Lying in a saddle between Hameldown and Hookney Tor, in the parish of Manaton, are the remains of the Bronze Age settlement of Grimspound, dating from 1500 to 1000 BC. At over 1500 feet above sea level, it consists of 24 small hut circles surrounded by a massive enclosure or ‘pound’. The partly reconstructed granite walls of the pound, about 3 feet high and 9 feet wide, enclose an area of about 4 acres. It has an entrance facing south, uphill towards Hameldown.

This pound, with its numerous dwellings, was clearly not suitable for cultivation, nor is its position on the slopes of a hill defensible, so presumably it was used as a stock pen.

Although the wall is substantial, it is not thought to have been built for defensive purposes; most probably acting as a barrier to ensure the safety of the cattle against attacks by wolves or other wild animals and also as a protection from the weather. The huts were originally roofed with turf or thatch supported by wooden poles. Of those huts with certain traces of an entrance, most face south-eastwards away from both the prevailing south-westerlies and the biting north-easterlies. Of equal importance was the sensible precaution of opening downhill, a particular consideration where buildings were levelled into the hillside. Surface water creeping through the entrance after a prolonged rainstorm would soon have made life uncomfortable inside, transforming an unpaved floor into viscid mud.

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