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Summary

Round cairn of 9.7 meters diameter by up to 0.6 meters high. A pit in the centre is the result of a partial excavation circa 1897. Central pit measures 2.2 metres by 1.5 metres by 0.6 metres deep. Four stones in the immediate vicinity may have once belonged to the now destroyed stone row.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67NE233
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1234904
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NE/37
• Old SAM Ref: 28697

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ROUND CAIRN (Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))
• STONE ALIGNMENT (Early Bronze Age to XIX - 2200 BC? (Between) to 1899 AD (Between))

Full description

Baring Gould, S., 1898, Fifth Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee, 98 (Article in Serial). SDV337066.

Cairn (diameter 9.5m, height 0.6m), alignment length 61.3m
Soussons Common; due north. On the ridge near Golden Dagger is a rifled cairn. A pillaged stone row starts from this. There seems to have been three lines of stones; seven standing, some buried or fallen. Destroyed recently for walling.

Royal Air Force, 1946 - 1949, Royal Air Force Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV342938.

Possibly visible on aerial photograph.

Dartmoor National Park Authority + Forestry Commission + Dartmoor Preservation Association, 1976, Conservation of Ancient Monuments. The Report of a Working Party (Report - non-specific). SDV248248.

1976 (J. Turner) Hollow in the centre, heather covered. No trace of stone row. (Jan 1976) five posts ringing clearance zone. All agreements carried out.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 155 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

(14/10/1975) A ruined cairn, with triple stone row extending from it. Diameter 9m, height 0.4m.

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

Not visible, as in wooded area, on 1950 aerial photograph.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 149032 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(03/07/1998) Round cairn on Soussons Down. Diameter 9.7m, height 0.6m. Central pit 2.2m by 1.5m by 0.6m deep. Bilberry and grass covered mound currently enjoying a wide vista, but there are large number of regen. trees growing in the vicinity, although there are none on the mound itself. Four stones in the immediate vicinity may have once belonged to the now destroyed row.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 19. 238, Map 24 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Soussons Plantation N. cairn '5' at SX67677998 of 10.0 metres diameter by 0.3 metres high was excavated in 1902 and their oval pit is still visible in the centre of the mound. Trees were planted to the edge of the cairn destroying all traces of a triple row which descended the hill to the south. The rows had already been partly damaged in 1897 when many stones were removed to construct the nearby enclosure wall across the Down, By the following year only seven stones remained standing with others fallen and buried but it could still be traced for 62 metres from the cairn.

Environment Agency WMS, 2019, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution), 2019 (Cartographic). SDV362956.

Mound with central hollow visible on Lidar data.

Historic England, 2022, National Heritage List for England, 1018790 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364675.

The monument includes a round cairn situated on a ridge separating the valleys of the East Dart and West Webburn Rivers. The cairn measures 9.7 metres in diameter and stands up to 0.6 metres high. A pit in the centre of the mound represents the site of an unsuccessful partial excavation carried out by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in around 1897

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7390 - Archaeological condition survey in Soussons Woods
• EDV7402 - Archaeological condition survey in Soussons Woods
• EDV7431 - Woodland Survey (1989-90) at Bellever, Soussons and other woodland parcels
• EDV8483 - Excavation at cairn on Soussons Down
• EDV7421 - Archaeological condition survey in Soussons Woods

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