Little Hangman Hill

Combe Martin and Little Hangman Hill (the conical hill beyond the town), Devon (NMR 24930/10) (© English Heritage.NMR) A survey of Exmoor National Park from the air, carried out as part of English Heritage’s National Mapping Programme, revealed a previously unrecognised prehistoric enclosure on the summit of a famous landmark, Little Hangman Hill, near Combe Martin on the coast of North Devon. The National Trust, who manage this stretch of coastal heath, organised a group of hard working volunteers who spent part of their holidays clearing the gorse from the enclosure. National Trust volunteers clearing gorse on Little Hangman Hill. (Photograph by Becca Pullen)
 Following this, a detailed ground survey was carried out by the English Heritage Archaeological Survey and Investigation team. This showed that the enclosure earthwork links together several rocky outcrops and inside are several levelled areas and some quarry scoops. The enclosure on Little Hangman Hill is difficult to date but could belong to a group of sites found in Devon and Cornwall known as 'tor enclosures'. These date from the earlier Neolithic period, around 6000 years ago, when people first began to make a mark on their landscape, often utilising existing landforms like prominent hilltops and rocky tors and crags. For further information please contact hazel.riley@english-heritage.org.uk