<< Our Photo Pages >> Smallacombe Rocks Settlement - Ancient Village or Settlement in England in Devon
Submitted by AngieLake on Sunday, 05 August 2012 Page Views: 6731
Multi-periodSite Name: Smallacombe Rocks SettlementCountry: England County: Devon Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Bovey Tracey Nearest Village: Widecombe in the Moor
Map Ref: SX7558378211
Latitude: 50.590333N Longitude: 3.759019W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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The easiest car park to use [both are S of the road] is the one at the top of the hill, though there is a Dartmoor National Park information centre and public conveniences in the lower car park.
If you want to get away from the crowds, just climb over the hill top and follow a fairly easy track with wonderful scenic views.
Butler writes about Smallacombe Rocks Settlement in his 'Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities, Volume One - The East'. My copy is published in 1991.
For ease of reference I've drawn a plan to illustrate the layout of the remaining huts as per Butler's own, on page 26 of the book. He tells us that the four hut circles (which he describes as being "in good condition") were excavated by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1896.
While exploring I found the walls of three huts, and by taking a right-fork in the tracks by an east-west running reave, am sure that the first I came across was his 'Hut 3' ("7.4m"). While sitting in it before leaving I couldn't see an entrance/exit, and none was shown in Butler's plan. He describes "a large block protruding 0.4m above floor level near the east wall and set firmly in the ground." There was a large earthfast stone *outside* this hut to SE. He tells us: "Finds were meagre, only a few pottery shards and some charcoal."
From this hut circle I headed up slope to a prominent wind-blown tree set into the remains of a reave that runs parallel to the lower one. A pointed stone higher up the rise caught my eye. On approach I found there were actually two, but the second was the eastern portal of the entrance to what Butler calls "Hut 2". I felt there was something special about this one. Inside, the occupant would have a beautiful view of the spectacular Haytor Rocks through his/her doorway. Also (as viewed today) the 'Goddess-effect' was captured at exactly due South between the portals. Butlers says: "The interior of hut 2 (6.7m) is well below ground level with an entrance to the south but the only finds were a pebble of red grit and a single piece of flint.
Next I headed westwards slightly over the brow of the hill to the north. All the while a ridge above Widecombe, like a sleeping dragon's back, was a dominant feature to the west. (Honeybag, Chinkwell, and Bell Tors run N to S along its spine.) This must have been Hut 4 ("9.2m"), a "dwelling", which Butler says was not completely excavated. The early archaeologists intended to return but didn't. What had been found there interested Butler greatly: ".. a much used flint knife and fragments of at least two pots, as well as a 'rubber' stone. Extensive layers of charcoal near the north-west walls indicated the position of fireplaces."
I didn't actually find Hut 1, but wandering around the area marked '5' in Butler's plan it struck me how well this area would have served the settlers as a gathering area, overlooking the lower part of their settlement, yet flanked by some pretty unusual piles of granite, some of which might have represented rock 'idols'. All sorts of shapes and 'heads' and 'creatures' can be picked out in the stacked piles of granite on Dartmoor. Over all of this, I can't help wondering if the view towards the breast-like protrusions of Haytor was the reason for the positioning of this settlement in the first place.
Butler's take on it's position: "Tucked in the lee of Smallacombe Rocks"... "high above the Becka Brook".. "commands an extensive view westwards over the river 100 m below." He mentions the "stone pit" close by Hut 4 but makes no further comment on it. "The reave ends over a kilometre away to the east, one of the few where both the original terminals can be identified." .... He describes the enclosure walls, then seems to agree with my own thoughts:
"The enclosed area contains a lot of dead ground with much surface stone as well as the tor rocks occupying the available space, which suggests that the position of the settlement rather than usable ground was the primary consideration."
Update December 2019: This settlement is featured on the Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks (PDW) website - see their entry for the Smallacombe Rocks Settlement. The settlement is also recorded as Pastscape Monument No. 445002, as MDV8055 (Prehistoric Settlement at Smallacombe Rocks, Ilsington) on the Devon and Dartmoor HER, and scheduled as Historic England List Entry No. 1002531 (Settlement on Smallacombe Rocks).
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