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Summary

A cluster of 34 small clearance cairns and fragments of an apparently contemporary field system lie on the western flank of Halstock Down adjacent to the military ring road. The cairns vary in size from 1.7 metres to 6.9 metres in diameter and stand between 0.25 and 0.6 metres high. The majority (25) of these features are sub-circular, the remainder being definitely ovoid or linear in plan. One example is square. Bank fragments are now thought to be from the later prehistoric or even historic period and may not indicate fields.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1016634: Cairnfield, irregular aggregate field system, a ring cairn and three round cairns 800m and 920m south of Moorgate Farm

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX59SE22
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 440888
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX59SE/197
• Old SAM Ref: 28717

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1979, SX59SE22 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV276896.

(10/09/1979) At SX 59789231 there is a circular bank of small stones 4.8m. in diameter, the bank being 1.5m. wide and 0.2m. high with a 4.0m. break in the N.W. It is situated on high ground, in an area which appears to have been cleared at some time and put down to pasture, or at least harrowed and smoothed. It is difficult to determine what this could have been. The position seems too exposed for a hut and yet there is virtually no stone in the central space. Possibly a robbed cairn.
A second cropmark 20.0m. to the S.W. is a depression caused by military activity.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on M.S.D.

Fleming, A., 1980, The Cairnfields of North-West Dartmoor, 9-12 (Article in Serial). SDV251119.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 149166 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(22/6/1999) At SX59799226. Irregular aggregate field system 800 metres south of Moorgate Farm.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1998, Cairnfield (Worksheet). SDV221149.

Prehistoric cairnfield extending over area at least 150 metres by 150 metres on east side of tarmac road, about 750 metres north-east of Rough Tor. At least around two dozen discrete cairns each of approximately 3 metres diameter by 0.5 metres high (maximum). Within area are several substantial lengths of straggly and sinuous prehistoric bank.
Whole area needs careful survey. Cairnfield superficially similar to previously recorded examples on Longstone Hill and Homerton Hill which lie 3 - 4 kilometres distant. Some cairns have been dug into.

Environment Agency WMS, 1998-2016, LiDAR DSM data JPEG image (1m resolution) (Cartographic). SDV360209.

Lidar image shows the cairns as recorded.

Probert, S. A. J. + Newman, P., 2003-2004, Measured survey North Dartmoor Military Range Okehampton Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey (Report - Survey). SDV350801.

(18/08/2003) Centred SX 59739227. A cluster of 34 small clearance cairns and fragments of an apparently contemporary field system lie on the western flank of Halstock Down adjacent to the military ring road. The cairns vary in size from 1.7 metres to 6.9 metres in diameter and stand between 0.25 and 0.6 metres high. The majority (25) of these features are sub-circular, the remainder being definitely ovoid or linear in plan. One example is square.
The associated field system comprises a number of sinuous banks around 2.0 metres wide and 0.5 metres high forming an irregular and incomplete field pattern over this part of the down. Several of the cairns sit upon or continue the course of these banks and would seem to constitute preliminary clearance to supply material for the enclosure of this area.
Within the intended area of enclosure are the remains of two prehistoric sepulchral features, a small cairn containing a possible cist and the remnants of a much larger cairn (Pastscape: 1395963). The latter equates with that described in the Scheduled Monument notification (1999) as a ring cairn.
The hut circle described in 1999 in the Scheduled Monument notification is a military feature, one of many weapons pits and shell holes that also occupy this area.
Whilst resembling a Bronze Age field system the clearance cairns and banks somewhat uncharacteristically enclose what would have been contemporary sepulchral monuments and should therefore be regarded as later prehistoric or even belonging to the historic period. Similar relationships exist between Bronze Age cairns and aborted enclosures on Homerton Hill (see NRHE 1393507).

Oates, M., 2017, Information about the field system on the western flank of Halstock Down (Personal Comment). SDV360698.

Site was visited and lidar data used to track the so-called field boundaries; thought that these do not represent fields.

Historic England, 2018, National Heritage List for England, 1999 scheduling (National Heritage List for England). SDV360653.

The monument, which falls into two areas, is overlooked by Rowtor and includes at least 29 small mounds forming a cairnfield, an irregular aggregate field system consisting of at least five fields, a stone hut circle, a cairn containing a cist, a ring cairn and two further mounds which may contain burials. Although now lying just outside the Okehampton Range, the area has been intensively used for military training in the past and scores of pits and trenches bear testimony to this activity. Most of the cairns forming the Bronze Age cairnfield lie within the south western field and stand between 0.2m and 0.7m high. Twenty-two of the mounds are circular in shape and measure between 2.5m and 5.5m in diameter. The remainder are oval and vary in length between 3m and 4.5m.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8007 - Okehampton Camp Devon: Archaeological Desk-based Assessment and Earthwork Survey (Ref: 50171.01)
• EDV8679 - Okehampton Range: Management Survey
• EDV8291 - Okehampton Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey
• EDV8695 - Survey of Okehampton North Dartmoor Military Range

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