In archaeology, ahut circle is a circular or oval depression in the ground which may or may not have a low stone wall around it that used to be the foundation of around house. The superstructure of such a house would have been made of timber and thatch. They are numerous in parts of upland Britain and most date to around the 2nd century BC.[1][2]
Hut circles are usually around 5 to 25 feet (1.5 to 7.6 m) in internal diameter, the rocks themselves being 2–3 feet (0.61–0.91 m) wide and around 3 feet (0.91 m) high. Hut circles were also almost certainly covered by conical rounded roofs and supported by posts that were internal and sometimes external.[1]
There are more than 100 registered hut circles and enclosures in Wales.[3] They are to be found in areas which have not been ploughed and the stones have not been disturbed. They are quite common in the north.[4]
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Hut circles are particularly numerous onDartmoor, where there are an estimated 5,000. One of the best-known sites isGrimspound, which is exceptionally well preserved owing to its solid stone construction, the numerous hut circles being enclosed by a stone wall. It dates to theLate Bronze Age.[5] It was first settled about 1300 BC. The 24 hut circles are surrounded by a massive granite perimeter wall, which may have stood 5 feet 7 inches (1.7 m) tall in places. The roundhouses, with an average diameter of 11 feet (3.4 m), were each built of a double ring of granite slabs with a rubble infill – a technique still used indry-stone walling. One, Hut 3, has a surviving porchway, with the two jamb stones still upright, although thelintel has fallen. There is good evidence of human activity: pottery, scrapers, andpot boilers were found in the huts during Victorian excavations. However, few organic artefacts survived in the acidic soil. Ashes were found at a central hearth in each hut.
AtHalangy Down in theIsles of Scilly are the remains of an Iron Age village composed of round houses below theBant's Carn Bronze Age burial chamber.
Hut circles also occur in Northern Scotland, but it is unclear whether there is a connection between these and the hut circles in England. These hut circles were usually in pairs, and surrounded by groups oftumuli of sepulchral origin. These hut circles were around 40 feet (12 m) in diameter and 20–30 yards (18–27 m) apart.[6]
