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Summary

Prehistoric Cairn on Crownhill Down of 19.0 metres diameter by 1.2 metres high with a central pit. A disturbed earthwork on the ridge of Crownhill Down.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 439450
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/96
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX56SE121

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2494, RAF/CPE/UK/2494 RS 4064-4065 11-MAR-1948 (Aerial Photograph). SDV361461.

A mound is visible as a disturbed earthwork.

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

Barrow not listed by Grinsell.

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

Barrow with a deeply hollowed centre visited on 15th June 1979. Barrow stands on the ridge of Crownhill Down immediately west of Broomage Clay waste tips, robbed in centre. Marked on map as a circle adjacent to a boundary stone erected by George Woollcombe to define the area of land on Crownhill Down belonging to Hemerdon Manor in 1901. Barrow of diameter 19 metres and 1 metre high.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1979 - 1980, SX56SE121 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV343596.

A barrow situated on Crownhill Down has a diameter of 19 metres by 1 metre high and a robbed centre. A shepherd's hut stood on its south-west flank from 1832 to 1901 but no trace of it remains.
Site visited on 23rd September 1980. The barrow situated on the broad ridge of Crownhill Down has overall diameters of 26 metres east to west and 24.5 metres north to south and is 1.1 metres high. The south-east side has been sliced back; this and an off-centre excavation hollow, 7 metres across and 0.7 metres deep, form major mutilations. There is a distinct berm from 1.5 metres to 2.3 metres wide around two thirds of the perimeter, between 0.1 metres and 0.2 metres high. There is no surrounding ditch.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, SX56SE (Cartographic). SDV336987.

Not recorded on 1985 interpretation.

Devon County Council, 1988, DAP/6287, DAP 6287/05A-06 16-FEB-1988 (KA) (Aerial Photograph). SDV363290.

A mound is visible as a disturbed earthwork.

Griffith, F. M., 1989, Untitled Source (Personal Comment). SDV343597.

Site visited on 14th April 1989.

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

Crownhill Ridge S. cairn '1' at SX57406004 of 19.0 metres diameter by 1.2 metres high. A huge structure with a central pit and just escaping the waste heap encroachment at the western limit of Headon clayworks. It overlooks a pair of small cairns at its foot.

National Monuments Record, 2002, 439450 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV343598.

A round barrow extensively disturbed and mutilated has previously been identified as a bell barrow. It lies in open moorland and is up to 24 metres across and 1.6 metres high. Little surface stone is visible in the top which has a large pit with upcast spoil. The south-east side has been damaged by a track.

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.

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.

A mound is visible as a disturbed earthwork.

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.

An irregularly shaped mound is visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s onwards as an earthwork circa 19m in diameter on the higher south-facing slopes of the Crownhill Down ridge.
The south-eastern edge of the mound has been truncated by the line of a track, and a roughly circular hollow approximately 7m in diameter is identifiable cut into the centre of the mound.
The mound is interpreted as the remains of a barrow of Bronze Age date showing evidence of historic robbing. No evidence of a berm is confidently identifiable from the available lidar visualisations.

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

'Tumulus' shown on modern mappng.

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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