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Summary

A rabbit bury or pillow mound of probable medieval to post-medieval date has been recorded as an earthwork by field and aerial survey, overlying tin streamworking spoil dumps within the streambed of the Blacka Brook. The mound is identifiable as an earthwork mound on aerial photographs of 1946 onwards and digital images derived from aerial photographs of 2007.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1014663: Two pillow mounds and a small area of tin streamwork earthworks 770m north of Blackaton Cross, forming part of Trowlesworthy Warren

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX 56 SE 66
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/198/84/5
• Old SAM Ref: 24248

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• PILLOW MOUND (Post Medieval to XIX - 1540 AD to 1900 AD (Between))

Full description

Crossing, W., 1912 (1965), Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor, 431 (Monograph). SDV320981.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/3G/TUD/UK/223, RAF/3G/TUD/UK/223 Vp2 5143-5144 12-JUL-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV352279.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 130640, 30/6/1994 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Pillow mound forming part of Trowlesworthy Warren. Survives as a 30.7 metre by 5 metre by 0.9 metre high, flat topped, oblong shaped mound of soil and stone surrounded on four sides by the 1.3 metre wide and 0.4 metre deep ditch from which construction material was quarried. A 15 metre long, 0.8 metre wide and 0.2 metre deep narrow gully leading west-south-west from the western lower side of the ditch and cutting through streamwork earthworks may represent an animal run in which rabbits and vermin could have been trapped.
The pillow mound lies on top of an earlier alluvial tin streamworking earthwork and therefore is clearly more recent than the last phase of tin exploitation in this part of the Blacka Brook.

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

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 1999-2017, Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery SX5763 03-MAY-2007 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363087.

Ordnance Survey, 2015, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV357601.

Depicted on the modern map.

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2019-2020, The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping Survey. Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (AI&M, formerly NMP) (Interpretation). SDV362982.

An oblong mound approximately 28.6m long and 4.8 to 6m wide is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs of 1946 onwards, overlying tin streamworking spoil dumps within the streambed of the Blacka Brook.
The mound is probably the remains of a rabbit bury or pillow mound of medieval to post-medieval date.
The complexity of earthworks in this area mean that although the mound is identifiable as an earthwork from the sources available to the survey, it is difficult to distinguish from the surrounding linear streamwork earthworks. In addition, the surrounding ditch and possible animal run identified by the above authority cannot be identified with any confidence from the available sources but might be obscured by scrub vegetation.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7369 - Survey of Granite Loading Bays at Trowlesworthy, Devon
• EDV8148 - The Upper Plym Valley: The Management of an Historic Landscape
• EDV8098 - The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping (formerly NMP) Survey, Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (Ref: ACD2040)

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