic England entries. Each entry covers one scheduled monument; a monument can hold several features.
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The 8 rings on this map are the separate scheduled monuments that make up this listing, placed from Historic England’s records. Tap a ring for its grid reference and a link to its official entry. The pin marks the middle of the group.
Official record
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