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Summary

'Hawkesborough' barrow on Crownhill Down of 13.5 metres diameter by 1.3 metres high mentioned in 1562 and shown on historic maps and aerial photographs

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1002597: Round barrow 950yds (868m) N of Drakeland Corner
• SHINE: Hawkesborough. Prehistoric barrow on Crownhill Down

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 438396
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX55NE/18
• Old SAM County Ref: 761

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ROUND BARROW (Early Bronze Age to Early Iron Age - 2200 BC to 700 BC)

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'Tumulus' shown as a small circular earthwork on 19th century map.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

'Tumulus' shown on early 20th centutury map.

Department of Environment, 1970, Round Barrow 715 metres North of Drakeland Corner (Schedule Document). SDV343769.

Round barrow 715 metres to the north of Drakeland Corner. Round barrow 5 feet (1.5 metres) high and 40-50 feet (12.2 - 15.2 metres) in diameter. The barrow has been extensively robbed in the centre but the remainder of the mound seems to be in good condition. The barrow is a classic case of ridge setting and is under heather and grass scrub. Other details: Monument 761.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 170 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

Site visited on 5th September 1972. Cairn or barrow with a large hollow towards the centre. Diameter 14.5 metres, height 1.7 metres.

Edwards, C., 1979, An archaeological survey of an area surrounding Hemerdon Ball (Report - Survey). SDV337241.

Site visited on 15th June 1979. A Bronze Age barrow known locally as 'Hawkesborough', positioned south of the linear barrow cemetery that runs along the ridge of Crownhill Down from SX57175993 to SX57235972. Robbed in centre. Name 'Hawkesborow' mentioned in a lease dated 16th November 1562 between William Strode to Henry Am, when used to define boundary of area of land leased for tin working. Diameter 13.5 metres, height 1.3 metres.

Greeves, T., 1980, Hawkesborough Barrow (Photograph). SDV343767.

Other details: Taken by T Greeves.

Gilbertson, D. + Collis, J., 1982, Mapping Three Millennia of Settlement and Land Use on Crownhill Down, South West Dartmoor, 57 (Article in Serial). SDV362901.

Gilbertson, D. + Collis, J., 1985, Linear Banks on Crownhill Down, Dartmoor, 57 (Article in Serial). SDV337244.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, SX55NE (Cartographic). SDV337243.

Not visible on aerial photograph interpretation as in an area of later trial pits.

Pye, A. R. + Noble, S. + Turton, S. D., 1993, Archaeological survey of part of Crownhill Down, Shaugh Prior, 2 (Report - Survey). SDV337249.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 194-6, 214, Map 52, Figure 52.16 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Hawkesborough cairn at SX57245952 of 13.5 metres diameter by 1.3 metres high. First mentioned in 1562 as an estate boundary marker. Despite the central hollow it is still a vast mound at the head of the streamworks.

Fletcher, M., 2002, The Archaeological Landscape of Crownhill Down and Ridding Down: Survey Report, 4 (Report - Survey). SDV343412.

Other details: Figure 3 and Crownhill Down Survey.

Dyer, M. J., 2003, Archaeological Survey, Evaluation and Recording of a Trial Extraction Site at Hemerdon Pit, Crownhill Down, 1 (Report - Evaluation). SDV159627.

National Monuments Record, 2010, 438396 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV343770.

A distrubed round barrow situated at the head of an extensive area of tin working. It measures between 14 and 15 metres in diameter and is approximatley 1.4 metres high with a central pit 5 metres in diameter by 1.2 metres deep. A mound of spoil from the pit lies on the north-east side of the gorse-covered mound. The south-west edge of the barrow is becoming badly eroded by livestock and by a path used by horse riders.

Ordnance Survey, 2010, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV344030.

'Tumulus' shown on modern mapping.

NERC, 2013, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) Tellus: South Devon to Dartmoor, LIDAR SX5759 Tellus DTM 01-JUL-2013 to 31-AUG-2013 (Cartographic). SDV361514.

The mound is visible as a mutilated earthwork.

Google, 2019, Google Earth Pro, EARTH.GOOGLE.COM 22-JUN-2018 ACCESSED 11-JUN-2002 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363088.

The mound survives as an earthwork under dense vegetation.

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2019-2021, The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping Survey. Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (AI&M, formerly NMP) (Interpretation). SDV362982.

A roughly circular mound circa 13m in diameter is identifiable as an earthwork on digital images derived from lidar data captured in 2013, centred on circa SX57245912 on the south-west facing slopes of Crownhill Down, overlooking Old Bottle Hill leat. The mound is obscured by vegetation on most aerial photographs of the 1940s onwards.
An oval pit or hollow circa 6 by 4.5m in size is visible cut into the mound, just off-centre towards the northern edge of the mound. The pit might be evidence of historic robbing or perhaps associated with the numerous prospecting pits visible in the immediate vicinity; a prospecting pit appears to cut the northern edge of the mound.
The earthwork is interpreted as a mutilated barrow of Bronze Age date, possibly an outlier of the barrow cemetery recorded to the north (MDV1780).
The barrow is visible as an earthwork under vegetation situated immediately to the east of recent expansion of open cast mining on Crownhill Down on digital images derived from aerial photographs of 2018.

Historic England, 2022, National Heritage List for England, 1002597 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364675.

The monument includes a round cairn situated on the southern summit of the prominent ridge called Crownhill Down. The round cairn survives as a circular stony mound measuring up to 15 metres in diameter and 1.4 etresm high. In the centre is a large hollow indicating early partial excavation or robbing. This cairn is known locally as ‘Hawkesborough’ and was mentioned in a lease dated 16th November 1562 as tin bound for a nearby tinworks. It is probably an outlying cairn associated with the nearby round cairn cemetery on Crownhill Down which is the subject of a separate scheduling.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4559 - Archaeological Landscape of Crownhill Down and Riddding Down
• EDV8098 - The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping (formerly NMP) Survey, Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (Ref: ACD2040)

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