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Summary

A field system of five reaves, approximately parallel, traverse the N facing slope of Cudlipptown Down. The W part of the Down is good upland pasture of open grassland with only scattered stone, the central and E parts are characterised by medium and dense clitter. Numerous springs rise on the hillside and drain northwards. The reaves divide this area into long strips between 170 and 315m wide.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1003184: Enclosures and hut circles N of White Tor
• SHINE: Earthworks of a Bronze Age field system with two associated hut circles and adjoining reave and a complex of probable 19th century mining structures and features on western side of Cudlipptown Down
• SHINE: Earthwork remains of prehistoric reaves and settlements around White Tor
• SHINE: Earthwork and structural remains of a bronze age settlement along a reave as well as a medieval field system and two farmsteads and post-medieval or earlier tin streamworking remains and trial pits on Cudlipptown Down
• SHINE: Earthwork remains of a prehistoric reave on Cudlipptown Down
• SHINE: Earthwork remains of Bronze Age reaves north-west of Cudliptown Down

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57NW85
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439964
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57NW/11/1
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57NW/176
• Old SAM County Ref: 176
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX57NW53

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Untitled Source (Aerial Photograph). SDV274148.

Aph=raf 58/6399/f65/0041-2.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV274149.

Des=pattison, p. /(14/1/1988)/rchme field investigation.
Vis=14/01/1988 (P. Pattison) SX539571 A field system of five reaves, approximately parallel, traverse the N facing slope of Cudlipptown Down. The W part of the Down is good upland pasture of open grassland with only scattered stone, the central and E parts are characterised by medium and dense clitter. Numerous springs rise on the hillside and drain northwards. The reaves divide this area into long strips between 170 and 315m wide.
Two reaves are previously unrecorded (A and B): the remaining three (C,D and E) are recorded as SX 57 NW 85 but (E) is also listed as SX 57 NW 53. All should now be considered part of SX 57 NW 85, with SX 57 NW 53 retained for a hut circle recorded with that reave previously.
(A) SX54127982-SX54457966 Reave running NW-SE across gently sloping land, slightly across the contours from 310 to 325m OD. It commences in enclosed pasture and turns SE for 45m as a bank of partly turf-covered medium and large stone rubble 2 to 2.5m wide, 0.3m high uphill and 0.6m high downhill. It is broken by a maintained field wall but resumes to run for 320m across a large enclosed field to SX54457966. The field it crosses is unimproved, extremely wet marsh saturated by streamflow off Cudlipptown Down, resulting in considerable build-up obscuring parts of the reave. Where best preserved it is a low, rubble wall 1.5 to 2.5 m wide and 0.4m high composed of medium and large stones and boulders. It ends where tin streaming has cut through the area.
(B) SX54127960 to SX53997964 - SX54127982 Reave commencing just W of a moorland trackway and running WNW for 150m approximately along the 330m contour. Crossing an area of medium clitter on gently sloping ground, the feature is an intermittent rubble bank of medium and large stones, as a boulder line, 1.5 to 2.4m wide and up to 0.4m high. At SX53997964 it turns abruptly NE and can be traced as a sporadic feature into enclosed land, picking its way to a junction with the start point of reave A. This last stretch, together with other boulder-wall fragments at SX53917996, SX54227958 and SX54167989, hints at subdivision or a smaller field system in this area.
(C) SX52897919 to SX54637916 Reave originating at SX52897919 (although a field boundary continues its alignment further W for 220m) at 320m OD and running E upslope to just above the 385m contour. It completes its traverse of the whole Down initially deopping downhill to SX53727939 where it turns to climb uphill once more to the 380m contour, entering enclosed land at SX54377922.
At this point a prehistoric settlement (SX 57 NW 86) is attached to its N side. The reave continues into enclosed land, adapted into a Medieval field system (SX 57 NW 62), for 260m to SX54637916. Its course is lost beyond this point but originally may have joined the "Great Western Reave" (SX 57 NW 14/30 a few hundred metres further E.
The reave is generally a N-facing scarp or occasionally a low, rubble bank, 1.5-2.5m wide and 0.3-0.8m high. It is composed of partly turf-covered, medium and large sized stones though sometimes of smaller stones. Towards the W end, at SX52957921 the reave clearly pre-dates a prehistoric field system (SX 57 NW 67) whose boundaries around this point are laid out using the reave as an axis. Lynchet formation within the field system has slightly interrupted the reave line, producing maximum dimensions of c 4m wide by 1m high.
At SX53617935 there is a crossing with a N-S running linear bank (SX 57 NW 121). Erosion on the steep slope here has obscured any relative chronology.
Reave (C) is Fleming's "White Tor 4".
(D) SX53117887 to SX53877914 to SX54457901. This reave commences 4m E of a pre-enclosure field boundary which has been cut by the maintained field wall. The relationship between this feature and the reave is not visible but the field boundary is possibly part of the system SX 57 NW 67 which post-dates reave (C). The reave runs directly uphill for 800m to SX53877914; from the 350m contour to just above 400m O.D. The initial 270m of this stretch is visible as a very low, turf-covered bank/scarp of small stones, no greater than 2.3m wide and 0.3m high. The next 230m is largely missing but the exact line is marked by 4 small cairns (SX 57 NW 119). It looks as if they are made of robbed reave material rather than pre-reave marker cairns. The reave proper resumes 50m W of a crossing with another linear at SX53617910 (SX 57 NW 121) which possibly pre-dates it (but this is not entirely clear). At SX53777913 is another small cairn (SX57NW120) attached to the S side of the reave; this may be a marker cairn.
At the 800m point (SX53877914) the reave changes alignment to run ESE. At precisely the turn, a prehistoric sttlement (SX 57 NW 114) is attached to the S side. From here it runs a fairly straight course, climbing slowly to 415m O.D. to its junction with the "Great Western Reave" at SX54457901. This length survives as a low rubble bank or a scarp 2-2.5m wide by 0.3-0.6m high, composed of small-medium stones incorporating larger stones and boulders as it progresses E across natural clitter. The last 120m consists almost entirely of large stones and boulders, quite spread.
This reave is Fleming's "White Tor 3".
(E) SX53687881 to SX53927896 to SX54347882. The reave can be seen at SX53687881 in open down, though a field boundary to the SW may fossilise its line. It runs uphill from 405m to 420m O,D. as a low turf-covered bank or scarp 2 to 3m wide and 0.3 to 0.5m high. At SX53867893 it is broken, apart from two small stone piles, and immediately N of this point is a dog-legged section of rubble bank 2m wide x 0.3m high- possibly the fragmented remains of an attached enclosure.
At SX53927896 the reave takes a sharp, angular change of direction from ENE to WSW. From here to its junction with the "Great Western Reave" at SX54347882, the reave ascends into an area of thick clitter and natural rock outcrop and this reflects in its structure; a more massive rubble bank/scarp incorporating large stones and boulders and immovable outcrop. Its final 90m forms the S wall of a prehistoric settlement SX 57 NW 2.
To the N and S of a point SX54177885 are two lengths of poor, rubble bank; possibly the remains of prehistoric enclosure walling. Although in plan it looks as though the reave should cut across this walling, on the ground there is no relationship; the walling is gapped to either side of the reave (contra SX57NW 53 OS, 1980).
This reave is Fleming's "White Tor 2".
See RCHME 1:2500 survey of Cudlipptown Down.

Untitled Source (Aerial Photograph). SDV274150.

Aph=nmr/5478/3/117-8.

Royal Air Force, 1946 - 1949, Royal Air Force Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV342938.

Reave visible on aerial photograph.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1978, SX57NW53 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV225275.

A reave from SX54287876 to SX54457901 and SX54307888 to SX54397889 (citing Worth, R. H., 09/12/1948).
A reave, continuing for some distance north of the Tor (White Tor) (citing Transactions of the Devonshire Association 31, 1899, 148 plan).
Visited 13/10/1978. This reave branches off the linear reave on the north slope of White Tor at SX54387879 and follows a roughly straight course in a north-westerly direction to SX53927895 as a piled bank of loose boulders about 3.0 metres wide and 0.5 metres high. At the latter point it turns south-westwards and is visible as a low stony bank heading in the direction of a modern wall corner at SX53537869. in the area north-east of this reave a field system is visible.
At SX54227881, connected to the reave by a short length of wall is a hut circle 1.5 metres in diameter internally with a wall 1.2 metres thick. Surveyed at 1:10000 on PFD.

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

Area of parallel reaves running west-east from the northern end of the great western reave.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, SX57NW85 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV274147.

(27/10/1980) Three reaves cross Cudlipptown Down from east to west from 200m to 350m apart. Turf-covered rubble generally 1.5m to 2m wide and from 0.2m to 0.4m high. Mostly stone free apart from the south-eastern which has surface stone, and settlement with limited walled fields. Irregular patches of clear ground are probably natural since there is no evidence of clearance heaps. Only in the north-west at SX 529792 does a reave provide a significant boundary to a small field system.

The Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments of England Aerial Photograph Unit, 1985, The Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments of England Aerial Photograph Project (Interpretation). SDV340940.

A north-west, south-east reave leaves from just south of Newtake wall at SX54417903 and travels north-west across the north slope of Cudlipptown Down to SX53987915.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 92, 94 Figs 31.8, 31.15 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Butler depicts the Cudlipptown Down Upper Reave. Butler depicts reave extending further to the west but this is less clear on the aerial photography.

Newman, P., 2003, The Langstone Moor Stone Circle, Peter Tavy, Devon and its Prehistoric Environs, Fig 2 (Report - Survey). SDV255420.

The north-east end of this boundary branching west to the north of the settlement is shown on the English Heritage survey of 2003.

Cartographic Engineering, 2006, Dartmoor 2006 1:1250 Aerial Photography (digital) (Aerial Photograph). SDV345590.

Reave visible on the aerial photography, with settlement adjoining on the southern side.

GeoInformation Group Ltd, 2010, 1:625 2010 Colour aerial photography for Dartmoor (12.5cm resolution) (Aerial Photograph). SDV346026.

Linear feature running west to east on Cudlipptown Down visible on aerial photograph.

Historic England, 2021-2022, NRHE to HER website (Website). SDV364039.

Royal Air Force, 23/06/1949, 540/226/5167 (Aerial Photograph). SDV351031.

National Mapping Programme, post-1985, Dartmoor NMP Transcription data (Cartographic). SDV364293.

Reave A recorded as incomplete roughly rectangular feature identified from aerial photographs as part of National Mapping Programme project work. Marked as stonework on GIS layer. Only the northern, western and part of southern sections can be seem. Possible entrance gap in the western side at SX 54078 79774. Royal Commission survey.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, Unknown, SX57NW63 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV351030.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7275 - Survey of the Langstone Moor stone circle and other prehistoric monuments nearby
• EDV7441 - Condition survey of the archaeological sites of Merrivale Training Area
• EDV7570 - Condition survey of Merrivale Range training area
• EDV8713 - Merrivale Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey

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