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Summary

Ruined stone hut to the south-west of the cairn on the summit of Penn Beacon built from stone appropriated from the cairn. Shown on 19th century map but by 1989 the hut was completely ruinous, visible on aerial photographs only as a spread of stone rubble.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/7/2

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BUILDING (Post Medieval to Mid 20th Century - 1540 AD to 1946 AD (Between))

Full description

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

Rectangular building with another long rectangular building at right angles to it shown on 19th century map.

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

Penn beacon, immediately west of the cairn on the summit is a square hut, built from stone appropriated from the cairn, of uncertain date.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, Devon County Council RAF/CPE/UK/1890 2291-2292 10-DEC-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

A rectangular structure is visible.

Ordnance Survey, 1989, OS/89154, OS/89154 V 709-7110 07-MAY-1989 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363136.

A spread of stone rubble is visible.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 193, Map 52 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Rectangular building of circa 4.0 metres by 2.0 metres a few metres away from Penn Beacon summit cairn is almost hidden under its collapsed walls. It may well have been a shelter for the 'watchers' for the fire beacon manned in the years leading up to the 16th century Armada.

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 1999-2017, Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery SX5962 31-MAY-2016 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363087.

A spread of stone rubble is visible.

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 rectangular, roofless structure is visible on aerial photographs of 1946 immediately to the south-west of the cairn at the summit of Penn Beacon.
The structure corresponds with a building depicted on the Ordnance Survey First Edition 25 inch map, and therefore predates circa 1880.
Although a rectangular structure remains depicted on the current Ordnance Survey MasterMap, aerial photographs reveal the structure to have been reduced to a spread of rubble up to 9m across by 1989. The rubble remains visible on digital images derived from aerial photographs of 2016.

Ordnance Survey, 2021, MasterMap 2021 (Cartographic). SDV364015.

Small rectangular building shown on modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

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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