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Summary

One of several clearance cairns that lie on or near the Great Western Reave (SX 57 SE 116). There is no evidence to suggest that any of the cairns are of prehistoric origin or are sepulchral in use. It is almost certain that they are the product of stone collection for wall-building in the post-medieval period.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1013429: Three stone alignments, ten cairns, three stone hut circles and a length of the Great Western Reave on Longash Common

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57SE109
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 440339
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57SE/83
• Old SAM County Ref: 333
• Old SAM Ref: 24193

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• (Former Type) CAIRN (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))
• CLEARANCE CAIRN (Constructed, Post Medieval - 1540 AD (Between) to 1750 AD (Between))

Full description

NMR, SF1510/174 (Aerial Photograph). SDV276855.

Ordnance Survey, 1951, SX57SE11 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV276849.

Four hut circles, numbered A-D.
Hut A. A number of stones occupy this position, some of which are very large and are widely spread. Hut B. In this position is part of an arc of turf covered stones.
Hut C. Well defined, 7.0 metres in diameter, 0.5 metres high, width of wall is 1.0 metre.
Hut 'D'. 7.0 metres in diameter, width of wall 0.75 metres, wall height is 0.4 metres.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1979, SX57SE109 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV276851.

(01/12/1979) At SX 55607475, there is a cairn 4.4m. in diameter and 0.4m. high, partly turf-covered. It contains fist-size and slightly larger stones heaped against each side of a reave (SX 57 SE 116) the upright slabs of which protrude through the top of the cairn. This may be a clearance cairn but if so it has been constructed in a remarkably symmetrical fashion and is obviously of later date than the bisecting reave. The cairn is shown but not described on the Ordnance Survey 6 inch 1962 historic map.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on MSD and 1:2500, for which see SX 57 SE 103.

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

No hut circles are visible at this precise point, but a possible cairn is visible incorporated into a reave here. It is not certain, in fact, whether this feature is a cairn or a hut circle.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 133490 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Round cairn (SX55797475) partly overlying the Great Western Reave. Mound measures 4.3 meters by 3.7 meters by up to 0.75 meters high. The reave is earlier in date than this cairn, and it is not known whether the cairn is of funerary or clearance origin. The Ordnance Survey however believe that a funerary origin is on balance more likely.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 24-31, Map 44, Figure 44.7 (Monograph). SDV137656.

The small Cairns '13' to '17' at Merivale of between 2.5 and 3.5 metres in diameter by 0.3 metre high are sited alongside and across the reave as it descends towards Long Ash Brook and are merely collections of its stones which leave gaps in its construction on either side.

Probert, S. A. J. + Fletcher, M. J., 2000, The Merrivale Guardianship Area, Walkhampton, Devon, 6 (Report - Survey). SDV344969.

(07/02/2000) Several 'cairns' have been identified along the route of the Great Western Reave immediately east of the double stone rows at Merrivale. The function of these cairns has been confused between burial and clearance.
This is one of several clearance cairns that lie on or near the Great Western Reave (SX 57 SE 116). There is no evidence to suggest that any of the cairns are of prehistoric origin or are sepulchral in use. It is almost certain that they are the product of stone collection for wall-building in the post-medieval period, concentrations of original reave material accentuated by the removal of surrounding stone.

Dartmoor National Park + English Heritage, 2004, Merrivale: An Archaeological Landscape, 21 (Leaflet). SDV320201.

Five separate cairns lie on top or adjacent to the reave at Merrivale, post-dating the reave itself (gaps exist where stones have been removed to construct the cairns). Unclear exactly what date these features may have and even their function is disputed; they may in fact by clearance cairns, rather than burial cairns.

DCMS, 2004, Untitled Source (Correspondence). SDV320021.

Scheduled Monument Consent granted for works concerning a five year programme of management works including erosion repairs.

Ordnance Survey, 2010, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV344030.

Cairn shown on modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4830 - Survey of guardianship area, Merrivale

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