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Summary

Two Bronze Age cairns lie on the northern flank of Black Hill immediately south of the former site of Willsworthy Camp. The larger of the two possesses an overall diameter of 18m and consists of a level platform 0.4m above the present ground level with a turf and stone rim 3.0m wide and 0.3m high. A boundary stone has been inserted near the eastern edge of the cairn. Immediately to the north of this featureis an unbroken circular bank 10.7m in overall diameter. The bank, 2.0m wide and 0.25m high, encloses a flat area at (or slightly below) the current ground level. This too appears to be a cairn.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1007664: Ring cairn 450m south of Willsworthy Camp

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX58SW15
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 440699
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX58SW/33
• Old SAM Ref: 22353

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• RING CAIRN (Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Brent, F., 1891, 13th Report of the Barrow Committee, 117-18 (Article in Serial). SDV215463.

Worth, R.N., 1891, Thirteenth Report of the Barrow Committee, 118 (Article in Serial). SDV362484.

Worth, R. H., 1902, 21st Report of the Barrow Committee, 140 (Article in Serial). SDV20971.

Crossing, W., 1912 (1965), Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor (Monograph). SDV320981.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1979, SX58SW15 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV215597.

(03/10/1950) Tumulus. This feature has been almost completely destroyed and all that remains is a circular wall of turf and stones 16.5m in diameter. The height of the remains is 0.2m and the width 2.0m the centre has been dug away and is now the site of a War Department Notice board. The condition of the tumulus is fragmentary and is very much overgrown.
(14/08/1979) A robbed cairn which originally measured 16.5m in diameter, but which now survives as a 'rim' 2.0m wide and 0.2m high. There is a gap 7.0m wide in the E side of the rim for carts to enter to remove the stones.
Retained as cairn on MSD.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 156 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

(22/06/1974) Cairn, almost entirely removed, except for circumference, and east side has been robbed for material for adjoining road. Diameter 17.0m, height 0.3m.

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

Not visible on Royal Air Force verticals.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 67/a34 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Ring cairn with entrance. Stone ring 13m internal diameter, with bank 1.5m wide and 0.3m high. 3m wide entrance on east-south-east side. Flag pole has been sited here.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset. (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(20/04/1993) Circular bank 3m wide, 0.3m high. Internal area of 13m diameter. Slight hollow, 1.4m by 0.7m by 0.1m deep against inner north face of ring bank suggests partial early excavation or military use.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 106, Map 32 (Monograph). SDV219155.

The larger of the cairns is depicted by Butler.

Probert, S. + Fletcher, M. + Newman, P., 1998, Willsworthy Training Area, Peter Tavy, Devon: An Archaeological survey by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (Report - Survey). SDV350638.

(22/07/1998) SX 52148287 and SX 52148289. Two Bronze Age cairns lie on the northern flank of Black Hill immediately south of the former site of Willsworthy Camp. The larger of the two, at SX 52148287, possesses an overall diameter of 18m and consists of a level platform 0.4m above the present ground level with a turf and stone rim 3.0m wide and 0.3m high. A boundary stone has been inserted near the eastern edge of the cairn. The symmetry and form of this feature does not suggest that it has suffered from stone robbing. Apart from the gap in the east side of the rim noted by the Ordnance Survey (1979) there is no obvious disturbance and the monument provides a good example of an embanked flat-topped cairn.
Immediately to the north of this feature, at SX 52148289, is an unbroken circular bank 10.7m in overall diameter. The bank, 2.0m wide and 0.25m high, encloses a flat area at (or slightly below) the current ground level. This too appears to be a cairn.

Probert, S., 2001, Willsworthy Training Area, Peter Tavy, Devon. Integrated Land Management Plan Implementation: Archaeological Condition Baseline Survey Appendices 2-5 (Report - Survey). SDV357727.

(20/12/2000) The two cairns in open moorland are as described.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7368 - Survey of the Willsworthy Training Area, Peter Tavy (1998)
• EDV6663 - Survey of the Willsworthy Training Area
• EDV6664 - Survey of the Willsworthy Training Area
• EDV6665 - Survey of the Willsworthy Training Area
• EDV8141 - Condition survey of the Willsworthy Training Area

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