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Summary

Ring cairn of 16 metres diameter by 0.3 metres high between two reaves on Cudlipptown Down with six stones placed symmetrically on the surrounding bank

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Bronze age ring cairn with standing stones set around the ring, Cudlipptown Down

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57NW52
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439875
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57NW/69
• Old SAM Ref: 22213(P)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• RING CAIRN (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1964, RAF 58/6399, 0042-43 (Aerial Photograph). SDV225229.

Photograph taken in July 1964. 'A possible hut circle' visible on aerial photograph.

National Monuments Record, 1977, NMR SX5378, 1/221 (Aerial Photograph). SDV228537.

Photograph taken on 20th May 1977.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 160 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

(14/09/1975) Ring cairn (?) enclosing area c 10 metres in diameter. Three or four standing stones around circumference of ring 15.0 metres diameter, 0.3 metres high.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, SX57NW52, SX57NW52 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV230583.

(18/10/1980) At SX 53727894 a turf-covered bank 1.6m. wide and 0.3m high forms a circle with an internal diameter of 12.0m. The bank, constructed of small stones, is slightly lower and weaker on the W and SW. A gap in the E could be original but may have been caused by cattle.
There are now four upright blocks or slabs, one in each quadrant, with additional fallen stones in the E and W suggesting deliberate grouping. There is no evidence of robbing and the interior is flat with turf covered stones forming a platform 0.1m. above ground level.
(See ground photograph and plan at 1:250).
The ringwork is similar to the normal ring cairn save for the standing stones which make it analogous, on a smaller scale, to the embanked stone circle at SX 581651 (SX 56 NE ?)
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on MSD.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Dartmoor) - Dartmoor Pre-NMP (Cartographic). SDV319854.

One of two ring cairns on north-west slope of Cudlipptown Down to south of cairn SX57NW-30.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

(06/11/1987 ) SX 5372 7894. A ring cairn set at the E end of a natural gently sloping plateau of rough grassland generally devoid of stones. It measures about 11m diameter inside a turf-covered bank, composed generally of smallish stones, which is about 2.2m wide and has a maximum height of 0.4m on the E. It has been mutilated and spread in the SE and the W.
Several stones, are evident, two probably set in the inner face but the rest are apparently part of the bank of even part of the outer face. Two in the E on the uphill side appear to form an entrance but this is possibly due to mutilation. The interior appears to have been levelled and is 0.2m above the ground to the W. There is no evidence of any internal features or a ditch.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 70/B5. (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Embanked stone circle; an annular bank of earth and/or stones with an inner edge of orthostats. Internal diameter 11m with bank 2m wide and 0.6m high. Only a few kerb stones remain.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset. (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(1992) survives as raised internal platform. Diam 11m. Surrounded by bank 2.2m wide, 0.4m high. Kerb visible in places. Probably of the double kerbed variety without a central mound (mpp).

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 96, 241, Map 31, Site 23 (Monograph). SDV219155.

White Tor N.W. '2' cairn at SX53727895 of 16.0 metres diameter by 0.3 metres high. An unusual type of ring cairn. A bank, now spread up to 3.5 metres wide but with traces of an inner and outer kerb surrounding a flat interior 11.4 metres across. Six stones are placed symmetrically on the bank, two pairs each about a metre apart on the north-west and south-east sides and two single stones an equal distance apart between them. Two of the paired stones have slipped sideways but these four seem to be set with the longer faces across the bank.

Horner, B., 1992, Ring Cairn on Cudlipptown Down, 27th October 1992 (Personal Comment). SDV230595.

Grinsell appears to site this cairn a little further to the south than RCHM survey shows. Two cairns recorded by Grinsell, three by RCHM and Grid References do not tie up.

GeoInformation Group Ltd, 2010, 1:625 2010 Colour aerial photography for Dartmoor (12.5cm resolution) (Aerial Photograph). SDV346026.

Ring cairn is clearly visible on the modern aerial photography. This is one of three features that can be seen on the 2010 aerial photography, which suggests the National Monuments Record was right and Grinsell may have missed one cairn. Measurements from the photograph are 16.5 metres diameter east-west and 15 metres north-south (measurements to extent of the stones in ring, not internal dimensions).

Historic England, 2021-2022, NRHE to HER website (Website). SDV364039.

National Mapping Programme, post-1985, Dartmoor NMP Transcription data (Cartographic). SDV364293.

Circular feature shown.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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