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Summary

Shell Top Reave has been recorded by field and aerial survey as an earthwork bank approximately 1km long, following the south-facing ridge of Penn Moor southwards from Shell Top to Penn Beacon. The bank is clearly identifiable on visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2013.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Cholwich Town, Penn Beacon and Shell Top Reaves. Earthworks of Bronze Age boundary works with adjacent prehistoric enclosures and hut circles, cairns and stone rows

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56SE83
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439343
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/222

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• REAVE (Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV175259.

Jones, r. L. /pdas/31(1973)19-21 fig 8/palaeobotanical investigations of organic deposits from shell top.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 2292-93 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

Fleming, A. + Collis, J. + Jones, R. L., 1973, A Late Prehistoric Reave System near Cholwich Town, Dartmoor, 10 figs 1,4,7 plan 4 (Article in Serial). SDV358808.

Known length: 1045 m. Start of wall: SX 59936283, End of wall: SX 59826398
North of the Penn Beacon Settlement, the reave runs straight towards Penn Beacon cairn. Just short of the cairn it disappears, but it is very slight here and the area has been greatly disturbed. On the northern side, the reave runs right up to the cairn, and appears as a low bank in the saddle between Penn Beacon and Shell Top. Its alignment follows the crest of the ridge rather than heading for Shell Top or one of the other adjacent monuments. At 242 m. and 215 m. there are gaps of a metre wide, both apparently modern. Immediately east of the reave at 508 m. there is a small cairn.
Running up the slope towards Shell Top the reave incorporates a number of fairly large boulders, but on the Top itself it again becomes a relatively low bank.
After turning through two obtuse angles, neither aligned on any visible monument or tor, the reave runs north-east into the col between Shell Top and the hill to the north. Its line becomes weaker until it is represented on the surface only by single stones. The impression that it had been engulfed by blanket bog was confirmed by a small trench cut across the reave just before it finally disappeared. It proved to be much more substantial than had been expected, standing almost a metre high. Several large slabs were found, but in the small stretch exposed, there was no sign of any structure such as orthostatic facing visible, and the limits of the tumble were not encountered either to the east or west.
The hill to the north is covered by blanket bog which contains many peat cuttings. A search for the reave was made up to just north of the trig point, but no trace was found. The projected line of the reave leads approximately to the head of Shavercombe Brook.
The reave system can only be interpreted as a boundary system, probably of a territorial nature, and appears to be contemporary with the Bronze Age hut circles and enclosures.

National Monuments Record, 1976, NMR SX5863, 2 (Aerial Photograph). SDV148504.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1977, SX56SE83 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV175263.

(31/08/1977) SX 59916292 to SX 59866395 Shell Top Reave is as described in Fleming et al. (1973) see also SX 56 SW 64, 'Penn Beacon Cairn', SX 56 SW 60, and 'Rook Reave', SX 56 SW 81. The mound at 508m., SX 59856343, which measures 6.0m. by 4.0m. and 0.6m. high at maximum, fading into the upper slope, abuts the reave at a point where it is mutilated and must be considered as a doubtful cairn. The reave is in fair condition.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD.

Fleming, A., 1978, The Prehistoric Landscape of Dartmoor. Part 1: South Dartmoor, 97-123 (Article in Serial). SDV235265.

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

Visible and recorded.

Ordnance Survey, 1989, OS/89154, OS/89154 V 709-710 07-MAY-1989 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363136.

A bank is visible as an earthwork.

NERC, 2013, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) Tellus: South Devon to Dartmoor, LIDAR SX5962-SX5963 Tellus DTM 01-JUL-2013 to 31-AUG-2013 (Cartographic). SDV361514.

A bank is identifiable as an earthwork.

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2019-2020, The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping Survey. Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (AI&M, formerly NMP) (Interpretation). SDV362982.

A bank known as Shell Top Reave circa 1.1km long and up to 4m wide is identifiable as an earthwork on visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2013, following the higher south facing slopes of Penn Moor, north of Penn Beacon.
The southern end of the bank crosses the site of a Bronze Age cairn recorded as MDV2404 and is abutted by the northern edge of the Bronze Age hut circle settlement recorded as MDV2403.
Close to the visible northern terminus of the bank, at circa SX59796381, the earthwork changes orientation to the north-east. Circa 120m after this change in alignment the earthwork becomes less well defined and is probably obscured by peat formation.
The bank is probably roughly contemporary with the settlement although it is not possible to define a relative phasing from the lidar derived images alone.
To the south the boundary continues as Rook Reave (MDV2566)

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8148 - The Upper Plym Valley: The Management of an Historic Landscape
• EDV8098 - The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping (formerly NMP) Survey, Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (Ref: ACD2040)

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