Hound Tor deserted medieval village, hut circles and fields

Historic England's scheduling record (list entry 1016255) describes a partly enclosed hut circle settlement and its fields, two medieval settlements and their fields, and later cairnfields, ridge and furrow and shelters on the upper slopes of Hound Tor, above the valley of the Becka Brook. The medieval hamlet of Houndtor is in the care of the Secretary of State. It lies in the parish of Manaton, about 1 km east of Hedge Down Tor and 2.4 km north-east of Bonehill.

The prehistoric settlement has at least eight huts and two enclosures, with a large field system south of it of three major fields and an enclosure. The medieval hamlet has four longhouses, one converted to a barn late in the life of the settlement, as well as three corn driers and four barns. Excavations in the 1960s showed it was abandoned in the mid-14th century. Its irregular fields look like the result of several phases of unplanned growth and shrinkage. The second farmstead lies north-north-west of the hamlet and survives as a single longhouse with a barn and a corn drier. An earlier hut circle was partly pulled down to make room for the barn, and another hut seems to have been reused as an outbuilding. Irregular fields beside it often have lynchets.

After the medieval settlements were left, the fields may have been farmed on. In the post-medieval period the area saw extensive narrow ridge and furrow, and several groups of clearance cairns may be of that time. South of Greator Rocks three shelters built against medieval boundary banks are probably also post-medieval. Greator Rocks itself is not part of the scheduling.

Sources: Historic England list entry 1016255, which cites Butler, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities (1991), pages 51, 52 and 55, Newman, Probert and Riley, Houndtor Down, Manaton, Devon (1994), Beresford, 'Three Deserted Medieval Settlements on Dartmoor' (Medieval Archaeology, 1979), pages 98 to 158, and fieldwork for the Monuments Protection Programme by S. Gerrard (1995). Visitors have added links on the Historic England page, including English Heritage's history of the deserted medieval village; I have not copied them.

• Period: Medieval
• Status: Scheduled monument (Historic England list entry 1016255)
• Grid reference: SX 7448 7879 (approximate, from the listing's coordinates)