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Summary

A cairn and cist situated just off the crest of a rounded high point on a S-facing slope investigated in 1989. The turf-covered cairn has been damaged and spread; it now measures about 11.5m E-W by 10.6m N-S and averages 0.4m high with a spoil heap, 0.9m high on the E. A low kerb within the disturbed fringes of the mound is 8.7m in diameter with more or less continuous upright slabs and boulders 0.3m to 0.6m high. The second kerb noted by Attrill is not traceable and the disturbed perimeter is probably the result of desultory digging. A drystone newtake wall crosses the N side and overlies part of the kerb. A well-preserved cist, oriented NW-SE, is internally 1.0m long, 0.5m to 0.65m wide and up to 0.7m deep.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1003189: Two cairns and a cist 300yds (270m) NW of Swincombe intake

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67SW27
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443310
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67SW/27
• Old SAM County Ref: 726A
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX67SW27

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CAIRN (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 1501 BC)
• CIST (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 4000 BC (Between) to 1501 BC (Between))

Full description

Worth, R. H., 1911, 30th Report of the Barrow Committee, 95-6, Figure (Article in Serial). SDV235782.

Joan Ford's Newtake. Cist, opened previously and rifled. Coverstone intact and lies partly resting on one side and end of the cist. South-west side stone is the longest and has been un-disturbed. Remains of a stone circle and a stone row within the newtake as well.

Worth, R. H., 1937, 56th Report of the Barrow Committee, 85-6, Figure 6 (Article in Serial). SDV20973.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1980, SX67SW27 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV235971.

(30/08/1950) Cist, north-west of Swincombe intake, one of a pair. Cist with retaining circle, 8.5 metres diameter. Eighteen of the original stones remain, although there may be more incorporated in the intake wall to the north traces of earth barrow remain to height of 0.3 metres. Cist coverstone is resting against south-east corner of the cist, the alignment of which is north-west to south-east. Condition of cist and retaining circle good. Cist measures 1.0 metre by 0.65 metres by 0.65 metres deep.
(15/01/1980) The cist lies on a south-east slope at 352m. OD and is within a cairn with two concentric kerbs, partly destroyed on the north by a newtake wall. (See plan - SX 67 SW 26). Aligned NW/SE, the cist measures 1.05m. by 0.6m. and is 0.6m. deep with its coverstone on the SE. The cairn, 12.8m. in diameter, and 0.7m. high has a level centre inside the kerbs which average 7.5m. and 10.6m. in diameter.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on MSD and at 1:2500 for AO Records. (See SX 67 SW 26).

National Monuments Record, 1976, NMR SX6372, 2 (Aerial Photograph). SDV279433.

Photograph taken on 22nd April 1976.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 153 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

Site visited on 19th July 1974. Cairn at Joan Ford's Newtake, diameter 9.0 metres, height 0.5 metres. Cairn with inner retaining circle, enclosing cist, placed south-east to north-west, all four slabs in position, capstone to south-east.

Robinson, R., 1983, List of Field Monument Warden Visits (Site Visit). SDV114314.

Site visited on 13th May 1983.

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

Visible on aerial photograph and recorded.

Robinson, R., 1986, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1986 (Un-published). SDV345664.

Site visited on 30th July 1986.

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

(02/03/1989) SX 63137215. A cairn and cist situated just off the crest of a rounded high point on a S-facing slope at 353m OD. The site, on relatively stone-free moorland pasture, has extensive views to the S across the Swincombe Valley.
The turf-covered cairn has been damaged and spread; it now measures about 11.5m E-W by 10.6m N-S and averages 0.4m high with a spoil heap, 0.9m high on the E. A low kerb within the disturbed fringes of the mound is 8.7m in diameter with more or less continuous upright slabs and boulders 0.3m to 0.6m high. The second kerb noted by Attrill is not traceable and the disturbed perimeter is probably the result of desultory digging. A drystone newtake wall crosses the N side and overlies part of the kerb.
A well-preserved cist, oriented NW-SE, is internally 1.0m long, 0.5m to 0.65m wide and up to 0.7m deep. The slabs are inclined inwards and the largest side and end slabs are 1.5m by 0.25m by 0.7m and 0.75m by 0.3m by 0.7m respectively. The coverstone leans against the SE side of the cist and measures 1.35m by 1.0m by 0.2m.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 38, 70, Figure 11, b7 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Embanked stone circle: an annular bank of earth and/or stones with inner edge of orthostats, with cist in centre. Internal diameter of bank 8.2 metres, 0.9 metres wide and 0.2 metres high.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 213-5, Map 63, Figure 63.1 (Monograph). SDV337765.

Joan Ford's Newtake '1' cairn at SX63147216 of 8.0 metres in diameter by 0.4 metres high is overbuilt by the north wall of the netake. It contains a well preserved cist of 1.0 metres by 0.56 metres with the cover stone levered out of place but with side and end slabs in place. One of the side slabs, apparently fractured, was ill matched in size and is set between the end slabs rather than outside them in the normal fashion. A low kerb-like retaining circle 8.0 metres across is now well within the mound.

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

Cairn shown on survey.

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

'Cist' shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1003189 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

The eastern cairn survives as a circular stony mound measuring up to 11 metres in diameter and 0.4 metres high which has an internal almost continuous ring of small stones forming a kerb with a diameter of 8 metres and measuring up to 0.4 metres high. This cairn contains a cist which measures up to 1 metre long by 0.6 metres wide and has a displaced coverstone.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8146 - Royal Commission Survey at Down Ridge and Swincombe
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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