Butler writes (in his ‘Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities, Volume Five – The Second Millennium B.C.’) on the subject of ‘Hut Interiors’ [pages 135-137]:
“Other less common features not entirely satisfactorily explained include ‘anvil’ stones, smallish flat or upended slabs embedded in the floor, either singly or in an arc around part of the interior. They were found in many of the Grimspound huts, in hut 1 Foale’s Arrishes and in hut 3 Smallacombe Rocks, the Committee suggesting they may have served either as a kind of chopping stone for breaking open bones, nuts, etc., or perhaps less likely as retainers for logs used as sleeping couches. Thirteen were found altogether at Shaugh Moor, both from the huts and elsewhere in the enclosure. Mrs Minter identified one of these stones in hut 2 Heatree Common, and at hut 3 Metherall , R.H. Worth showed that a similar earthfast slab had indeed been used as an anvil by the tinners, at least judging by the thick layer of tin slag that surrounded it."
I didn't see the anvil stone when visiting on 22nd August 2012, but the interior was pretty lush with bracken. Next time perhaps there'll be a photo of the anvil stone to add to the site page!
Interesting to see that Smallacombe Rocks' hut 3 had the same thing, so was this just a 'design-feature' in the area, or perhaps they were both involved in some kind of local processing work?
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