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Summary

Remains of a ring cairn with a 6.2 metre diameter central area surrounded by a 0.5 metre wide and 0.4 metre high bank. Excavated by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1900.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1017986: Unenclosed stone hut circle settlement, two cairns and section of field system 330m north east of Hemstone Rocks

Other References/Statuses

• MPP Archaeological Item Dataset: 144138
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SW/2/1
• Old SAM County Ref: 960
• Old SAM Ref: 28674(P)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Baring Gould, S., 1901, 7th Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee, 137 (Article in Serial). SDV249499.

Three cairns north of Hemstone Rocks and about two hundred yards from the brow of the clatter. The western most cairn had been denuded of its stones but on digging into the stump a pit in the 'calm' was found 22 inches in diameter and 15 inches deep. It contained burnt bones, wood charcoal and two small pieces of fired flint. This pit was surrounded by a circle of small stones 3 feet in diameter. A small cairn hard by rendered a little wood charcoal in a hollow depression in the calm. Further east is another ruined cairn with a neat pit dug in the calm and covered with a flat stone. It contained much wood charcoal.

Worth, R. H., 1902, 21st Report of the Barrow Committee, 109, 111, 115, 129, Fig (Article in Serial). SDV20971.

A cairn near Hemstone Rocks yielded an urn-shaped pit with a cover stone. The pit was 12 inches wide at the mouth and 17th inches deep. A flint flake is recorded from a cist and flakes also from a cairn.

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

Fernworthy Plantation. Hemstone Rocks. 8F. Ring cairn, 5.7 metres diameter. Excavated in 1900. Has been planted over.
February 1976. 17 posts ringing clearance zone enclosing sites 6F-9F. Trees standing inside and those outside are withing falling distance of ring cairn.
1955 Spooner and Dixon Report (B) Region North of the South Teign (Froggymeade, Toms Hill, Hemstone) Site No. 21. Not identified.

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

Ring cairn, 5.7 metres diameter. Disturbed and planted.

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 this group since 1976. Some of the posts need attention.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 72 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Small orthostatic ring, 5.8 metres diameter with a possible central cist. Now clear of forest.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., 144138 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Site visit 28th April 1997. Ring cairn at SX64848383, on the edge of an unenclosed settlement. Diameter 6.2 metres, height 0.4 metres, width 0.5 metres. Possible central cist. It looks like a hut circle.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 157-158, 242, Map 35, Site 7 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Hemstone Rocks cairns 1-4 at SX648838, one with a cist. A report by the Dartmoor Exploation Committee in 1900 records four cairns in the vicinity, not relocated, together with one of a group of three hut circles which may have been part of the same settlement. A flint knife was found within a cist, all that remained of one of the cairns. The other three covered a central pit containing charcoal and one of them also contained burnt bone and two pieces of flint. The excavated hut produced a flint scraper and a cooking stone.

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

Fernworthy Hemstone Rocks. 6F-9F. Site visit 27th September 1996. Hut circles (6F/7F), ring cairn (8F) and cairn (9F). Site within a deforested area on the edge of woodland. The posts on the west side have disappeared or have been knocked over, presumably during felling. Brash is covering the site. The site needs immediate attention concerning its future management.

Watts, S., 20/05/2014, Cairns to north of Hemstone Rocks (Personal Comment). SDV356635.

The reports of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee refer to three cairns to the north of Hemstone Rocks but later reports only mention two. Consequently it is difficult to identify with any certainty which cairn is which.

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

Newman, P., 2013, The Archaeology of Fernworthy Forest, Dartmoor, Devon, 34, Fig. 30 (Report - Survey). SDV351784.

Two cairns forming part of hut settlement. In poor condition. It is possible that the cairns were disturbed prior to Dartmoor Exploration Committee's excavations in the area in 1900. They report the remains of a cist and three ruined cairns but unfortunately the locations of these features cannot be identified with any certainty from their descriptions.

English Heritage, 2014, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV355683.

[Part of] unenclosed stone hut circle settlement, two cairns and section of field system 330m north east of Hemstone Rocks. The cairns lie immediately north of the settlement and both were partly excavated by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1901. The western structure is a ring cairn and survives as a 6.2m diameter central area surrounded by a 0.5m wide and 0.4m high bank. The second cairn lies close to the first and survives as an 8m diameter and 0.8m high mound, with two separate pits cut into its surface. These pits are probably the result of the work carried out by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee.

Horner, B., 23/11/1992, Cairn at Hemstone Rocks (Personal Comment). SDV245734.

Possible that Turner has provided an alternative identification for one of the hut cirlces but if so, then it is unclear which one.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV6651 - HUMAN REMAINS (Bronze Age - 2200 BC? to 701 BC)

Associated Events

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

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