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Summary

Large mutilated cairn of 21 metres diameter by 1.7 metres high on the summit of Penn Beacon with a central hollow which was probably the site of a fire beacon in the 16th century

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Cholwich Town, Penn Beacon and Shell Top Reaves. Earthworks of Bronze Age boundary works with adjacent prehistoric enclosures and hut circles, cairns and stone rows

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56SE60
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439276
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/7

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CAIRN (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))
• (Former Type) BEACON? (Constructed, XVI to XVII - 1501 AD to 1700 AD)

Full description

Spence Bate, C., 1872, Researches into some Antient Tumuli on Dartmoor, 549 (Article in Serial). SDV336926.

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

'Tumulus' shown on 19th century map at 'Penn Beacon'.

Worth, R. H., 1892, 14th Report of the Barrow Committee, 47 (Article in Serial). SDV237177.

A cairn, in a mutilated condition, on the summit of Penn Beacon, 69 ft. in diameter.

Worth, R. H., 1902, 21st Report of the Barrow Committee, 128, 131 (Article in Serial). SDV20971.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, Devon County Council RAF/CPE/UK/1890 2292-2293 10-DEC-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

A disturbed stony mound is visible as an earthwork.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX56SE60 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV138559.

(30/03/1950) Penn Beacon, Penn Hill, 428m above sea level. The cairn diameter 21m, height 1.7m is mutilated and is covered by turf. The finds at penn beacon include pots of uncertain date, oval stone implement, stone implements from inside the cairn.

Russell, P., 1955, Fire Beacons in Devon, 266 (Article in Serial). SDV336138.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1963, Monuments Threatened or Destroyed, 1956-62, 14 (Un-published). SDV83845.

Fleming, A. + Collis, J. + Jones, R. L., 1973, A Late Prehistoric Reave System near Cholwich Town, Dartmoor, 10 figs. 1, 4 (Article in Serial). SDV358808.

Shell Top reave appears to run up to the cairn but the exact relationship is not clear as the area has been disturbed.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1977, SX56SE60 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV138557.

(23/08/1977) SX 59916292. This round cairn, 22.0m diameter and 1.7m high, lies on the summit of Penn Beacon, at 430m above O.D. It is of small boulders and has been much disturbed, with a central hollow, 8.0m diameter and 0.8m deep, and a modern marker cairn, 1.0m high, on the south side. Shell Top Reave, SX 56 SE 83, abuts the cairn on the north and stops just short to the south.
1:10 000 Survey on P.F.D.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 135 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

(22/09/1975) Grass covered cairn, hollow centre wide and deep enough to have accommodated beacon fires. Diameter 22m, height 1.8m. Sited-slope.

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

Not recorded.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 190-3, Map 52, Figure 52.14 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Penn Beacon Summit Cairn at SX59926293 of 24.0 metres diameter by 2.0 metres high. The cairn has been dug into at various points and turf stripped away from the northern side has revealed a ring of slabs around its base. A neat saucer shaped hollow in the top is probably the site of a fire beacon, one of a series manned in the years leading up to the Armada. Two stones on the south edge mark the entrance to a chamber with the tops of slabs forming the passage seen disappearing into the mound behind the two stones.

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 1999-2017, Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery SX5962 01-JUN-2002 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363087.

A disturbed stony mound is visible as an earthwork.

NERC, 2013, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) Tellus: South Devon to Dartmoor, LIDAR SX5952 Tellus DTM 01-JUL-2013 to 31-AUG-2013 (Cartographic). SDV361514.

A disturbed stony mound is visible as an earthwork.

Ordnance Survey, 2013, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV350786.

'Cairn' marked on modern mapping.

Google, 2019, Google Earth Pro, EARTH.GOOGLE.COM 22-JUN-2018 ACCESSED 14-OCT-2019 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363088.

A disturbed stony mound is visible as an earthwork.

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2019-2020, 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 stony mound is visible as an earthwork approximately 20m in diameter on aerial photographs of 1946 onwards and visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2013, on the summit of Penn Beacon.
The mound is probably the remains of a cairn of Bronze Age date.
An irregularly shaped hollow up to 8m across, identifiable in the centre on the mound is probably a result of historic excavations.
A circular stone construction atop the southern edge of the mound is probably modern disturbance.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV5843 - LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Prehistoric - 698000 BC to 42 AD?)
• FDV5842 - SHERD (Prehistoric - 698000 BC to 42 AD?)

Associated Events

• 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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