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Summary

A prehistoric ring cairn which measures 17m north-south by 18m with faced boulder/stone walling 0.5m high. The east side is difficult to trace in peat and reed cover and an entrance is not discernible. Has been recorded variously since the 1960s as either a cairn / enclosure, although may possibly have been referenced earlier by Worth / Brailsford. Recorded in 1978 by the Ordnance Survey as a possible enclosure or ring cairn.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1016145: A prehistoric settlement with cairns and a historic tin mill, streamwork and buildings lying adjacent to the Langcombe Brook
• SHINE: Earthwork remains of tin streaming and trial pits at Deadmans Bottom and Langcombe Brook
• Scheduled Monument 1016145: A prehistoric settlement with cairns and a historic tin mill, streamwork and buildings lying adjacent to the Langcombe Brook

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX66NW57
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 441726
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66NW/13
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66NW/80
• Old SAM County Ref: 505
• Old SAM Ref: 28787

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Worth, R. H., 1900, 19th Report of the Barrow Committee, 52-3 (Article in Serial). SDV231259.

Brailsford, J. W., 1938, Bronze Age Stone Monuments of Dartmoor, 450 (Article in Serial). SDV304210.

Ancient Monuments, 1961/1996, Schedule note (Schedule Document). SDV151978.

(October 1961) SX608-668- Three cairns north-west of Deadman's Bottom. Two cairns between Prehistoric huts, one 8.23m across, the other mutilated, both with open cists. One cairn near Langcombe Brook, (see SX66NW-47).
(Estimated 1996) Three ring cairns, two of which lie adjacent to hut circles, each containing a cist. The third cairn lies north of the northern enclosure, and has an internal diameter of 16m.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 162. (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

(18/09/1974) Grinsell records two cairns here, one at SX 6076 6689 the other at SX 6081 6687, both at Deadman's Bottom (see MDV5188 and MDV5119). Both cairns have a retaining circle with large hollow towards centre. Excavated by R. H. Worth: reddened floor, paved circle. Diameter of first is 6.4m, height 0.3m. Diameter of second is 7.0m, height 0.2m.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1978, SX66NW57 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV175596.

(27/09/1978) At SX 60716703, on a slight south-west slope at 400m OD, is an enclosure with an internal diameter of 14.0m, formed by a bank of small stones largely overgrown with turf, from which occasional upright and recumbent stones protrude. (see plan).
There are two gaps of 2.0m and 4.0m on the east side with a triangular platform between them. At first sight this seems to be a vermin trap of some kind but the earthfast stones along two of its sides are so low they could not deflect the course of any animal. A 1.0m break in the bank on the west side of the enclosure is possibly an entrance. The interior is featureless.
The enclosure, found during field investigation, is not readily categorised though evidently prehistoric. Its internal diameter and plan could suggest a ring cairn or enclosed cremation cemetery with breaks caused by later mutilation, but the construction is crude and uneven. Nevertheless its isolation, some 200m from the nearest hut circles (SX 66 NW40 and SX 66 NW41), suggests a non-domestic function.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on MSD and at 1:200.

Turner, J. R., 1983, Embanked stone circle and cairn near Deadman's Bottom, Langcombe Brook (Worksheet). SDV177854.

(27/02/1983) Embanked stone circle SX 6069 6702
The site (on a slope) is situated on a hillside sloping to the west lying in the triangle of Deadman’s Bottom, and Langcombe Brook.
Outside the circle bank 0.8m wide, 0.3m high. 16m inside diameter of kerb circle. Stones learning outward (some stones 1.6m long, 0.7m high). The circle and bank on the SSW side has been damaged and disturbed. Half the site being covered in common rush.

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

Not visible on 1946/7 RAF aerial photographs.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 70, B1 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Turner identifies site as an embanked stone circle; an annular bank of earth and / or stones with an inner edge of orthostats. Internal diameter 16 metres with bank 0.8 metres wide and 0.3 metres high. The bank has been pushed out on the south-south-east side and the stones lean outward.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP140546 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(09/05/1996) At SX60706703. Ring cairn 220 metres north-east of the Langcombe Brook. Diameter measures 16m, height 0.5m, width 1.4m. Orthostatic bank. Animal burrows between some of the stones. A 3.5m gap at 110 degrees is the result of later activity.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 148, Map 50, Site 2 (Monograph). SDV137656.

At Site '2' in the Langcombe valley is a roughly circular enclosure of about 18 metres across bounded by a wall of fair sized slabs, now mostly leaning or flat, set in a low bank. The thickening peat envelops both walls and interior so that the existence of associated hut circles is doubtful, though a few slabs on edge near a gap in the southern perimeter may have been one, and there are also traces of a circular bank against the wall opposite. The slabs may have come from a second larger enclosure to the south which had presumably become redundant, open on this side with less than half the circuit complete. A partly demolished hut circle of circa 3.5 metres diameter lies close to the south side of the boundary and a few metres to the east an even smaller setting of stones of uncertain function.

Thackray, C., 1994, The Upper Plym Valley: the management of an historic landscape. Management Strategies and Archaeological Site Inventory, 304/102.1175 (Report - Survey). SDV143510.

Probert, S. A. J. + Fletcher, M. J., 2002, Plym Valley survey (Report - Survey). SDV350782.

(28/02/2002) A prehistoric enclosure which measures 17m (N-S) by 18m with faced boulder/stone walling 0.5m high. The east side is difficult to trace in peat and reed cover and an entrance is not discernible.

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

'Enclosure' shown as a hut circle on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1016145 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

Within scheduled area.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8148 - The Upper Plym Valley: The Management of an Historic Landscape
• EDV8965 - Aerial survey of guardianship sites on Dartmoor

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