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Summary

Two ring cairns and the archaeologically sensitive area of ground between them, to the north of Loddiswell. Visible on 1940s Royal Air Force aerial photographs.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1014244: Two ring cairns 330m south east of Coldharbour Cross

Other References/Statuses

• National Record of the Historic Environment: 444700
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX75SW/14
• Old SAM Ref: 24852
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX75SW 6

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• RING CAIRN (Early Bronze Age to Middle Bronze Age - 2200 BC to 1001 BC (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, CPE/UK 1890 (Aerial Photograph). SDV140289.

Other details: Also 4198.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1958 - 1961, SX75SW6 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV343401.

Two (perhaps three) barrows visible on aerial photographs. Two of them show as faint circles on the ground with hummocks inside them. Inspection of the aerial photographs suggests two circular banked enclosures.
Site visit 13th December 1961. A survey has been made of three features: 'A' and 'B' consist of circular banks 0.2 metres high, 'A' has a central mound but 'B' has only unsurveyable traces of a central rise. At 'C' is a crescentic fragment of bank up to 0.3 metres high which is probably the remains of a circular bank similar to the others. These features are on a high heathland and are heavily overgrown with gorse, but their form is suggestive of saucer barrows. The absence of analagous sites in this region makes such an assessment tentative.

Grinsell, L. V., 1983, The Barrows of South and East Devon, 39 (Article in Serial). SDV337013.

Department of National Heritage, 1996, Two Ring Cairns 330 Metres South-east of Coldharbour Cross (Schedule Document). SDV343403.

Two ring cairns and the archaeologically sensitive area of ground between them situated in the South Hams some 3.5 kilometres north of the village of Loddiswell on a hill to the west of the River Avon. They lie towards the western end of the hill crest on ground with a slight downwards slope to the south-west. The ring cairns are aligned north-west to south-east.The distance between the ring cairns is 12 metres. The area of ground between them is archaeologically sensitive in that it will contain burials, evidence of related activity, and archaeological evidence for the chronological relationship between the two ring cairns. The ring cairns appear to have been first identified from Royal Air Force vertical aerial photographs taken in 1946. At that time, and when they were surveyed by the Ordnance Survey in 1961, they lay within an area of heath and were partly overgrown with gorse. Clearance of the heath and subsequent ploughing have made this monument less distinct than when first recorded.

English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009: South West, 108 (Report - non-specific). SDV342694.

Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems. Principal vulnerability dumping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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