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 badly disturbed prehistoric cist with displaced cover stone and vestiges of a retaining circle surviving in situ. Only five slabs of the retaining circle survive approximately upright in situ, suggesting the overall diameter of the complete circle was 8.35m. The long slabs of the central cist are also in situ and the chamber measures 1.1m by 0.28m approximately by 0.3m deep. A large, flat, intact cover stone of 1.4m by 1.17m, with a rounded end, is displaced to the south. Some material from the turf covered cairn is still visible, but much disturbed and depleted.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1002552: Round barrow N of Cadworthy Wood
• SHINE: Earthworks and walling of Bronze age parallel reave field system with hut circle settlements and cairns, plus deserted Medieval settlements with long houses and pillow mounds, on Wigford Down

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56SW10
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439547
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SW/6
• Old SAM County Ref: 565

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CAIRN (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))
• CIST (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Worth, R. H., 1888, The Moorland Plym, 289-310 (Article in Serial). SDV251956.

Worth, R. H., 1890, 12th Report of the Barrow Committee, 50 (Article in Serial). SDV346007.

Worth, R. H., 1900, 19th Report of the Barrow Committee, 48, Plates 1-2 (Article in Serial). SDV231259.

A cist, within massive circle of stones, 20 feet in diameter, once surrounding a barrow, lies on the southern slope of Wigford Down, outside the enclosure of Cadworthy Farm. It is well constructed and has been opened previously, the cover-stone still partially overhangs the cist. Dimensions; length, 3 feet 6 inches; breadth, 1 foot (at floor level 2 feet 3 inches); depth to floor, 2 feet. Two pottery fragments, evidently part of an urn were found. The pottery is of the same type in ornament and material as that found in the hut circles at Legis Tor. (SX 56 NE 69 : Possibly Late Bronze Age).

Worth, R. H., 1902, 21st Report of the Barrow Committee, 136 (Article in Serial). SDV20971.

Fox, A., 1951, Early Settlement on Dartmoor and in North Wales, 168 (Article in Serial). SDV255788.

The cairn was superimposed by the field or paddock wall of the nearby hut circle (SX 56 SW 9).

Fox, A., 1951, Eighteenth Report on the Archaeology and Early History of Devon, 168 (Article in Serial). SDV15558.

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

Site visited on 27th July 1972. Cairn with retaining circle. Diameter 7.3 metres, height 1 metre.

Price, D. G., 1978, Settlement and ancient fields on Wigford Down, 69-75 (Article in Serial). SDV220620.

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

Not visible on aerial photographs.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 46,74 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Platform circle. Ring of orthostats 7 metres internal diameter encloses flat-topped cairn 0.8 metres high with central cist.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 78-80, Map 48, Figure 48.1 & 48.1.1 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Wigford Down cairn '1' at SX54426442 of 8.5 metres diameter by 0.6 metres high with a cist. This outlier contains a cist and lies at the corner of the fields on the south of the Down. The ring of slabs around the cairn must have made its burial function obvious, yet the later prehistoric field walls override the structure with indifference, meeting near the centre and incorporating the north-west quadrant. The larger stones, visible around one third of the circumference, still retain much of the mound in place, not apparently dug outside the central cist. All four sides of the latter are present but almost hidden under the overhanging vegetation, and the displaced capstone lies alongside. It had already been cleared out before Worth's excavation in 1900, but he was still able to recover two fragments of an urn.

Berry, N., 2005, Archaeological and Historic Landscape Survey of Lower Cadworthy Farm, Meavy, Devon, 2, Site Summary (Report - Survey). SDV360144.

Remains of a Bronze Age cist with the original stones of a barrow removed. Later used as a clerance cairn

Ordnance Survey, 2017, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV359962.

'Cist' shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2017, National Heritage List for England, 1002552 (National Heritage List for England). SDV359963.

This monument includes a kerbed cairn with cist situated within a coaxial field system on the south eastern side of Wigford Down, overlooking the Plym Valley. The kerbed cairn survives as a circular stony mound measuring up to 8.23m in diameter and 0.8m high. A retaining kerb is visible to the south as a 0.6m high arc of large stones with an internal diameter of approximately 7m. This disappears to the north as the cairn is overlain by an intersection of two prehistoric field boundaries. The central cist is also visible, as a stone lined rectangular feature partly obscured by the displaced coverstone. It measures up to 1.1m long by 0.8m wide and 0.7m deep. The cairn had been subject to an earlier excavation but was re-examined by Worth in 1900 and two fragments of late Bronze Age pottery were recovered.

National Monument Record, 2017, Pastscape, 439547, SX56SW10 (Website). SDV359964.

A cist, within massive circle of stones, 20 feet in diameter, once surrounding a barrow, lies on the southern slope of Wigford Down, outside the inclosure of Cadworthy Farm. It is well constructed and has been opened previously, the cover-stone still partially overhangs the cist. Two pottery fragments, evidently part of an urn were found. The cairn was superimposed by the field or paddock wall of the nearby hut circle.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, WD-19WD-19 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

(14/08/2020) Condition assessed as moderate; vegetation is having an impact.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording photographs (Photograph). SDV363073.

Image taken during August 2020 site visit, view showing monument mainly covered with closely cropped grass with gorse outcrops in north-east part and bracken encroaching along east side.

Newman, P., 2019-2020, Survey data from various sites on Dartmoor (Cartographic). SDV363779.

Newman, P., 2020, Wigford Down Premier Archaeological Landscape, Dartmoor National Park, Devon. A new survey (Report - Survey). SDV363780.

A badly disturbed prehistoric cist with displaced cover stone and vestiges of a retaining circle surviving in situ. Approximately 60% of the feature remains due its location being chosen for the point where a later wall has a right angle corner with an adjoining wall branching from it, covering the northern portion of the cairn. Only five slabs of the retaining circle survive approximately upright in situ, suggesting the overall diameter of the complete circle was 8.35m. The long slabs of the central cist are also in situ and the chamber measures 1.1m by 0.28m approximately by 0.3m deep. A large, flat, intact cover stone of 1.4m by 1.17m, with a rounded end, is displaced to the south. Some material from the turf covered cairn is still visible, but much disturbed and depleted.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7251 - Lower Cadworthy Farm: Archaeological and Historic Landscape Survey
• EDV8316 - Wigford Down PAL survey

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