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Summary

A natural outcrop some 10.0m across and 2.0m high, encompassed by a mass of small stones. Most are piled to the west of the outcrop but overall they form a cairn 16.0m in diameter and 1.0m high. On the southern side the precise perimeter is difficult to determine since a spread of stone on the surface extends for a further 8.0 metres. This site is on the local list of Nationally Important Dartmoor sites.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Pupers Reave and Pupers Rock Cairn. Earthwork and stone remains of a Bronze Age reave, enclosure with hut circle and cairns across Buckfastleigh and Dean Moors bisected by 16th-17th century openworks on western side of Lambs Down

Other References/Statuses

• Dartmoor Non-designated Heritage Asset: Y
• National Monuments Record: SX66NE10
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 441378
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66NE/39
• Pastscape: 441378

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• NATURAL FEATURE (Constructed, Unknown date)
• RING CAIRN? (Constructed, Unknown date)

Full description

National Monuments Record, NMR SX6767, 1 (Aerial Photograph). SDV145368.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX66NE10 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV147243.

(21/04/1950) No definite trace of cairn could be found.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1977, SX66NE10 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV151722.

(20/12/1977) Pupers Rock is a natural outcrop at 455m OD, some 10.0m across and 2.0m high, encompassed by a mass of small stones. Most are piled to the west of the outcrop but overall they form a cairn 16.0m in diameter and 1.0m high. On the southern side the precise perimeter is difficult to determine since a spread of stone on the surface extends for a further 8.0m.
The structure is much disturbed but appears to have originally had a flat top with a rim, 2.0m to 3.0m wide and 0.5m high, around the western half. There are five upright slabs on the top angled to blocks of outcrop. They form no particular pattern but are unlikely to be a natural occurrence.
There is a broad similarity to the Inner Pupers cairn (SX 66 NE 63), a sophistication of the 'tor cairn' where an outcrop is simply piled around with stones. Pupers Rock is incorporated in the Pupers Hill reave. This does not encroach upon the body of the cairn but uses the point for a change of alignment. (SX 66 NE 59).
Surveyed at 1:10000 on PFD and at 1:100 (see illustration).
(SX 67276737) Cairn (Pupers Rock) (citing Worth, R. H., 10/12/1948).

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 137 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

No definite trace of cairn could be found. (Visited 11/10/1975).

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

Recorded in project.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 37 69 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Ring cairn incorporating a large flat-topped granite outcrop. The stone ring measures 17 meters in diameter internally with 2.5 meter wide bank 0.6 meters high. There are the remains of a stone circle, around 1.0 meter high within the outcrop. Other details: A58.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 170-1, Map 58 (Monograph). SDV337765.

Pupers Hill summit cairn at SX67276737 of 27 metres diameter by 1.0 metres high. The summit outcrop is surrounded by loosely piled stones spreads in all directions with the only unusual feature being the large slabs upended amongst the rocks. At one time the hilltop was a favoured source of stone and immediately south of the cairn are numerous pits and shattered blocks with the characteristic marks of stone-mason's tools.

Gerrard, S., 2004, List of Sites Remaining to be Considered for Designation on Dartmoor (Un-published). SDV345444.

This site was considered for designation as a Scheduled Ancient Monument during the Monument Protection Programme. The programme ended before the entire list of sites was successfully scheduled so this is included on a local list of Nationally Important Sites.

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

'Pupers Rock Cairn' shown on modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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