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Summary

Cairn on south side of the Cholwich Town reave of 14 metres diameter by 1.1 metres high with a shelter dug into the centre

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1017399: Cholwich Town contour reave, cairn and two enclosures
• 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: SX56SE9
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439130
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/76
• Old SAM County Ref: 587
• Old SAM Ref: 10754

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Spence Bate, C., 1872, Researches into some Antient Tumuli on Dartmoor, 549 (Article in Serial). SDV336926.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/3G/TUD/UK/223, RAF/3G/TUD/UK/223 Vp2 5134-5135 12-JUL-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV352279.

A mound is visible as an earthwork.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1977, SX56SE9 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV147789.

(01/06/1950) Cairn, turf and heather covered with a large hollow in centre exposing the stone core. Diameter 14 metres, height 1.5 metres.
(24/08/1977) SX 58606397. A round flat-topped cairn, 14.0m. diameter and 1.1m. high; it lies beneath a slight scarp, on a gentle, well drained, south west facing slope at 370.m. above OD. It is built of small boulders and has been much disturbed. 'Cholwich Town' Reave, SX 56 SE 82, crosses the north side of the cairn and appears to post date it.
1:10 000 Survey on PFD

Fleming, A. + Collis, J. + Jones, R. L., 1973, A Late Prehistoric Reave System near Cholwich Town, Dartmoor, 5, Figures 1 & 3 (Article in Serial). SDV358808.

Visited in April 1972. The relationship between the reave and the cairn cannot be established as the cairn is greatly disturbed. It is unlikely that the reave is earlier. This is Cholwich Town reave north.

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

Photograph taken on 8th April 1976.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 164 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

Visited on 4th September 1975. Cairn with hollow towards centre, upper part apparently cut up by reeve. Diameter 14.0 metres, height 1.3 metres.

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

Visible and recorded.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 161-2, Map 51, Figure 51.5 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Shell Top west Cairn '3' at SX58616397 of 13.5 metres diameter by 1.3 metres high with remains of a shelter in the central hollow. The reave on the north side alters course to respect the cairn.

Robertson, J. G., 1994, The Archaeology of the Upper Plym Valley (Post-Graduate Thesis). SDV139549.

Depicted and described by Robertson.

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 1999-2017, Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery SX5863 01-JUN-2002 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363087.

A mound is visible as an earthwork.

Probert, S. A. J. + Fletcher, M. J., 2002, Plym Valley survey (Report - Survey). SDV350782.

(23/04/2002) SX 58616397. A disturbed, flat-topped cairn on the gently sloping SW flank of Lee Moor. It measures 14.2m N to S by 13.5m and stands between 1.1 and 1.3m high. The top is largely devoid of vegetation and the rubble of the cairn fabric is exposed. Within this are several relatively recent delvings and shelters.
The exact relationship between the cairn ant the reave is obscured by debris from the inside of the cairn though it is most likely that the reave abuts this earlier feature.

English Heritage, 2005-2008, Prehistoric Survey Information (Cartographic). SDV345521.

Cairn shown on survey.

NERC, 2013, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) Tellus: South Devon to Dartmoor, LIDAR SX5863 Tellus DTM 01-JUL-2013 to 31-AUG-2013 (Cartographic). SDV361514.

A mound 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.

An irregularly shaped stony mound is visible as an earthwork approximately 16m across on aerial photographs of 1946 onwards and visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2013, at roughly 365m on the south-west facing slopes of Lee Moor.
The mound is probably the remains of a cairn of Bronze Age date. It is abutted to the north-west and south-east by the Cholwich Town Reave. It seems probable that the reave is aligned on the cairn.
A roughly oval hollow identifiable in the centre on the mound is probably a result of historic robbing.

Ordnance Survey, 2021, MasterMap 2021 (Cartographic). SDV364015.

'Cairn' shown on modern mapping

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1017399 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

The cairn is considered to pre-date the reave which appears to have been aligned on it.

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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