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Summary

South-eastern of a pair of cairns on Parnell's Hill to east of Gripper's Hill. This site is on the local list of Nationally Important Dartmoor sites.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Earthworks of two Bronze Age cairns and a ring cairn 950 metres west of Skerraton Gate

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX66SE11
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 441770
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66SE/96
• Pastscape: 441770

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 4268-4269 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

Royal Air Force, 1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2494, 3112-3 (Aerial Photograph). SDV147533.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1951, SX66SE11 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV169294.

(09/07/1951) Cairn 'B' at SX 69156497. The remains of a large cairn now much despoiled, the remaining stones being partly overgrown. There is no trace of a cist. Diameter 21.0 metres, height at highest point 1.5 metres.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 138 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

Site visit 16th April 1977. Dean Prior 10. Cairn at SX69186494 18.0 metres in diameter, 0.6 metres high. Robbed and crowned with a modern stone heap.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1980, SX66SE11 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV274782.

(23/10/1980) here are two certain cairns occupying a crest position at 370m OD on a southern spur of Grippers Hill, both partly grass covered.
'B': SX 69146500 A cairn of similar construction measuring 22.0m in diameter and 1.5m high including a complete rim 0.6m high and 2.2m wide. A modern cairn has been built slightly off centre, where there is much mutilation.
As with most cairns there are small pits and evidence of disturbance around the central area so that the platform is not uniformly flat but it seems unlikely that the deliberate rim construction is a result of robbing. Their appearance is consistent with other platform cairns with rims on Dartmoor, Bodmin Moor; and Trelow Downs, St Issey. (See ground photographs)
Grinsell's small cairn at SX 69126501, is no longer recognisable as such, appearing as a pit with a rim of upcast.
Large cairns surveyed at 1:2500 and at 1:10000 on MSD. (See plan)

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

Large cairn visible on Royal Air Force 1946 aerial photograph.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 38, 70 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

B12. Embanked stone circle; annular bank of earth and/or stones with inner kerb of orthostats. Measures 15.0 metres in diameter internally with bank 2.0 metres wide and 0.5 meters high with a cairn in the centre, 9.0 metres in diameter and 1.1 metres in height. The west and south sides have been disturbed.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 160-161, Map 57 (Monograph). SDV337765.

Parnell's Hill '2' at SX69146500. Cairn of 24 metres diameter is one of two badly damaged cairns. Both have an outer bank surrounding a slightly raised interior with a mound in the centre.

Gerrard, S., 2004, List of Sites Remaining to be Considered for Designation on Dartmoor (Un-published). SDV345444.

This site was considered for designation as a Scheduled Ancient Monument during the Monument Protection Programme. The programme ended before the entire list of sites was successfully scheduled so this is included on a local list of Nationally Important Sites.

Ordnance Survey, 2010, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV344030.

Cairn shown on modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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