<< Our Photo Pages >> Whittenknowles Rocks - Ancient Village or Settlement in England in Devon
Submitted by thecaptain on Sunday, 15 June 2008 Page Views: 6468
Multi-periodSite Name: Whittenknowles RocksCountry: England County: Devon Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Tavistock Nearest Village: Lee Moor
Map Ref: SX5852867024
Latitude: 50.485903N Longitude: 3.995562W
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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Anne T visited on 15th May 2019 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 4 Access: 3 Whittenknowles Rocks Enclosed Settlement: We parked in the small car park at SX 57880 67316 next to a small stream and a ford. Walking across the road bridge, we dived off across a small stream and walked next to a small wood, entering the moorland and continuing in a southerly direction, following an old dry stone wall, then turning eastwards. Most of the walking was really easy, even though this was rough moorland.
We started to come across wall lines and groups of stones, and as I started to ‘get my eye in’, the hut circles and compounds became much clearer (see Butler’s plan, “Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities”, volume 3, page 126). The hut circles and enclosures were inter-dispersed with uncleared lines of rocks, which Sandy said were natural, and the occupants had just left them as they were.
Towards the southern side of the site, towards the long houses, we came across a small leat, where Sandy explained there had been ‘in the past, a natural disaster’ and all the soil had come down the slope, presumably leaving no soil for growing crops.
I couldn’t believe how far this site extends – some 4.7 hectares (11.61 acres).
I took photographs, blithely thinking the external GPS device on my camera was capturing the locations of the photographs. It wasn't until a couple of days later that I realised there was no lat/long information on the photographs, so I've had to guess, from Butler's plan, more or less where the photos were taken.
SandyG visited on 15th May 2019 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 4
TheCaptain have visited here
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 2.5 Ambience: 4.5 Access: 3.5
At least 38 huts are to be found in the very large enclosure, and many other walls and enclosed paddocks. Its use was probably over a very long time period, and the remains of a medieval longhouse can be found at the eastern side of the enclosure.
Update December 2019: This large and complex site is recorded as Pastscape Monument No. 438638, as MDV3995 (Prehistoric Hut Circle Settlement, Whitten Knowles Rocks, Sheepstor) on the Devon and Dartmoor HER, and scheduled as Historic England List ID 1010650. Pastscape lists the grid references of most of the different structures within the compound (hut circles, clearance cairns and even one hut circle that looks as if it was excavated and used in recent times by the military!). Estimates vary for the area this enclosure covers: Historic England says 6 hectares; Pastscape 4.7ha (11.61 acres).
This site is also featured on Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks - see their entry for Whittenknowles Rocks Enclosed Settlement. It is also documented briefly by J. Butler, "Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities", volume 3, pages 126 and 127, which includes a site plan.
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