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Prehistoric Settlements

White Ridge enclosures and field system

Grid ref: SX 6442 8175

Main image: Photo: Guy Wareham, Wikimedia Commons

Historic England's scheduling record (list entry 1018710) describes three agglomerated enclosures with hut circles, a round cairn and part of the Stannon block field system on White Ridge, in Great Stannon Newtake. The scheduling falls into seven areas. It lies in the parish of Dartmoor Forest, about 0.7 km north of Stannon Tor and 2.8 km north of Postbridge.

The northern enclosure is attached to a reave of the Stannon block and has at least eight irregular areas bounded by boulder and rubble walling, with seven huts inside, five of them butted by the walling. The second lies south of it, at least five enclosed areas bounded by rubble walling 1.2 metres wide and 0.3 metres high, with two huts linked to the walling and two free-standing. The cairn lies just west of this settlement, a mound 7.2 metres across and 0.9 metres high with a stone kerb on its west side that may survive buried elsewhere and a small pit in the middle from robbing or an early dig. The eastern enclosure is also attached to a reave, with at least nine enclosed areas, the two largest rectangular, and at least six huts, one converted into a shelter in historic times.

The huts are banks round oval or circular spaces of 7.06 to 60.79 square metres, averaging 27.65, with walls 0.3 to 1.4 metres high, averaging 0.6. Eleven have visible doorways, one has an annex, and eight were partly excavated by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee towards the end of the 19th century. The part of the Stannon block field system in the monument is mostly rubble walling up to 2 metres wide and 0.5 metres high. The terminal reave is cut in two places by leats that carried water from the East Dart River to the tinworks at Birch Tor and Vitifer.

Sources: Historic England list entry 1018710, which cites Butler, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities (1991), pages 159 to 161, and the Duchy Farms Report on Great Stannon Newtake (1990). Raymond Ducker has added photographs of hut circles in a comment on the Historic England page; I have not used them.

  • Period: Bronze Age
  • Status: Scheduled monument (Historic England list entry 1018710)
  • Grid reference: SX 6442 8175 (approximate, from the listing's coordinates)
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“The only thing that brought us home on long summer evenings was the ring of a handbell by Mum standing at the field gate calling us in for supper.”

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Emma Cunis. From Emma's Story (2024).

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