See important guidance on the use of this record.

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

Summary

Round cairn partly overlies the Willings Walls reave with a cist. Cairn of 8.0 metres diameter by 0.4 metres high with a central cist 1.1 metres by 0.6 metres and 0.6 metres deep

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1019083: Medieval farmstead and field system, length of Willings Walls Reave, four round cairns, a ring cairn and pillow mounds at Willings Walls Warren

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56NE76
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 438717
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/25
• Old SAM County Ref: 576
• Old SAM Ref Revised: 24231
• Old SAM Ref: 10648

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Worth, R. H., 1900, 19th Report of the Barrow Committee, 49, plate 4 (Article in Serial). SDV231259.

Lee Moor. A cist with its coverstone removed, 832 feet west of Hentor Brook and 51 feet north of Cornwood Reave (SX 56 NE 123). Cist situated in a barrow. Three sides remain. Western side has been pushed back and the cover stone removed, the end stones have fallen over. No result from excavation. The contents of this kistvaen had been recently disturbed.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1978, SX56NE76, Photographs (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV139598.

(01/06/1950) No signs of a retaining circle. Barrow 7.5m in diameter.
(22/12/1978) On a slight north-west slope near a reave (see SX 56 SE 123) is a cairn with cist. The cairn is 8.6m in diameter and 0.6m high; the cist is 1.1m by 0.6m and 0.6m deep and aligned north-east to south-west. Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 163 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

(04/09/1975) Cairn, two slabs on west side probably of retaining circle; central cist placed south-south-east by north-north-west. Diameter measures 3.5m, height 0.3m.

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

Not visible on 1946 aerial photographs.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 140759, 15/4/1995 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Round cairn partly overlies the Willings Walls reave at SX5830 6535. Mound measures 5 metres in diameter and stands up to 0.8 metres high.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 166, Map 51, Figure 51.8 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Willings Walls Cairn '3' at SX58276533 of 8.0 metres diameter by 0.4 metres high with a cist. All four sides of the centrally placed cist are present. The end slabs are thick short blocks and the western side leans out of position next to the displaced cover stone. An extra slab alongside may be the remnant of an outer ring.

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

Depicted and described by Robertson.

Thackray, C., 1994, The Upper Plym Valley: the management of an historic landscape (Report - non-specific). SDV143510.

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

(05/03/2002) SX 58286534. This cairn is as described by the Ordnance Survey (1978). The former coverstone lies immediately west of the cist.

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

Cairn shown on survey.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, UPHT-17 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

(18/11/2019) Condition assessed as good; some vegetation encroachment threatening feature. Impressive cist 0.5m deep by 0.5m wide with the west end stone opened up (see photo 6). Cairn does not appear to overly the boundary reave as HER description suggests; the edge of the cairn is approximately 10m north-west of boundary reave but does overly the area cleared to make reave.

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

Photographs taken during November 2019 visit.

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

'Cairn' shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1019083 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

Within Scheduled area.

Historic England, 2021-2022, NRHE to HER website, Accessed 29/06/2021 (Website). SDV364039.

(Estimated 1964: Ancient Monuments). One of two cists on Willings Wall Warren. Two cists 137m apart on moorland.
(02/12/1991) Mound 9m diameter, 0.5m high. Cist has end slab and 2 side slabs in place. It was at least 0.9m long, 1m wide, 0.6m deep.
( EH Scheduling amendment, 09-MAY-2001)SX 58276535. A cairn immediately adjacent to and west of Willings Walls Reave. The cairn mound measures 9 metres in diameter and up to 0.5 metres high. It contains a central cist with one end slab and two side slabs in place. Scheduled.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8148 - The Upper Plym Valley: The Management of an Historic Landscape
• EDV8155 - Plym Valley Survey: EH Project (Feb 2001 - Dec 2002)
• EDV8383 - Excavation of the cairn west of Willings Walls Reave

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