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Summary

Limestone rock face on the north side of the valley of the Kate Brook which contains a number of caves and fissures. Excavations in Cow Cave and Pixie’s Hole have provided evidence for occupation in the Palaeolithic period and also that the caves were used for burials in the Neolithic period.
There are also rift openings on top of the plateau where Neolithic artefacts have been found. The northern extent of the rock has been quarried away.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1010726: Cow Cave, Chudleigh Rocks
• Scheduled Monument 1010740: Pixie's Hole, Chudleigh Rocks
• SHINE: Chudleigh Rocks. Limestone rock face and plateau with caves containing evidence of Palaeolithic occupation and Neolithic burials

Other References/Statuses

• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• NATURAL FEATURE (Unknown date)
• CAVE (Middle Palaeolithic to Late Neolithic - 180000 BC (Between) to 2201 BC)

Full description

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

Area marked as Chudleigh Cavern.

Sheridan, A. + Schulting, R. + Quinnell, H. + Taylor, R., 2008, Revisiting a Small Passage Tomb at Broadsands, Devon, 9-10 (Article in Serial). SDV344747.

Carbon 14 dating from bone samples from Cow Cave, from two individuals, returned dates of between 3895-3640 calibrated BC, indicating that the cave was used for burial during the Earlier Neolithic period.

Newberry, J., 2013, Lateglacial Devon, Including Recent Evidence from Broad Down, 5, 6-7 (Article in Serial). SDV358048.

Both organic and lithic evidence from Pixie's Hole suggests human activity in the early Creswellian and again, about a thousand years later in the Final Palaeolithic. Later Palaeolithic Creswellian, or Final Magdelenian activity is evidenced at Pixie's Hole by the find of a cut-marked horse bone dated 12,585 +/- 60BP and a Final Palaeolithic date of 11,630 +/- 120BP was obtained from a cut aurochs bone. Excavations in 1986 revealed a rudimentary hearth with flint artefacts including four backed points, burins, scrapers and borers which was dated to the Creswellian period.
Cow Cave has produced evidence for Creswellian activity in the form of finds of curved and angle-backed points.

Historic England, 2023, National Heritage List for England, 1010740, 1010726 (National Heritage List for England). SDV365228.

Palaeolithic caves and rock shelters provide some of the earliest evidence of human activity in the period from about 400,000 to 10,000 years ago. The sites, all natural topographic features, occur mainly in hard limestone in the north and west of the country.
Because of the special conditions of deposition and preservation, organic and other fragile materials often survive well and in stratigraphic association. Caves and rock shelters are therefore of major importance for understanding this period.
Pixie's Hole and Cow Cave are two of three caves in the valley known to contain significant Palaeolithic deposits. Pixie's Hole provides a very rare example of an Upper Palaeolithic `living floor' in a British Cave.
See Listing descriptions for further information on both caves.
Date first listed: 6th February 1992

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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