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Summary

A very fine ring cairn is located on the western side of Langstone Moor overlooking the Colly Brook and Whittor to the north. It consists of an 18 metre diameter ring of small stones, now turf covered, enclosing a mainly flat area strewn with loose stones. The bank, which has been disturbed on the south-west quadrant, stands approximately 0.5 metres high.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Large bronze age cairn 670 metres north-east of Wedlake, Peter Tavy

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57NW17
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439771
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57NW/63
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

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

Shown as 'Hut Circle' on 19th century map.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX57NW17 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV228042.

(17/07/1950) Oral information to the Ordnance Survey in July suggested that the small stones which accumulated during clearing of nearby modern enclosures were mostly probably deposited here.
Visit in December records this site as a hut circle; a mound, which is cairn-like in appearance. It is composed of small stones, partly turf covered and measures 16.4 metres in diameter north-south and 18.6 metres east-west. Height 0.5 metres.

Royal Air Force, 1964, 58/6399, F65/0042-43 (Aerial Photograph). SDV225273.

National Monuments Record, 1977, NMR SX5377, 4/253 (Aerial Photograph). SDV228503.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 161, 34A (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

7/8/1976 Cairn shown on 6 inch Ordnance Survey map sheet as a hut circle. Diameter 17.0 metres, height 0.6 metres.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1978, SX57NW17 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV226273.

(13/11/1978) This feature is not a hut circle but probably a much-robbed cairn, though it could just possibly be a clearance mound, the adjacent hillside having been completely cleared of stones. It has a uniform diameter of 17.0m, and its height is 0.5m. It consists of scattered small to medium-sized stones.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD.
See ground photograph.

National Monument Record, 1979, SF1510, 91 (Aerial Photograph). SDV224088.

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

Cairn is visible on various aerial photographs and is recorded on map overlay.

Griffith, F. M., 1986, Comment about cairn on Langstone Moor (Personal Comment). SDV228046.

Cairn is as described by Grinsell. A small cairn. Probably not modern as the 1950 Ordnance Survey card implies, but prehistoric in date.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

(17/11/1987) SX 5444 7767. The remains of what must have been an impressive large cairn lie on a fairly steep north-west facing hillslope in virtually clitter-free open moorland. It measures 17.0 metres in overall diameter, 0.5 metres in height and is apparently composed entirely of small stones.
The centre of the mound has been robbed to some extent but its turf-covered rim, which has a slope length of about 1.2 metres and a height of 0.5 metres, is more or less intact; its inner side drops almost vertically for 0.3 metres into the fairly flat disturbed centre. There are no apparent traces of a kerb or cist.
A 4.0 metre wide, approximately 10.0 metre long band of small stones lies around 50 metres to the north of the cairn adjacent to a gateway in the newtake wall. The material is very similar to that evident in the surviving part of the cairn and so it could be some of the robbed stone which was perhaps intended for, but never used in, the construction of the field wall.
It is not unreasonable to conclude that Mr Bellamy (Ordnance Survey, 1950) was referring to this spread of stone rather than the cairn.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 95, 240, Map 31, Site 18 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Wedlake E '2' cairn at SX54447767 of 18.0 metres diameter by 0.4 metres high to the north of Roos Tor. There is no apparent deep pitting and it is possibly substantially intact. A circular bank circa 20 metres outside diameter surrounds a lower interior composed of small stones.

Newman, P., 2003, The Langstone Moor Stone Circle, Peter Tavy, Devon and its Prehistoric Environs, 6, fig 2 (Report - Survey). SDV255420.

(10/10/2003) A very fine ring cairn is located on the western side of Langstone Moor overlooking the Colly Brook and Whittor to the north. It consists of an 18 metre diameter ring of small stones, now turf covered, enclosing a mainly flat area strewn with loose stones. The bank, which has been disturbed on the south-west quadrant, stands approximately 0.5 metres high.
Resurveyed at 1:200 scale October 2003.

Newman, P., 2004, Merrivale Range Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV346874.

(10/08/2004) As described in 1987. Condition is unchanged.

Ordnance Survey, 2012, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV348725.

Cairn is depicted on the modern mapping.

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

Visible on aerial photograph.

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

Circular feature shown.

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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