<< Our Photo Pages >> Lowton Brook West Settlement - Ancient Village or Settlement in England in Devon
Submitted by AngieLake on Friday, 06 November 2009 Page Views: 6170
Multi-periodSite Name: Lowton Brook West Settlement Alternative Name: Fernworthy Hut CirclesCountry: England County: Devon Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Chagford Nearest Village: Frenchbeer / Lettaford
Map Ref: SX663834
Latitude: 50.634917N Longitude: 3.891959W
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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External Links:
I have visited· I would like to visit
Catrinm visited on 16th Jul 2022 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4
Catrinm visited on 16th Jul 2022 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 4
Much more overgrown in July 2022... but still beautiful.
AngieLake have visited here
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.5 Ambience: 4 Access: 4
This is a large well-sited hut circle, the northernmost of several apparently, though we only saw this one while exploring in September 09. It is visible from the road around Fernworthy reservoir. It is noticeable high up on the right of the road as you return to the car park and toilets from a visit to Froggymeade circle. [See map on site page.] After parking just below it, by a forest track gateway, look for the easy path up to it. (See photo).
Having checked my 'Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities Vol.2 - The North' by Jeremy Butler, he lists it under Lowton Brook West. This is what he says:
"Many prehistoric settlements occupied the slopes on the northern spur of Assycombe Hill, between the Lowton and Assycombe Brooks. Much has been irrecoverably lost, first to the enclosures surrounding Assycombe and Lowton Farms which were already abandoned and ruinous by the middle of the nineteenth century, long before the afforestation of the hillside which has been much more damaging.
Eleven huts can be found, with some difficulty, in small clearings approachable from the nearest track. The largest hut (9.1m), furthest north, has been incorporated in a later field wall and so survives almost intact, though one stone lying at the centre has a neat series of five slots cut along its length in preparation for use as a gatepost. The others are of medium to large size (5.0-8.0m) with entrances, where visible, opening to the south-east. Short lengths of walling attached to several huts are soon lost within the trees but are obviously part of their surrounding field walls."
It certainly has a lovely setting and view towards the reservoir now, though in ancient times - if not surrounded by trees - the occupants would have obviously looked over a dry valley.
Update November 2019: This settlement is featured on the Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks (PDW) website - see their entry for the Lowton Brook W. Settlement.
This site is also recorded as Pastscape Monument No. 443867, which describes this as a massively constructed hut circle. Described as a 'dispersed hut circle settlement with 12 hut circles spread over a distance of 550 metres north-south', it is also included as MV104672 (Lowton West Settlement, Fernworthy Forest) on the Devon and Dartmoor HER, and scheduled as Historic England List ID 1017983 (Dispersed stone hut circle settlement and associated fields 490m south east of Silk House).
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