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Summary

Cairn of 32 metres diameter with banks 9.5 metres wide by 2.5 metres high on the summit of Cox Tor

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1011500: Tor cairn forming part of a round cairn cemetery, and a stone hut circle on the summit of Cox Tor

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57NW39
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 439836
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57NW/40
• Old SAM County Ref: 416A
• Old SAM Ref: 22225

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• RING CAIRN (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

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

Curving bank shown on 19th century map to the north and east of the triangulation point.

Brent, F., 1883, On a group of prehistoric remains on Dartmoor, 220 (Article in Serial). SDV273189.

Worth, R. N., 1893, 17th Report of the Committee on Scientific Memoranda, 544 (Article in Serial). SDV156105.

Baring Gould, S., 1898, Fifth Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee, 104-5 (Article in Serial). SDV337066.

An ancient wall, 4 to 5 feet high, surrounds the granite summit of Cox Tor enclosing a space 70 feet in diameter. There is no trace of a cairn in the centre apart from the 1887 Jubilee cairn, but to one side there is a collection of stones which may be a cairn.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

Circular bank of 30 metres diameter shown as 'Cairn' on early 20th century map.

Crossing, W., 1912 (1965), Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor, 149 (Monograph). SDV320981.

The higher pile of the Tor is surrounded by a low vallum of stones the purpose of which is unclear unless it may have been intended to build a cairn round the rocks as at Shell Top and Lynch Tor.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 161 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

(07/05/1974) Stoneheaps, shown on OS maps as a cairn, may be remains of cairn erected for 1887 Jubilee. A 'low vallum of stones' surrounding the higher outcrop (enclosure or ring cairn?) diameter 25.0m approximately.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, SX57NW39, SX57NW39 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV225473.

Visited on 10th August 1950. Mean diameter at base 30.0 metres, height of bank on south 3.5 metres and on north 2.8 metres. A large amount of natural rock in centre.
Visited on 4th November 1980. On Cox Tor at 442 metres OD a rock shelf is surmounted by a further outcrop about 13.0 metres across, which protrudes some 0.5 metres to 3.0 metres above the base of a virtually continuous bank of small stones constructed around the out crop, with an overall diameter of about 30 metres by 32 metres. The bank averages 9.0 metres wide overall, the top being about 3.0 metres from the perimeter of the outcrop; externally it is up to 2.5 metres high and on the inner face about 0.8 metres high. Here some disturbance has resulted from building shelters in the lee of the outcrop. It is not a Jubilee cairn; apart from the vast size (Grinsell has underestimated or subtracted the outcrop from the diameter). Had a commemorative cairn existed it would surely have been noted by Crossing. It is not an enclosure in the defensive or pastoral sense. The structure is a large and fine example of a ring cairn where the focus is a tor or outcrop. (cf Showery Tor, Bodmin Moor).
Surveyed at 1:10000 on MSD and at 1:2500.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

(18/07/1991) SX 5304 7619. A Tor cairn, now disturbed, is as described in 1980. Modern erosion continues to degrade the feature. In addition visitors to the site have removed and added stone to this cairn. See RCHME Cox Tor Survey (1/2500 scale).

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 69, a59. (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Stone ring encircling tor. Diameter 16m internally with bank 3m wide and 2m high (turner).

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

(1992) Continuous bank of small stones 9.5m wide, 2.5m high, situated around a 13m diameter outcrop. Overall diameter 32m. Limited damage from construction of 3 shelters constructed into cairn material. The largest of these measures 6m by 2-3m and is largely backfilled. The others are circular and may be relatively recent. Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar sits on east side of cairn bank. No evidence for Baring-Gould's assertion that it was erected in 1887, though it may have been robbed to provided stone for the 1887 cairn, of which no trace survives. A short length of field boundary immediately to east is excluded from the scheduled area.

Wilson-North, R., 1991, Cox Tor Field Investigation (Report - Evaluation). SDV225487.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 82-83, 240, Map 31, Figure 31.1 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Cox Tor Summit cairn at SX53067618. Site 3 on Cox Tor consists of a triangulation pillar surrounded by a mass of small stones over 2 metres high. Some of these were reorganised into a smaller cairn as one of the many commemorations on the moor celebrating the 1887 jubilee but the original labour may well have been of Bronze Age date.

Ordnance Survey, 2022, Mastermap 2022 (Cartographic). SDV364674.

'Cairn' shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2022, National Heritage List for England, 1011500 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364675.

This monument includes a tor cairn and small stone hut circle situated on the summit of Cox Tor. The cairn has a continuous bank of small stones measuring 9.5 metres wide and 2.5 metres high situated around a 13 metres diameter rock outcrop. The overall diameter of the cairn is 32 metres. The cairn has seen limited damage as a result of three small shelters being constructed into the cairn material.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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