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Summary

A large cairn now disturbed and partially covered by low vegetation lies in open moorland. Composed of stones and small boulders it is 17.7 metres in diameter and a maximum 1.9 metres high. Spoil has been dumped around the top of the mound from the central excavation pit; three backfilled trenches extend from this central depression. There is no visible evidence of a kerb or cist.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1014145: Three stone alignments, 15 cairns, a cist, a partially enclosed stone hut circle settlement and a small clapper bridge at Drizzle Combe

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56NE88
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 438755
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/37
• Old SAM Ref Revised: 24104
• Old SAM Ref: 10725

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CAIRN (Constructed, Neolithic - 4000 BC (Between) to 2201 BC (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'Tumulus' shown on 19th century map.

Royal Air Force, 1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2494, 4128-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDV147533.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950-1977, SX56NE88 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV215928.

(07/06/1950) A large cairn (diameter 17.5m, height 1.7m), turf covered with a large hollow in the centre.
(27/06/1977) A large turf-covered round cairn, situated on a spur at 355.0m OD. The diameter of the cairn is 16.5m overall and its height 1.6m and it has a large hollow in the centre. Although a stone row points to the cairn, there is no evidence that it ever extended to the cairn. Surveyed at 1:10 000 on MSD

Worth, R. H., 1953, Dartmoor, 210, Plan (Monograph). SDV231148.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 167 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

Site visited on 29th July 1972. Cairn pillaged. Diameter 20.0 metres, height 1.5 metres.

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

Not visible on aerial photographs used in the project.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 133424 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Site visited on 12th March 1993. Cairn survives as a 20 metres diameter stony mound standing up to 1.5 metres high. A central hollow, measuring 7.7 metres in diam and 0.8 metres deep, represents the site of robbing or partial early excavation. A ditch, from which construction material was quarried surrounds the mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a 2.5 metres wide band of rushes, caused by increased moisture in the buried ditch.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 128, 135, 210, Map 49, Figures 49.13 & 49.18 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Drizzlecombe cairn '18' at SX59376717 of 20.0 metres diameter by 2.0 metres high a few metres to the north-east of Enclosure 'B'.

Environment Agency WMS, 1998-2016, LiDAR DTM data JPEG image (1m resolution) (Cartographic). SDV360208.

Circular feature is visible on the lidar data.

Fletcher, M. + Newman, P. + Probert, S., 1999, Drizzlecombe, Eylesbarrow, Ditsworthy and Hartor areas in the Plym Valley, West Devon (Report - Survey). SDV346268.

(15/08/1999) A large cairn now disturbed and partially covered by low vegetation lies in open moorland at SX 5937 6717. Composed of stones and small boulders it is 17.7m in diameter and a maximum 1.9m high. Spoil has been dumped around the top of the mound from the central excavation pit; three backfilled trenches extend from this central depression. There is no visible evidence of a kerb or cist.

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

Cairn shown on survey.

Historic England, 2018, National Heritage List for England, 1014145 (National Heritage List for England). SDV360653.

Cairn diameter 18 metres by height 2 metres. Central hollow. Rushes around circumference.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, UP-DZ 24 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

Visited 08/02/2020. Overall condition good. Photo x2 taken.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording photographs, UP-DZ 24 (Photograph). SDV363073.

Photo 1: View looking 260° showing grass/moss/whortleberry with a little bracken covering and reeds around perimeter. Photo 2: View looking 100° showing animal burrows in E side of central depression.

Ordnance Survey, 2021, MasterMap 2021 (Cartographic). SDV364015.

'Cairn' shown on modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4966 - Survey of Drizzlecombe, Eylesbarrow, Ditsworthy and Hartor. The Eylesbarrow archaeological landscape
• EDV8155 - Plym Valley Survey: EH Project (Feb 2001 - Dec 2002)

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