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Summary

Cairn consists of an 18 metre diameter mound standing up to 0.6 metres high. On the eastern, western and southern sides of the mound several edge set stones indicate the presence of a kerb. The profile of the mound may suggest the survival of an inner ring bank, although this may be the result of partial early excavation or robbing. The centre of the mound has certainly been disturbed and in one of the resultant hollows there is a substantial cist, denoted by two edge slabs standing 0.75 metres apart and up to 0.95 metres high.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1018511: Two cairns with two cists and a stone hut circle on the east facing slope of Lakehead Hill forming part of a ritual complex

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67NW35
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442608
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NW/29
• Old SAM County Ref: 887
• Old SAM Ref: 28688

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Baring Gould, S., 1896, Third Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee, 183 (Article in Serial). SDV260468.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

Shown as a 'Hut Circcle' on early 20th century map.

Worth, R. H., 1935, 54th Report on Barrows, 78 plate 4 (Article in Serial). SDV346265.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 195, SX67NW35, plan,photograph (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV264703.

(08/01/1952) This is a tumulus containing a cist, which consists of two parallel side stones. Tumulus is c 8.0m in diameter.
(19/11/1979) On a ridge S.E. of Lakehead Hill at 412m. O.D., in a clearing in Bellever Plantation, is the remains of a cairn and cist (see ground photographs) The cairn has been excavated and is spread downhill. It now measures 25.6m. by 19.5m. and 1.2m. high with two displaced stones of what may have been a retaining circle. The two remaining side stones indicate that the cist was aligned NW-SE and measured 1.7m. by 0.6m. and 0.9m. deep.
The stone row which falls in an afforested area could not be identified and has probably been destroyed.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on M.S.D.

RAF, 1951, 540/483, 3046-7 (Aerial Photograph). SDV224110.

Birkett Dixon, C. E., 1952, 70th Report on Barrows, 252, no. 63. (Article in Serial). SDV165393.

Dartmoor National Park Authority + Forestry Commission + Dartmoor Preservation Association, 1976, Conservation of Ancient Monuments. The Report of a Working Party (Report - non-specific). SDV248248.

Tumulus. Cist with associated cairn. Cairn diameter 14.6m, cist stone (length 1.6m, height 0.9m) Spooner / Dixon report (1955) Site No. 4. In Bellever Plantation, DNP field report site No. 16a.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 149, Lydford 57 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

(14/10/1975) Diameter 14.5m, height 0.5m. Remains of double (?) retaining circle of cist placed south-east by north-west, of which only the side slabs remain.

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

Cairn, but not cist, visible in an area left unwooded on 1951 RAF aerial photograph.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 83 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Indication of a stone ring/ring cairn beneath cairn.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 48-51, Map 27, Figure 27.12 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Lakehead Hill cairn '7' at SX64707742 of circa 19.0 metres diameter by 0.9 metres high with a cist lies on the east side of the hill. It seems to have been large but has been so badly damaged that its original size is impossible to estimate. The stones and earth have been scattered in all directions exposing two sides of an exceptionally large cist in a hollow now well off-centre. Both cover and end stones are gone. The tops of a few stones on an arc around the north edge of the mound seem to belong to an outer ring.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1993-1998, Dartmoor Royal Forest Project, P. Newman (Report - Survey). SDV346608.

(22/11/1993) SX 64727739. A large cairn with central cist, sited on the eastern upper slope of Lakehead Hill within an area of conifer plantation. The cairn lies within a forest clearing and is accessible via a track from the main north-south forest path.
The maximum diameter of the spread of cairn material is 18m and the height is up to 0.6m. It is made up of a mixture of stone and earth and the remains are now turf-covered. The original profile cannot be determined as the whole of the upper surface has been heavily disturbed by early investigators, leaving a series of mounds and pits. A large trench 7m long by up to 5m wide and 0.4m deep has been cut from the western edge of the cairn, towards the central area. It connects to a second hollow dug at the very centre of the cairn exposing two granite slabs which form opposite sides of a cist. The slabs are both 1.7m long by 0.2m thick and 0.6m wide, oriented north-west to south-east. Five stones of a kerb are visible in around the south and south-west arc of the circumference and further examples may have survived, beneath the cairn material. The stone row was not traced.

Gerrard, S., 1993-2010, Monument Protection Programme Alternative Action Report, MPP 140580, 8/7/1997 (Report - non-specific). SDV145710.

A cairn and cist on east-facing slope of Lakehead Hill forming part of a ritual complex. Round cairn measures 18 metres in diameter, height 0.6 metres. Cist measures 1.6 metres by 0.75 metres. At least five hollows in mound indicate early excavation. On east, west and south sides several edge set stones represent kerb. Shape of mound may suggest survival of an inner ring bank although this may be an illusion caused by later disturbance. Lies within a clearing in area which has been clear felled. Grass and heather covering. Managed area defined by nine white plastic markers. Western stone of cist is 0.95 metres high, east one 0.85 metres high. No sign of row described by earlier workers.

Butler, J., 1997, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities - Vol 5 The Second Millennium B.C., 184; fig 127 (Monograph). SDV320503.

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

Cairn shown on survey.

Dartmoor National Park Authority, 2014, Bellever: An Archaeological Landscape (Leaflet). SDV357070.

Ordnance Survey, 2015, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV357601.

Cairn is depicted on the modern mapping.

Historic England, 2022, National Heritage List for England, 1018510 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364675.

The monument, which falls into three areas of protection, includes two cairns, each with a cist and a stone hut circle lying on a gentle east facing slope on Lakehead Hill. This cairn survives as an 18 metres diameter mound standing up to 0.6 metres high. On the eastern, western and southern sides of the mound several edge set stones indicate the presence of a kerb. The profile of the mound may suggest the survival of an inner ring bank, although this may be the result of partial early excavation or robbing. The centre of the mound has certainly been disturbed and in one of the resultant hollows there is a substantial cist, denoted by two edge slabs standing 0.75 metres apart and up to 0.95 metres high.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7388 - Archaeological condition survey in Bellever Woods
• EDV7406 - Archaeological condition survey in Bellever Woods
• EDV7431 - Woodland Survey (1989-90) at Bellever, Soussons and other woodland parcels
• EDV8499 - Excavation of cairn, Lakehead Hill
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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