Hut circles on Heatree Down

Historic England's scheduling record (list entry 1002557) describes part of a partly enclosed stone hut circle settlement on the lower north-western slopes of Heatree Down. The scheduling falls in two areas. A circular enclosure up to 58 metres across inside, with a wall up to 1.5 metres wide and 0.4 metres high, holds seven stone hut circles, and there are two more huts to the north and four to the south. A later plantation wall cuts part of the enclosure's west side. It lies in the parish of Manaton, about 1.3 km west of Cripdon Down Tor and 2.9 km west of Manaton.

Four of the huts are attached to the enclosure wall, two of those joined by a separate curving wall and two conjoined, and the other three stand free inside. The huts are from 3.9 to 6 metres across inside, with double upright-stone walls, the largest outside the enclosure and the smaller inside it.

The four southern huts and two huts against the east wall were partly excavated by Mrs E. M. Minter for the Devon Archaeological Society in 1968. Work inside the enclosure did not go below the later rubble layer, but the southern huts were dug more fully and gave Trevisker pottery and flints, with post holes, paved surfaces and hearths. More huts to the north belong to the same settlement but are not scheduled, because they have not been formally assessed.

Sources: Historic England list entry 1002557 (updated 10 November 2015), which cites Butler, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities, vol 1 (1991), pages 149 to 150, PastScape 445642, and Quinnell, The Late Mrs E.M. Minter's Excavation of Hut Circles at Heatree, Manaton in 1968, Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings 49 (1991), pages 1 to 24.

• Period: Bronze Age
• Status: Scheduled monument (Historic England list entry 1002557)
• Grid reference: SX 7222 8072 (approximate, from the listing's coordinates)