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Summary

Cairn and cist lying to the south of the southern double stone row. Little remains of the covering cairn but a well-preserved cist measuring 2.0 meters north to south by 0.9 meters wide and 0.8 meters deep remains, which is partially covered by a huge triangular cover stone. This stone was cut some time in the 19th century to provide a pair of gateposts although parts of these stones were returned to their present location in 1895.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1013429: Three stone alignments, ten cairns, three stone hut circles and a length of the Great Western Reave on Longash Common

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57SE10
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 440050
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57SE/13
• Old SAM County Ref: 333(5)
• Old SAM Ref Revised: 12/01/1996
• Old SAM Ref: 24193

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 15/09/2004, Scheduled Monument Consent Letter (Correspondence). SDV319872.

Scheduled Monument Consent granted for works concerning a five year programme of management works including erosion repairs.

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'Cromlech (Remains of)' marked with 'Kist Vaen' to the north.

Baring Gould, S., 1895, Second Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee, 85 (Article in Serial). SDV271711.

A cist, 7 ft x 2 ft 9 ins, with the remains of a mutilated coverstone. A flint scraper, a flint flake and a polishing stone were found in the cist in 1895.

Rowe, S., 1896, A Perambulation of the Forest of Dartmoor, 206 (Monograph). SDV249697.

Worth, R. H., 1902, 21st Report of the Barrow Committee, 115, 112, 117, 129 (Article in Serial). SDV20971.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

'Kistvaen' marked.

Worth, R. H., 1930, Proceedings at the Annual Meeting, 33-34 (Article in Serial). SDV231168.

Brailsford, J. W., 1938, Bronze Age Stone Monuments of Dartmoor, 448 (Article in Serial). SDV304210.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX57SE5 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV272159.

(21/08/1950) Kistvaen measuring 7 feet by 2 feet 9 inches internally. It consisted of a head and foot stone. One large block on the west side has been split, recently. In the kist were found a flint scraper, a flint flake and a polishing stone. No definite signs of kist during site visit, the whole area being much covered with turf and granite stones.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1980, SX57SE10 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV272171.

(16/11/1950) Large kistvaen with what must have been an immense coverstone. The cist is at present filled with water to the depth of 0.4 metres. The capstone has been split and there are tool marks on the inner edges, part of it is missing. A large piece of granite, now within the cist and covered with water, does not look as though it belonged to any part of the feature, although it is apparent that it has been there a great many years. Condition of cist good. Precise measurements impossible owing to waterlogged conditions.
(10/01/1980) A massive cist, 2.0m. long, 0.8m. wide and 0.8m. deep within which, resting at an angle, is a slab 0.9m. long, 0.6m. wide and 0.1m. thick. This may be part of the cist, although the sides and ends seem complete, or a subsequent insertion. The coverstone was 2.8m. long, from 0.6m. to 2.0m. wide and 0.4m. thick has been drill split and a section removed (see photograph). There are traces of an earth mound on the west side, but if a cairn ever existed over the cist it has been entirely removed.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on MSD and at 1:100 (see illustration).

Harris, H., 1968, Industrial Archaeology of Dartmoor, 73 (Monograph). SDV149229.

Pettit, P., 1974, Prehistoric Dartmoor, Plate opposite p72 (Monograph). SDV231149.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 173 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

Site visit 23rd May 1976. Remains of cairn enclosing cist placed south-east to north-west. It was damaged in around 1860 by a man named Harding, who cut two gateposts from the capstone and damaged a wall-slab. The cist was subsequently restored, 'too generously' according to Worth. Finds from excavations are in Plymouth City Museum. Diameter 10.0 metres, height 0.3 metres.

Worth, R. H., 1981, Dartmoor, 174 (Monograph). SDV231173.

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

Not visible on Royal Air Force / National Monuments Record photographs.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., 133487 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Cairn and cist forming part of a cluster of Neolithic and Bronze Age ritual features including at least three stone alignments, a stone circle, 13 cairns and a standing stone. They lie 8.0 meters south of a stone alignment. The cairn mound measures 10.0 meters in diameter and stands up to 0.3 meters high. The cist survives as a 2.2 meter by 0.9 meter by 0.8 meter deep stone-lined pit aligned south-east to north-west and partly covered by a large granite cover stone which has been split into two parts. In the first part of the 19th century this cist was believed to represent the site of a fallen Cromlech and Baring-Gould's sketch made in 1851 before the site was damaged indicates why Hamilton Smith shows a Cromlech at this location in his reconstruction drawing.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 30-31, Map 44, Figures 44.7 & 44.7.8 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Cist at SX55477476 and associated cairn near to the southerly double stone row at Merrivale undoubtedly exposed and emptied by the time of Bray's visit in 1802. Butler states it was otherwise intact until 1870, when the huge cover slab was split to make a pair of gateposts, which were later reinstated by the Exploration Committee in 1895.

Department of National Heritage, 1995, Scheduled Monument Consent Letter (Correspondence). SDV321020.

Scheduled Monument Consent granted for works concerning repairs to sections of the leat.

Department of National Heritage, 1996, Scheduled Monument Consent Letter (Correspondence). SDV321022.

Scheduled Monument Consent granted for works concerning leat repairs, erosion repairs to the bases of stones and erosion repairs to the cairn/cist south of the stone rows.

Probert, S. A. J. + Fletcher, M. J., 2000, The Merrivale Guardianship Area, Walkhampton, Devon, 5 (Report - Survey). SDV344969.

(30/10/1999) A very fine cist which measures internally 2.2m long by 0.9m wide and up to 0.8m deep. The triangular-shaped slab which forms the massive coverstone is up to 2.1m wide and averages 0.4m thick, a central part has been removed by stone cutters revealing a water-filled cist and a fragment of the coverslab.
A low, spread curvilinear turf-covered mound up to 0.5m high and 3.0m across on the west side is probably the remains of a cairn; elsewhere there is evidence of disturbance to the moorland peat layer. Surveyed at 1:200 scale.

Dartmoor National Park + English Heritage, 2004, Merrivale: An Archaeological Landscape, 16-17 (Leaflet). SDV320201.

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 2015-2017, 2015-2017 Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV361462.

Visible on aerial photograph.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, MER-15 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

Visited 2/10/2019. Cairn surrounded by closely cropped grass and a ring of erosion scars. Overall condition very good. Photo taken.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording photographs, MER-15 (Photograph). SDV363073.

Photo looking 270° showing cairn surrounded by closely cropped grass and a ring of erosion scars.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV5857 - LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Prehistoric - 698000 BC to 42 AD)

Associated Events

• EDV4830 - Survey of guardianship area, Merrivale
• EDV4842 - Erosion repairs at Merrivale
• EDV4846 - Erosion repairs at Merrivale
• EDV4848 - Erosion repairs at Merrivale
• EDV8427 - Excavation of cist at Merrivale

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