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Summary

Round cairn with hole in west side. Probably excavated without result by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1899. Diameter around 15 metres, height 0.7 metres.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Group of five Bronze Age cairns on Langstone Moor
• Scheduled Monument 1007553: Round cairn 1060m ENE of Wedlake Farm

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57NW27
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439803
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57NW/14
• Old SAM County Ref: 584
• Old SAM Ref: 20384

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ROUND CAIRN (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Baring Gould, S., 1899, Sixth Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee, 152-3 (Article in Serial). SDV344950.

Two small barrows only one of which was examined. This was 34 feet in diameter and had been robbed for wall building leaving the base intact. Cremated remains, ashes and charcoal, were found in a pit 12 inches in diameter and 10 inches deep covered by a flat slab 24 inches by 15 inches. The barrow had been constructed with stones leaning on this cover stone.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950-1953, SX57NW27 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV225187.

10/7/1950 - SX 5485 7761. One of five mounds, a heathered cairn with slight hollow in centre, diameter 8 metres, 0.3 metres high.
13/05/1953 - three of these identified features are not cairns - peat hags. Recommend delete from record.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 161 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

22/6/1974 Cairn with hole in western side. Probably excavated without result. Diameter 13.5 metres, height 0.6 metres.

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

Not visible Royal Air Force vertical aerial photographs.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

(17/11/1987) SX 553783. Two round barrows on Peter Tavy Great Common, scheduled. (see Illus card).
(The grid reference quoted by Authority 6 is inaccurate. By examination of Authority 7, and OS 1:10000 1982 the site can be located at SX 54867765).
(A) SX54847764 A flat topped stony mound, probably a cairn, about 12 metres east-west by 11 metres transversely and of 0.6 metres maximum height. There is no apparent kerb and the edges are ill-defined. It is predominantly turf-covered but a small area of stones is exposed in the north-west quadrant presumably the site of the 1899 excavation.

Ancient Monuments, 1990, Cairn on Langstone Moor (Schedule Document). SDV225310.

Round barrow, one of two scheduled, on Peter Tavy Great Common. The barrow lies on the ridge of the hill between Wedlake Combe and the Walkham Valley. It was robbed to build enclosures at Wedlake, but the base of the cairn is intact. Stones of the barrow are all inset, leaning towards the centre. A small flat stone covered a pit dug in the calm, it was full of ash and charcoal. Another small barrow stands nearby.
Cairn. Diameter 15 metres, height 0.7 metres. Surrounding ditch survives as a slight earthwork 2 metres wide, 0.3 metres deep on north side.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 95, 240, Map 31, Site 19 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Langstone Moor S '1' cairn at SX54847763 of circa 15.0 metres diameter by 0.4 metres high. Thi cairn was trenched from the south by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1898.

Newman, P., 2003, The Langstone Moor Stone Circle, Peter Tavy, Devon and its Prehistoric Environs, 6, fig 2 (Report - Survey). SDV255420.

(10/10/2003) Fairly large, flat-topped stony cairn (18) which was excavated by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1899, 970 metres south-west of the stone circle. A flat stone was found but no other material retrieved. Disturbance caused by the diggers is visible on the west side of the mound.

Newman, P., 2004, Merrivale Range Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV346874.

(10/08/2004) Condition is stable.

English Heritage, 2005-2008, Prehistoric Survey Information (Cartographic). SDV345521.

Round cairn 1060m ENE of Wedlake Farm. This monument includes a round cairn situated on the summit of a hill overlooking the valley of the river Walkham. The cairn mound measures 15m in diameter and stands up to 0.7m high. A shallow hollow in the centre of the mound is probably the result of a partial excavation by Baring-Gould in 1898. This work revealed a pit cut into the subsoil containing a burial and charcoal. A ditch, from which material was quarried during the construction of the cairn, surrounds the mound. This has become partly infilled over the years, but survives as a slight earthwork 2m wide and 0.3m deep on the north side and as a buried feature elsewhere.

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

Barrow shown on modern mapping.

National Monument Record, 2017, Pastscape (Website). SDV359964.

SX 54847764. A probable cairn of diameter 10.0 metres and height 0.6 metres with a stone core. Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD (citing JGB, 13/10/1978, Field Investigators Comments).

Historic England, 2022, National Heritage List for England, 1075553 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364675.

This monument includes a round cairn situated on the summit of a hill overlooking the valley of the river Walkham. The cairn mound measures 15 metres in diameter and stands up to 0.7 metres high. A shallow hollow in the centre of the mound is probably the result of a partial excavation by Baring-Gould in 1898. This work revealed a pit cut into the subsoil containing a burial and charcoal. A ditch, from which material was quarried during the construction of the cairn, surrounds the mound. This has become partly infilled over the years, but survives as a slight earthwork 2 metres wide and 0.3 metres deep on the north side and as a buried feature elsewhere.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7275 - Survey of the Langstone Moor stone circle and other prehistoric monuments nearby
• EDV7441 - Condition survey of the archaeological sites of Merrivale Training Area
• EDV7570 - Condition survey of Merrivale Range training area
• EDV8713 - Merrivale Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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