<< Our Photo Pages >> Dunnabridge Pound - Ancient Village or Settlement in England in Devon
Submitted by AngieLake on Sunday, 02 January 2005 Page Views: 13223
Multi-periodSite Name: Dunnabridge Pound Alternative Name: Dunnabridge Pound includes the Judge's ChairCountry: England County: Devon Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Princetown Nearest Village: Dartmeet
Map Ref: SX64617462
Latitude: 50.555614N Longitude: 3.91264W
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 |
Internal Links:
External Links:
I have visited· I would like to visit
TheCaptain visited on 18th Sep 2020 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 3 Access: 5 Now I can head back down the hillside on a decent track to Dunnabridge, passing what are probably interesting remains of Brimpts Mine, which on another less tired time I would go and explore! Once down and before walking up the road to the car park, I decide for a quick look in Dunnabridge Pound with the Judge's Chair, which once more is in dark shadow.
I get back to the car at 5:15 after walking 14.3 km and ascending 337 m of vertical, now slightly regretting cutting off the northernmost part of the walk to Postbridge, as it is so much easier on the made tracks. A damn good day out, my back and legs have been working well. Now for a pint at the Warren House Inn where I sit taking in the beautiful views over to Grimspound. Thats a walk for another day.
Mikehj visited on 1st Apr 2020 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 4
lucasn visited on 26th Jun 2019 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5
TheCaptain visited on 11th Apr 2019 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 3 Access: 5 The Judges Chair in deep shadow, so no good for photos, but a nice little sit down
graemefield visited on 18th May 2017 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 4 Access: 5
h_fenton AngieLake cazzyjane have visited here
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 4.2 Ambience: 3.6 Access: 4.8
These overlook a huge looping bend in the West Dart River down in the valley below. There is ample parking beside the Pound and its farm, where a footpath leads to Bellever Tor, to the north, and Laughter Tor, not far to the northeast. The Pound's position, SW of the Laughter Man menhir, and its stone rows, is interesting, as they could have been that community's ceremonial centre.
Just inside the Pound's entrance near the road is a structure known as The Judge's Chair.
I have entered a lot of information on the origins of this pound, but first, some more recent information, taken from a talk by Jenny Sanders, to Yelverton Local History Society on 18.03.2003:
"From here (Brimpark, near little Sherberton) a causeway leads across marshy ground to Dunnabridge Farm on the opposite side of the river. The interesting settlement of Dunnabridge - 'bridge by the down' - consisted of 5 tenements, and was established as a communal venture in 1305 to reclaim 96 acres of land from the King's Waste, with each of the tenants holding 19 1/5 acres. The large house was built towards the end of the C19, as were many of the 'new' Duchy houses to replace the old longhouses.
At the top of the lane to the farm lies Dunnabridge Pound Farm, itself an old house with a huge hearth. This was the Poundkeeper's house. Beside it is the pound based on a prehistoric enclosure and used to impound stray animals. Part of the duties of the tenement holders was to attend at 4 drifts a year and to feed and water the strays. To collect these, the owners had to pay a fine. The last poundkeeper, Miss Dinah Tuckett was, it appears, a formidable character, barring the gate and refusing to release any animal before the fine crossed her palm."
If the name 'Dunnabridge Farm' sounds vaguely familiar, it was here that the first farm on Dartmoor was isolated at the outbreak of the Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic in 2001. The main road was even closed as a precaution. Prince Charles is the owner of the lands hereabouts and was quite distressed.
Information on the Pound's origins, taken from Jeremy Butler's book "Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities Volume Five - The Second Millennium BC":
P.89 - Farming Communities
Amongst the most spectacularly well-preserved domestic structures on the Moor are the prehistoric pounds, a completely different type of enclosure from the independent farmsteads and apparently serving an alternative but perhaps complementary function to the field systems. This large enclosure design seems to be a comparative rarity amongst contemporary field systems in the lowland zone of Britain, and in its basic single-circuit form even with the neighbouring communities on Bodmin Moor.
Whilst pounds share the same hill slopes with the independent farmsteads at the centre of the Moor, there is a notable absence of them along the whole of the eastern border. Fox suggested that the lower rainfall made this area more suitable for arable cultivation and perhaps it had already been enclosed by the field systems, as excavations on Shaugh and Holne Moors show that some pounds at least were being constructed at a slightly later date than the field boundaries at these two sites (gives ref nos here). In the central area the five pounds on the southern flank of Laughter Tor and the Kraps Ring group north of Lakehead Hill are close neighbours to the farmsteads between them, with no indication that one type superseded the other.
(Later on P.93):
The only pound that has so far been carbon-dated is the wall of Shaugh Moor enclosure 15, to around the middle of the second millennium BC and so slightly later than the beginnings of the nearby field system, but obviously the results from a single site should not be extrapolated too conclusively to the remainder..................What does seem likely is that most pound-based settlements were inhabited to the full at the height of the moorland occupation, though perhaps only for a short period before the population started to ebb away, as there would seem little necessity to lay out new sites when conveniently vacant ones were available............ Excavations have shown that later settlers had no inhibitions about taking over long-abandoned buildings........... The 250 or so prehistoric pounds are scattered widely over the Moor but are to be found in the largest numbers in the southern valleys from the Avon to the Meavy, occupying every suitable niche.
(Later on P.98):
The pounds started out and often remained single circuits, almost invariably roughly circular or oval like Grimspound, Broadun, Dunnabridge and others. At some sites extensions were added to the perimeter but the primary enclosure can still confidently be identified from its shape alone even if no longer central to the settlement. Some pounds were so crammed with hut circles that there was little space within the walls for any activities beyond the basics of everyday living.
(Later on P.99):
Few pounds on the open moor are likely to have been entirely lost to the stone robbers, though those on Ringmoor Down south of Gutter Tor have come close to disappearing. Rather, many like Roundy Park, Erme Pound, Dunnabridge, Broadun, etc. were for a period brought back into use, rebuilt on the old foundations.
(Later on P.101):
As fortifications the pounds are invariably badly sited on the slopes but nevertheless the massive construction of some sites gives the impression of a defensive wall, against wolf and bear perhaps from the untamed forest below, or even from Bronze Age cattle rustlers........The stone walled perimeters were rarely very high, though they could have been topped with a hedge or even a palisade...
(Later on P.113):
Unoccupied Enclosures
As with huts lacking some form of enclosure, so with enclosures unaccompanied by hut circles. They are rare, amounting to about 2 per cent of the total. Some of these untenanted enclosures, though of undoubtedly prehistoric date, are likely to have been constructed over a wider time frame than the generality of sites and may well have been designed for a number of quite different uses. A fair proportion of this small group are damaged or overgrown near the moorland edge where the huts may have been destroyed, and were perhaps few in number in the first place, or even still survive but are now completely buried below the turf. .................and Laughter Tor S.W. (28.8). The latter enclosed a large area of hillside but the rubble walling, now 0.2m high at best, fades away inconclusively to north and south. ......... Complete removal of all traces of stone-built foundations is not however easy as can be seen at Dunnabridge Pound, in continuous use for many centuries, where vestiges of walling survive despite a deliberate programme to clear all interior obstructions.
(Later on P.143): in the section on Population:
At a lower level the substantial walls of many pounds, perhaps most, were usefully incorporated wholesale into the present field pattern, and the population of these sites together would not seem to be very great, in the order of several hundreds probably. In addition however the figure should be substantially increased to take account of demolished or buried hut circles within some pounds, particularly in the central basin. Dunnabridge for instance may have had a population of 17 adults despite traces of only two huts, ...... .....there were between 8000 and 9000 people living on the uplands and surrounding slopes at the height of settlement, the majority of them pastoralists, most of whom probably migrated to the lowlands during winter months. This represents a population density of about eight to the square kilometer (about twenty-two to the square mile) over a fairly well-defined region much of which remained unenclosed.
Update September 2019: This pound is also featured on the Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks (PDW) website - see their entry for the Dunnabridge Pound.
The pound is also recorded as Pastscape Monument No. 443295 and on the Devon and Dartmoor HER as MDV6272 (Dunnabridge Pound).
The monument is also Grade II listed as Historic England List ID 1170564 (Dunnabridge Pound).
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.
Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Click here to see more info for this site
Nearby sites
Click here to view sites on an interactive OS mapKey: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed
Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)
To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.
Turn off the page maps and other distractions
Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
941m SSE 166° Sherberton stepping stones* Ancient Trackway (SX64817370)
951m E 100° Huccaby Rings Outer* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX6554474428)
961m NE 36° Laughter Tor row 2* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SX65207538)
973m NE 37° Laughter Tor Longstone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SX65227538)
1.0km NE 46° Laughter Tor row 1* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SX65377532)
1.2km NNW 332° Bellever Tor 10* Cist (SX64077568)
1.3km NW 308° Bellever Tor 9* Cist (SX63587546)
1.3km NW 324° Bellever Tor 8 Cairn (SX63847572)
1.4km NNW 328° Bellever Tor 6* Cist (SX63897585)
1.4km SSW 208° Sherberton Row* Stone Row / Alignment (SX63917336)
1.5km ESE 121° Huccaby Rings Inner* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX6585473819)
1.6km SSW 203° Sherberton circle* Stone Circle (SX6394073173)
1.6km NNW 331° Bellever Tor 4* Ring Cairn (SX63867603)
1.6km NNW 333° Bellever Tor 3* Cairn (SX63917606)
1.7km NNW 343° Bellever Tor 2* Cairn (SX6414076270)
1.9km NNW 343° Bellever Tor Cairn one* Cist (SX6408976465)
2.0km NNW 331° Black Newtake Enclosure Ancient Village or Settlement (SX63707636)
2.1km SW 217° Swincombe cairn circle and cist* Cist (SX63327298)
2.1km WNW 284° Muddy Lakes Newtake Cairn (SX62587518)
2.1km N 5° Bellever Tor NE Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX64867675)
2.2km N 355° Bellever Tor N Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX64487682)
2.6km N 1° Lakehead Hill Cairn 8* Cairn (SX6471777178)
2.6km WSW 243° Moorlands Farm stone row Stone Row / Alignment (SX623735)
2.6km WSW 241° Tor Royal Newtake Stone Row / Alignment (SX623734)
2.7km N 358° Lakehead Hill South Hut Circle* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX6459177291)
View more nearby sites and additional images