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Summary

A disturbed kerbed cairn and cist on the south-western slope of Crow Tor, comprising a low mound of 4.0 metres diameter by 0.3 metres high containing a granite cist with four sides surviving and a displaced capstone. Scraper found in cist.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1016922: Round cairn and cist on the south west side of Crow Tor

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67NW73
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442724
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NW/67
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NW/67/1
• Old SAM Ref: 28708

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Baring Gould, S., 1901, 7th Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee, 136 (Article in Serial). SDV249499.

Worth, R. H., 1902, 21st Report of the Barrow Committee, 115 (Article in Serial). SDV20971.

Excavated. Crow Tor, scraper found in cist.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 147, Lydford 41 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

Visited 12/6/1976 Cairn measures 4.5 metres in diameter, 0.3 metres high, with retaining circle enclosing cist. Capstone to north-east. Scraper found inside.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1978, SX67NW73 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV227499.

(14/09/1978) No cist could be found in this area. The slopes of Crow Tor are covered with scree.

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

Not visible on 1951 Royal Air Force aerial photograph.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 76/E39 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Platform circle. Ring of kerbstones, 3.3 metres internal diameter, enclosing flat-topped cairn 0.5 metres high, with central cist. Western side of cairn has been removed.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 149076 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(19/06/1998) Round cairn and cist 160 metres south-west of Crow Tor. Diameter 4.7 metres, height 0.4 metres. Cist 1.04 metres by 0.96 metres by 0.6 metres deep. Oriented west-north-west. The north side of the cairn survives very well. The southern side has been robbed, but the fallen kerb stones remain.
Within the cairn is a large cist. Large cover slab which has been displaced and now lies slightly overlapping the south corner of the cist measures 1.5 metres by 1.35 metres by 0.27 metres thick and is leaning at an angle of 36 degrees from the horizontal. Lies just outside the Merrivale live firing range.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 63, 239. Map 29 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Crow Tor cairn at SX60527866 of 4.0 metres diameter by 0.4 metres high. Well preserved cairn with an off centre cist lies on the south-west side of Crow Tor. The cist is almost square with all four sides in place and the cover slab levered to one side. The small retaining circle 4.0 metres across is complete and many of the cairn stones remain to the height of the capstone. When excavated in 1900 a flint scraper was recovered from the debris.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1993-1998, Dartmoor Royal Forest Project, H. Riley (Report - Survey). SDV346608.

(05/07/1994) A kerbed cairn and cist is located at the edge of a clitter field to the south west of Crow Tor on a gentle, south west-facing slope at SX 60526 78677. The cairn consists of a stony, turf-covered mound, and measures 4.5 metres in diameter and 0.45 metres in height. There are traces of a retaining kerb of leaning, granite slabs to the northeast and south. The cist is set slightly to the north of the centre of the cairn. It is trapezoidal in shape, and measures 0.65 metres and 0.95 metres in length, 0.8 metres in width, and 0.5 metres in depth. The cover-stone, which is 0.9 metres long, 0.5 metres wide and 0.2 metres thick, is displaced and lies just to the south east of the cist, not the north-east as suggested by Grinsell (1978).

Butler, J., 1997, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities - Vol 5 The Second Millennium B.C., 196, Fig 139. (Monograph). SDV320503.

Surveyed by Butler.

Newman, P., 2004, Merrivale Range Baseline Condition Survey, 30/11/2004 (Report - Survey). SDV346874.

Merrivale Range Baseline Condition Survey visit. The cairn and cist are in a stable condition in an area of short grass.

Newman, P., 2018, Archaeological Sites within Merrivale Training Area, Dartmoor National Park, Devon: A condition survey on behalf of Defence Infrastructure Organisation (Report - Survey). SDV361635.

A disturbed kerbed cairn and cist on the south-western slope of Crow Tor, comprising a low spread stony mound containing a granite cist with four sides surviving and a displaced capstone.

Historic England, 2022, National Heritage List for England, 1016922 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364675.

The cairn measures 4.7 metres in diameter, stands up to 0.4 metres high and is surrounded by a number of edge set stones representing a kerb. In the centre of the cairn is a large cist with maximum dimensions of 1.04 metres long by 0.6 metres wide and 0.6 metres deep. A large cover slab which has been displaced now slightly overlaps the southern corner of the cist and measures 1.5 metres long by 1.35 metres wide and 0.27 metres thick. The cist was part excavated by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1900 and a flint scraper was recovered.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds

• FDV3236 - SCRAPER (TOOL) (Lower Palaeolithic - 698000 BC to 180001 BC)

Associated Events

• EDV7441 - Condition survey of the archaeological sites of Merrivale Training Area
• EDV7570 - Condition survey of Merrivale Range training area
• EDV8493 - Excavation of cist, slope of Crow Tor
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8713 - Merrivale Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey

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