See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

This ring cairn survives as a circular bank measuring up to 3.5 metres wide and 0.75 metres high which surrounds a flat interior up to 17.5 metres in diameter. There is evidence for partial early excavation or robbing on the south west side. Noted in 2019 as a possible 'sacred' pool.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1002521: Hut circles W of Wigford Down China Clay Works
• SHINE: Earthworks and walling of Bronze age parallel reave field system with hut circle settlements and cairns, plus deserted Medieval settlements with long houses and pillow mounds, on Wigford Down

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56SW6
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439543
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SW/3/1
• Old SAM County Ref: 434

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Worth, R. H., 1943, 62nd Report on Barrows, 54 (Article in Serial). SDV165840.

On or near the summit of Wigford Down, there are five cairns or remains of cairns. Four are shown on the Ordnance Survey 6 inch map series.
(3) About 380ft. (115.8 metres) to the south-south-east of (cairn 2 – MDV2311) there lies another ring cairn of similar origin, a robbed bowl cairn. The diameter is 52ft. (15.8m). Ordnance Survey map calls this example a ‘hut circle’.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1190, 3238-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDV163731.

('A' - SX 54706495, 'B' - SX 54696496) Cairn Circles (NR).

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX56SW6, Ring cairn 'B' (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV250206.

One of two cairn circles, both in a raised platform. Diameter 10.7 metres.
Both these circles have been the containing circles of cairns. They are both on a raised platform, and most of the stones are of the slab type, laid lengthways. They are very much alike, or, rather they have been. (O. G. S. Crawford, 1928)
'A' - Cairn remains, 25 feet diameter. Rim of large stones. Cist cover in centre unchecked.
SX 5469 6496 'B'. Earth circle, 35 feet inside diameter. Bank 9 feet by 3ft. Entrance to West. (Lady A. Fox, 1951)

Ancient Monuments, 1959, Ancient Monuments detail (Report - Survey). SDV250201.

Hut circles west of Wigford Down China Clay Works, one of two, large banked enclosure nearby, 0.6 metres high, 11 metres diameter. Moorland.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 157 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

27/7/1972 Uncertain whether a robbed cairn, ring cairn or ruined hut circle. Diameter 15 metres, height 0.3 meters.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 68, A39 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Stone ring, diameter 10.5 metres, with bank 2.5 metres wide and 0.5 metres high. 3.0 metres wide entrance on southern side.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 80, Map 48 Figure 48.1 & 48.1.2 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Wigford Down cairn '4' at SX 54696496 of 16.0 metres diameter by 0.6 metres high. One of a pair of cairns lying around 100 metres to the south of the summit group. This one is a circular bank with flat interior but has been dug into and the bank demolished on the south-west side.

Ordnance Survey, 2017, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV359962.

'Cairn circle' is depicted on the modern mapping.

Historic England, 2017, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV359963.

The monument includes a ring cairn and a kerbed round cairn situated within the Wigford Down coaxial field system overlooking the Plym and Meavy Valleys.
The ring cairn is the northern of the two and survives as a circular bank measuring up to 3.5 metres wide and 0.75 metres high which surrounds a flat interior up to 17.5 metres in diameter. There is evidence for partial early excavation or robbing on the south west side.
The kerbed cairn survives as an oval mound measuring up to 10 metres long by 5 metres wide. The cairn has an interior kerb with a 6.3 metre diameter composed of at least 5 massive stones up to 2.4 metres long and 0.9 metres high, four of which are still standing and the fifth is fallen.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, WD-7 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

(24/03/2020) Cairn is covered in vegetation growth – grass/moss and bracken cover with gorse outcrops. Otherwise condition is moderate.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording photographs (Photograph). SDV363073.

Site recorded during condition visit.

Greeves, T. A. P., 2019, Dartmoor's Sacred Pools. Design in the Prehistoric Landscape, 42, Wigford Down B (Article in Serial). SDV363426.

SX 54692 64967 Wigford Down pool B measures 4.5m. One of over 40 such 'sacred' pools identified on Dartmoor that are thought to have potentially been designed during the prehistoric period, and may have been used to deposit votive items, although these Dartmoor examples may have alternative significance as designed prehistoric elements in the landscape. Many are located on ridge tops and in conjunction with cairns, stone rows and other prehistoric features. Further research may well reveal more about these interesting features.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8316 - Wigford Down PAL survey

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.