| More information : Centred at SX 55637470 is a NW to SE line of four cairns from 2.7m. to 4.0m. in diameter and from 0.3m. to 0.5m. high. Three are separated by 2.0m. to 4.0m. and the fourth and southernmost by 10.0m. which includes the remnant of a reave (SX 57 SE 116).
All the cairns have been made from the reave by gathering up the stones and all are on its alignment. It seems unlikely that these cairns are the result of clearance simply to form five gaps in the reave and it may be that the cairns have a sepulchral purpose. Found during field investigation.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on MSD and at 1:2500 for which see SX 57 SE 103. (1)
4 cairns undoubtedly the result of a relatively recent phase of stone clearance. Their form and positioning does not suggest either a prehistoric origin nor a sepulchral use. Several similar cairns lie on the course of the Great Western Reave (SX 57 SE 116) in this general area. The proximity to the Merrivale stone rows appears coincidental. (2)
Depicted by Butler (1994, Map 44). (3)
Post-medieval clearance cairns overlying or in line of the Great Western Reave were recorded as stony earthworks on 2021 Historic England orthomosaic aerial photography and visualisations of a Digital Elevation Model derived from the orthomosaic. They are scheduled (NHLE 1013429). Three of this group of cairns, from 2.5m to 4.4m in diameter, in the environs of the English Heritage Trust Merrivale Guardianship Area boundary were mapped from aerial sources in 2023 during the Historic England Dartmoor-Plym project. (4-5)
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