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Summary

Cairn with cist forming part of the ceremonial complex at Froggymead. Located to the south of Fernworthy stone circle at the northern end of the remains of the eastern stone alignment. It was excavated by the Dartmoor Excavation Committee in 1898. A lot of burnt bone was found.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1017984: A stone circle, known as Fernworthy Circle, three stone alignments and five cairns 425m and 525m north west of Sandeman Bridge

Other References/Statuses

• MPP Archaeological Item Dataset: 144128
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/132
• Old SAM County Ref: 593C
• Old SAM Ref: 28672
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX68SE59

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CAIRN (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))
• CIST (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Baring Gould, S., 1898, Fifth Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee, 107 (Article in Serial). SDV337066.

A barrow containing a ruined cist from which row C of Fernworthy group runs south to cairn. Rifled at some time past. Masses of burnt bone at bottom of cist, not positively identifiable as human. Also wood charcoal, but no pot.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

The 'Kistvaen' is shown on early 20th century century map to the south-east at SX65508407. Only one cairn is shown at the north end of the 'Stone Row' to the south of 'Fernworthy Circle'.

Victoria County History, 1906, The Victoria History of the County of Devon, 357-60 (Article in Serial). SDV238214.

Worth, R. H., 1946, The Stone Rows of Dartmoor. Part 1, 303-4 (Article in Serial). SDV251172.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1952, SX68SE59, SX68SE59 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV244440.

Site visit 2nd August 1952. Cist, cairn and stone row. Unable to find any of these features. The area is covered by re-afforestation.

Spooner, G. M. + Birkett Dixon, C. E., 1955, Note on the Antiquities situated in the Forestry Commission ground at Fernworthy and Bellever. Appendix 1, 2 (Report - non-specific). SDV351955.

To the south-east of the stone circle lay two cairns (2 and 4), joined by a short double stone row (7). Cairn 2 held a kisvaen. These have been completely overplanted, and are at present hidden by an almost impenetrable growth of trees and accumulation of humus. An excursion into this unpromising terrain ahs succeeded to the extend of locating what may be the stones of the kist in Cairn 2. The fate of these items will be unknown until the trees are thinned but they are scarcely likely to have escaped damage.

Worth, R. H., 1967, Worth's Dartmoor, 224, Fig. 76 (Monograph). SDV337618.

Turner, J. R., 1976, Ancient Monuments on Forestry Commission Land. Fernworthy and Bellever (Report - non-specific). SDV351823.

Fernworthy Plantation, Froggymeade 6D.
Site visit 1976. Cairn with kistvaen. Cairn measures 7.0 metres in diameter (very ruined) and is located at the northern end of site 5.D (Stone circle). Kistvaen is incomplete and has only the northern end stone 0.63 metres in length, and western side stone 0.66 metres in length. The excavation produced a lot of burnt bones. Has been planted over.
February 1976. Froggymead sites 1D-9D have been cleared as one open space. All agreements carried out.
Included in 1955 Spooner and Dixon report (B) Region north of the South Teign (Froggymeade, Toms Hill and Hemstone), Site No. 2.

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

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 145, Lydford 23 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

Site visit 15th October 1975. Cairn now destroyed in which was a cist, placed probably east-south-east by west-north-west, of which north-west and north-east slabs were recently exposed by a forest clearance. Excavated 1898, burnt bone and a little wood charcoal in pit in cist. Diameter 4.0 metres.

Turner, J., 1978, Report of Work Carried Out by the Forestry Commission since January 1976 (Report - non-specific). SDV351816.

No work has been carried out on the Froggymead group of sites since February 1976. The clearance zone of this group should be marked out with posts as one open space so that there would be no need for any site number posts inside the clearance zone, making the site more photographic. Vegetation on these sites are very (?), in fact site 7D (cairn) looks in excellent condition.

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

Not visible on 1946 Royal Air Force aerial photographs due to tree cover.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 144128 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(28/04/1997) Cairn and cist at SX65488410 forming part of ritual complex. Cairn measures 7.0 metres in diameter, height 0.3 metres. Cist oriented east-south-east by west-north-west.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 162-5, 242, Map 35, Figure 35.7 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Fernworthy cairn '2' at SX655184070 of 7.0 metres diameter by 0.3 metres high with a cist. This has recently been cleared of trees. An end and side slab of a cist are exposed within the cairn from which the excavators recovered 'masses of burnt bone', though previous diggings had left no accompanying artefacts.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1993-1998, Dartmoor Royal Forest Project (Report - Survey). SDV346608.

Site visit by H. Chapman 1st June 1996. Barrow at SX 65508409 containing the remains of a cist. 45 metres to the south at SX 65518404 is a cairn and between the two are the very fragmented remains of a double stone row running north to south parallel to another row which leads towards Fernworthy Stone Circle.
The row, barrow and cairn have all been comprehensively damaged by afforestation and the digging of the adjacent drainage channels.
The barrow at the northern end of the row measures up to 6.0 metres in diameter and is 0.4 metres high, although its shape is obscured by drainage channels. The cist in the centre is represented by two stones set at right angles, 0.4 metres tall internally.

Dartmoor National Park Authority, 1996, Condition Survey of Identified Archaeology within Woodland Areas 1996 (Un-published). SDV351820.

Fernworthy, Froggymeade Group 6D. Site visit 27th September 1996. Cairn with cist at the northern end of stone row 5D. Site unmarked. Its marker post is in the wrong location, about 20 metres to the north on the edge of the clearance area. Other details: Photo.

English Heritage, 2005-2008, Prehistoric Survey Information (Cartographic). SDV345521.

Cairn recorded.

Newman, P., 2013, Fernworthy Forest Sites Survey (Un-published). SDV351708.

English Heritage, 2013, National Heritage List for England, 1017984 (National Heritage List for England). SDV350785.

A stone circle, known as Fernworthy Circle, three stone alignments and five cairns north west of Sandeman Bridge. Together the stone alignments, stone circle and cairns 425 metres and 525 metres north west of Sandeman Bridge represent one of the most complete prehistoric ritual complexes on Dartmoor, with excavation at the stone circle providing evidence for its use. Despite afforestation the monument survives well and will contain further archaeological and environmental information relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. See list for full details.

Newman, P., 2013, The Archaeology of Fernworthy Forest, Dartmoor, Devon, 9, 16, Fig. 11 (Report - Survey). SDV351784.

Froggymead Barrow B. The five barrows at Froggymead were all excavated by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1898. Barrow B, however, had apparently been opened previously and revealed 'no results' to speak of. Today Barrow B is almost completely flat and survives only as an amorphous low, flat-topped earthwork cut through by a modern machine furrow. It may once have had an overall diameter of 7m but is today much spread. Two earthfast stones survive in situ at the centre of the mound forming an approximate right angle, which the excavators in 1898 concluded was a cist, of which all other traces are gone. The two stones are depicted on Lukis’s plan of 1879 (Fig 4) and must therefore have already been exposed. The plan surveyed by R H Worth and published alongside the excavation report in 1898 (DEC 1898) contains an error, showing this barrow and stone row C too far to the south by several metres.

National Monument Record, 2014, Pastscape, 443898 (Website). SDV355682.

Bronze Age cairn, barrow containing a cist, and double stone row between the two. The barrow at the North end of the rew is up to 6.0m across and 0.4m high, and it contains a cist. The cairn at the South end of the row is 8.5m x 7.3m and 0.5m high. They are separated by a double stone row 104' long, although this had been planted over by 1976 and there is now little evidence for it. Scheduled. NMR No. SX68SE93. Record last updated: N/A

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV5904 - HUMAN REMAINS (Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 701 BC)

Associated Events

• EDV6216 - Condition Surveys of Ancient Monuments on Forestry Commission Land
• EDV6203 - Archaeological Survey of Fernworthy Forest
• EDV7389 - Fernworthy Forest condition survey 1996
• EDV7410 - Fernworthy Forest condition survey 1992
• EDV8523 - Cairn investigated, Fernworthy
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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