 The central hut of Kes Tor Round Pound  The outer wall of the pound is to the right of the picture with the hut the circular structure to the left. |
On either side of
the minor road that leads from Teigncombe to Batworthy lay the remains of a Bronze Age settlement and farming area consisting of stone lined field systems known
locally as reaves, droveways and huts. Most of the huts are fairly small, measuring
between 7-11 metres in diameter, although one in particular is a little different.
The Round Pound consists of a central stone hut with a double skin wall about
a metre thick and 11 metres diameter with evidence of post holes that would have
held wooden poles supporting a thatched roof - there was an entrance towards the
south. What sets this hut apart is that it has an outer pound wall of about 33
metres diameter and between 1-2 metres thick, this time with an entrance to the
west - there is evidence of a possible lintel over the entrance. Excavation within
the hut in 1952 uncovered broken pottery and flints, hammer stones, a spindle
whorl and an anvil along with a pair of pits that were used for iron smelting.
It is these pits that have lead to some confusion as the the date of the Round
Pound. While the site and surrounding field systems are believed to date from
the Bronze Age, traces of iron ore would suggest a later Iron Age date for this
building, so is this a site that was in continuous use over a long period of time,
was it abandoned at an earlier date and later reused for metal working or was
it indeed built during the Iron Age? To further confuse matters the site was re-utilised
during the Medieval period when the pound was divided by low internal walls and
some kind of shelter built - the stone being robbed from the earlier walls.
|
Back to Map | Home | Full Glossary | Links | Email: chriscollyer@stone-circles.org.uk
