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Summary

Remains of a cairn of 7.9 metres diameter by 0.65 metres high on the summit of Marsh Hill on Winney's Down. It has been disturbed by the construction of a shelter in its centre.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Prehistoric cairn on Winney's Down disturbed by the construction of a shelter in its centre

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68SW17
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443936
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SW/36

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CAIRN (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))
• SHELTER (Constructed, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1750 AD)

Full description

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, SX68SW17 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV242921.

(14/09/1951) SX 62138242. A heap of stones and slabs of granite covered with heather and turf. With longitudinal hollow running north to south. Mean diameter 10.0m, height 1.0m. The north end of west side of hollow has very straight side with pieces of granite showing in it and there are a number of flattened pieces of granite in the bottom of the hollow but no trace of a cist.
Not certain that this is a burial cairn, it is possibly simply the heaped up rubble of a collapsed dry-stone walled sheep fold similar to the one standing immediately north of it.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 147 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

(10/07/1976) Cairn at Winney's Down. Diameter 9.0m, height 0.6m. Central hole contains slab doubtfully of a cist. Site shown on OS 1:25,000 map.

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

Not visible on 1947 RAF aerial photograph.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 112, 242, Map 34, Site 2 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Marsh Hill cairn at SX62148243 of circa 10 metres diameter. What remains shows a similar construction to Quintin's Man cairn. It has been completely gutted at the centre, presumably to provide the walls of Statts House which shares the hilltop, leaving just the outer rim of slabs.

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

(02/12/1994) The remains of a cairn lie on Winney's Down at SX 6214 8242, some 50m south of Statts House (SX 68 SW 43). The remains comprise a roughly circular mound of moorstone blocks, 7.9m in diameter and 0.65m high. The mound has been much disturbed by the construction of a shelter in its centre. This is a trapezoidal structure, 1.2m wide at its northwestern end, 1.7m wide at its northeastern end and 3.1m long. The coursed walls are 1.1m wide and 0.6m high. The slab inside the shelter, mentioned by Grinsell (2), represents tumble from this structure rather than part of a cist.

Gerrard, S., 1993-2010, Monument Protection Programme Alternative Action Report (Report - non-specific). SDV145710.

(27/10/1997) SX62138242. A 13m long by 8.2m wide stony mound orientated N-S. Towards the N end is a chamber 3.5m N-S by 2m E-W formed by coarse stone waling up to 5 courses and 0.55m high . A hollow leading towards the chamber measures 1.3m wide and 0.3m deep. The mound is up to 0.9m high. The structure is almost certainly a collapsed shelter similar to Statts House, (SX68SE43).

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

Cairn shown on survey.

Ordnance Survey, 2023, Mastermap 2023 (Cartographic). SDV365227.

'Cairn' shown on modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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