MDE1295 - Possible post-medieval peat cuttings or modern structure west of Warcombe Water (Monument)

Two prehistoric hut circles are recorded on historic mapping. They have more recently been interpreted as the possible results of peat digging, although one might be the remains of a more modern structure of unknown purpose.

SS 7296 4396. Two hut circles shown and annotated. [1] Hut circles between Warcombe Water and Ruckham Combe. [2] Marked as hut circle on six inch 1962 Ordnance Survey map. [3] SS 7296 4396. Listed under 'Supposed Hut Circles'. Thorn Hill (Lynton). Patch of heather 10 yards (9.13 metres) in diameter only. [4] SS 7296 4396. No trace of a hut circle in this area of open moorland littered with small mounds probably the result of peat digging. [5] SS 72961 43970. The remains of a subrectangular structure situated, about 345 metres above Ordnance Datum, on gentle north facing heather slopes between Ruckham and Warcombe. It measures 5.4 metres northeast to southwest by 3 metres within a low heather and bracken covered stone wall about 1.2 metres wide and 0.3 metres high at best. The northwestern wall is so reduced as to be barely discernible. No entrance is evident.The better preserved part of this structure does initially give the impression of a hut circle and may have been mistaken for one by the Ordnance Survey surveyors in 1887 [1]. Its rectangular shape suggests however that it may be the footings of a more modern structure of unknown purpose and period. No trace was found of the other 'hut circle' depicted on the 1891 map at SS 73000 43980 [1]. Surveyed at 1:2500. [6] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [7]