See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

A Bronze Age pottery cup was found in 1960 on a natural outcrop known as 'Crow's Buttress', some 300 metres north-east of the Dewerstone Rock. Presented to Plymouth City Museum

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1020241: Prehistoric enclosures on Dewerstone Hill, 500m south east of Dewerstone Cottage
• SHINE: Earthwork remains of prehistoric enclosures and hut circles on Dewerstone Hill, surrounded by 19th century stone working quarries

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56SW19
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439558
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SW/11/2
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SW/22

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FINDSPOT (Bronze Age - 2200 BC to 701 BC)

Full description

Fox, A., 1963, Twenty-Seventh Report On Archaeology and Early History, 78-79 (Article in Serial). SDV124457.

A Bronze Age pottery cup was found in May 1960 by a rock climber, 300 yards north-east of the Dewerstone. It was found in deep leaf mould at the back of a small crevice half-way down the eastern face of the Crow's Buttress at the point where a narrow ledge of rock runs into the buttress, forming a slight platform on which a temporary shelter might have been established. The pot is squat and globose, with flat base, flaring rim and two horizontally perforated lug handles. Height 5 1/8 inches, rim diameter 5 1/2 inches, base diameter 3 5/8 inches. No exact parallel to the vessel has been located, but it is clearly related on the one hand to the Deverel-Rimbury globular urns of Dorset and on the other to the Cornish pottery group recently defined as Trevisker or St.Eval Style III/III. A date for the vessel towards the end of the Middle Bronze Age, in the 14th or 13th century B.C. is most likely on the available evidenc. The pot was presented to Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery. (Reg. No. 1960.13.2).

Fox, A., 1963, Twenty-Seventh Report On Archaeology and Early History, 78-9, Plate 1 (Article in Serial). SDV124457.

Fox, A., 1964, South West England: 3,500BC-AD600 (Monograph). SDV135818.

Pettit, P., 1974, Prehistoric Dartmoor (Monograph). SDV231149.

Pettit, P., 1974, Prehistoric Dartmoor, 178-9 (Monograph). SDV231149.

Additional references including photographs of the cup.

Hemery, E., 1983, High Dartmoor, 184 (Monograph). SDV249702.

National Trust, 1984, Goodameavy, Devon (Report - Survey). SDV337035.

Bronze Age pottery cup, squat and globose, with flat base, flaring rim and two horizontally perforated lug handles, set diametrically opposite each other, interrupting a band of decoration, which consists of two shallow horizontal tooled lines above a single line of shallow circular stamped impressions. The surface is light brown and smoothly finished, with none of the plentiful grits projecting. The vessel is complete except for a small portion decayed away by the weather. The pot was found in May 1960 about 275 metres north-east of the Dewerstone. It was broken in two almost equal pieces, one resting within the other, and lay on deep leaf mould at the back of a small crevice halfway down the east face of the Crow's Buttress at the point where a narrow ledge of rock runs into the buttress, forming a slight platform on which a temporary shelter might have been established. No exact parallel to the vessel has been located, but it is clearly related to the Deverel-Rimbury globular urns of Dorset and to the Cornish pottery group recently defined as Trevisker or St Eval Style III/IV. A date for the vessel is suggested towards the end of the Middle Bronze Age, in the 14th or 13th century BC. Parallels for the decoration can be found in the cinerary urns from Elworthy on the Brendon Hills, in Taunton Museum, and from Sixwells, Glamorgan, in the National Museum of Wales.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1994, The Dewerstone, Meavy, Devon, 11 (Report - Survey). SDV359804.

A cup, provisionally dated to the later Middle Bronze Age on parallels with Deverel-Rimbury and Trevisker styles, was found in a crevice in a natural outbrop known as 'Crow's Buttress', some 300 metres north-east of the Dewerstone Tor (citing Hemery, 1983).

Berry, N., 2005, Archaeological and Historic Landscape Survey of Lower Cadworthy Farm, Meavy, Devon, 4 (Report - Survey). SDV360144.

Pottery cup dating to the 13th or 14th century BC may have been deliberately deposited suggesting continued significance attached to the natural outcrops around the Dewerstone over a long period of time. The globular shape is related to similar small cups (urns) from elsewhere in south-west England.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV2386 - CUP (Bronze Age - 2200 BC to 701 BC)
• FDV3825 - VESSEL (Middle Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1001 BC)

Associated Events: none recorded

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.