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Summary

Extensive rabbit warren with over 30 pillow mounds on the western slopes of Longaford and Littaford Tors

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1020876: Prehistoric settlement, field system and rabbit warren south of Longaford Tor

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67NW72
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442721
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NW/117
• Old SAM County Ref: 922 (PART)
• Old SAM Ref: 34454

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• RABBIT WARREN (Constructed, Early Medieval to XIX - 1066 AD (Between) to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1961, 58/4424, F41.127 (Aerial Photograph). SDV280247.

Photograph taken on 25th May 1961.

Linehan, C. D., 1966, Deserted Sites and Rabbit-Warrens on Dartmoor, Devon, table 2 (Article in Serial). SDV307246.

Rabbit warren containing 12 pillow mounds at Wistman's Wood.

National Monuments Record, 1969, SX6176, 1/37-41 (Aerial Photograph). SDV249653.

Photograph taken on 12th april 1969.

Cambridge University, 1974, CUC/RC8, EQ 152-4 (Aerial Photograph). SDV344957.

Photgraph taken on 27th July 1982.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1978, SX67NW72, SX67NW72 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV254256.

(05/09/1978) Over an area of 450.0m x 150.0m, centred at SX 613773, are 17 pillow-mounds of normal shape with shallow side ditches but with their long axes parallel to the slope. Their average length is 11.0m. average width 3.5m. and average height 0.7m, Centred at SX 61557705 are two banks, parallel to the slope and ditched, 108.5m. and 57.5m. in length respectively, which are probably extremely long pillow-mounds, though their width (3.0m. and 2.5m. respectively) is less than that of the pillow-mounds lower down the slope.
In addition to these sixteen, there are eight other probable pillow-mounds in the area as follows:-
Centred at SX 61377710, four small, irregular to circular-shape mounds of average diameter 8.0m.
At SX 61247787 is a mound measuring 5.5m x 4.5m, revetted on the west side. All these are about 1.0m. high and are probably built upon hut circles.
Centred at SX 61527790 are three mounds on the west side of Long Tor, with average dimensions 10.0m. x 5.5m, and 0.7m. high with side ditches.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on P.F.D.

National Monuments Record, 1979, SF 1509, 278-284 (Aerial Photograph). SDV266531.

Photograph taken on 24th April 1979.

Hemery, E., 1983, High Dartmoor, 455-6 (Monograph). SDV249702.

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

Assuming that all the pillow mounds at Wistman's Wood are part of this warren there are 15 mounds interspersed with hut circles and enclosures of SX67NW/63 and SX67NW/91. Some of the more southern pillow mounds fall within the scheduled area 922. Visible on 1969 and 1979 NMR aerial photographs.

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

(05/05/1989) 22 pillow mounds situated on a moderate WSW slope in the vicinity of Wistman's Wood , above the West Dart River at centre SX 613773.
All the mounds are rectangular in ground plan with straightish or slightly rounded ends. All have a long axis cutting the contours (not parallel to the slope as stated by 1978 OS card) giving an ENE-WSW for the majority: mound 1 runs NE-SW, following the different alignment of the slope in that locality. All are flat-topped with short sharp sides and generally have shallow flanking ditches. They fall into three distinct types with clear special groupings:
Type 1. Scattered between Longaford Tor, a warreners house (see SX 67 NW 96) and the West Dart are six mounds in a group of three beneath the Tor 4, 5 and 6 two c 100m NE of the warren house and one isolated c 350m to the NW of the house. They average 14.3m long by 5.4m wide by 0.8m high and are built of earth and stone; two with clear remnants of stone edging or revetment 4 and 6. Their ditches are broad and shallow, probably reflecting scraping-up of surface material to make the mound; several have very large stones which obviously were too large to move or utilize. The downhill ends are not ditched.
Type 2. Fourteen from a linear group running N to S at centre SX 613773, immediately E of Wistman's Wood and S of the warreners house. They are smaller than type 1, averaging 11.35m long by 3.25m wide by 0.6m high and are apparently built largely of earth with only occasional stones incorporated (although it is not known what lies under the mounds). The flanking ditches are slighter and do not envelop the uphill end; generally they turn in to terminate flush with the uphill mound end. Several have traces of a narrow gully running centrally down the long axis of the mound top, this is often only just visible, c 0.3m wide by 0.1m deep.
Type 3. Two extremely long mounds 54 and 107m respectively, situated on the W side of Littaford Tors. These are narrowest of all at 2.5-3m and average 0.7m high. Construction is of earth and stone, often with large stones placed deliberately along the basal edges. Large, natural boulders are occasionally incorporated into the mound or interrupt the slight flanking ditches where the effort needed to remove them was both too great and pointless. Mound 21 terminates on the W against a large, natural outcrop. Contrary to Royal Commission APP (1985) interpretation, these mounds are not military targets.
Only mound 1 was missed by the OS (1978). Mounds 1-6 are not shown by RCHME APP (1985); the remainder are. The majority of the mounds are visible on additional AP's. These pillow mounds are associated generally with a sporting warren set up in 1895 on behalf of James Saltroun of Powder Mills and ceasing operations prior to the First World War.
See 1:2500 plan of site.

Pattison, P., 1989, Cherrybrook and Longaford Survey, Plan (Report - Survey). SDV337021.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 60-61, Map 19, Figure 29.1 (Monograph). SDV219155.

A rabbit warren was established in 1895 by the tenant of Powder Mills farm but was operational for only a few years. At least 26 'buries' are interspersed amidst the huts at 'Littaford Tors West' settlement and on the hillside above. Most of them are long mounds orientated down the slope but a few near the centre are round, similar to cairns but distinguished from them by an encircling ditch.

English Heritage, 2005, Survey Information (miscellaneous date) (Report - Survey). SDV345855.

Pillow mounds shown on survey.

Ordnance Survey, 2022, Mastermap 2022 (Cartographic). SDV364674.

Pillow mounds shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2022, National Heritage List for England, 1020876 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364675.

The rabbit warren survives on the western slopes of Longaford and Littaford Tors and includes at least 32 pillow mounds and a warreners' house. Within this monument there are at least 22 pillow mounds and these survive as rectangular, square, circular or oblong mounds many of which are flat-topped and surrounded on three sides by a ditch from which material was quarried during their construction. The two pillow mounds near Littaford Tors are much longer than the others, measuring 54 metres and 107 metres long, whilst the others are between 4 metres and 13 metres long. The mounds stand between 0.6 metres and 1.2 metres high and most are steep-sided.

National Monuments Record, unknown, SX6177 (Aerial Photograph). SDV247495.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8644 - Cherrybrook and Longford Newtake, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project
• EDV7444 - Survey of Newpark Waste and Boro, Erme and Wistmans Woods

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