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Summary

This small, round, flat topped, cairn 6.0m diameter and 0.6m high lies on a small, level, north-south ridge. It is constructed of small stones and the centre has been disturbed. Cairn '7' (Butler) one of the cairns forming part of a cairn cemetery on Holne Ridge.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1019273: Eight cairns forming part of a cairn cemetery on Holne Ridge and a stone alignment immediately west of Horn's Cross

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67SE61
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443034
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67SE/32
• Old SAM Ref: 28770

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Worth, R. H., 1905, 24th Report of the Barrow Committee, 87, 95 (Article in Serial). SDV64705.

Barrow near Horn's Cross. This barrow lies south of Combestone Tor, close to a trackway which leaves the high road opposite the tor. There is a pillaged cairn south of the high road, and about 100 feet distant from it opposite Combestone, and counting from this in a southerly direction the barrow in question is number five (only two are marked on the Ordnance Map). On 6 July, 1905 this cairn was examined and found to be 16 feet in diameter, 2.5 feet high. A trench was driven through from north to south, and the cairn proved to be so built that the stones slanted upwards. In the centre was a hole sunk in the 'calm', having a diameter of 15 inches and a depth of 17 inches. This hole contained a considerable quantity of charcoal and burnt bones, but no other relics.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1977, SX67SE61 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV139743.

(17/04/1950) A small cairn, heather covered.
(14/07/1977) SX 66937104 This small, round, flat topped, cairn 6.0m diameter and 0.6m high lies on a small, level, north-south ridge at 380 m above OD. It is constructed of small stones and the centre has been disturbed.
1:10 000 Survey revised on PFD.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 141, Holne 4 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

Holne Moor SX6693 7105 (Visited 13/9/1973)
Excavated cairn measuring 5.5 metres in diameter, height 0.7 metres.
In centre a pit 38 centimetres in diameter and 43 centimetres deep contained burnt bones and much charcoal. The cairn was built of upward slanting slabs (citing Worth, 1905).

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 152242 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(29/04/1999) Cairn 65 metres west-north-west of Horn's Cross forming part of a cairn cemetery on Holne Ridge. Round cairn, measuring 5.4 metres in diameter, height 0.6 metres. Grass and heather.
Peat cutting earthworks in the vicinity not included.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 194-5, Map 60, Figure 60.15 (Monograph). SDV337765.

Holne Ridge N. cairn '7' at SX66927104 of 5.4 metres diameter by 0.8 metres high is 60 metres west of Horn's Cross. It was excavated in 1905 and the excavation trench is still visible from the south side into the centre. Apparently it had not been previously disturbed and a central pit 0.4 metres deep contained 'a considerable quantity of charcoal and burnt bones but no other relics'.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1996, Holne Moor Survey, S. A. J. Probert (Report - Survey). SDV154079.

(18/04/1996) This feature is as described in 1977. Surveyed at 1:2500.

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

'Cairns' shown on the modern mapping.

Historic England, 2017, National Heritage List for England, 1019273 (National Heritage List for England). SDV359963.

The monument, which falls into six areas of protection, includes eight cairns forming part of a cairn cemetery or cairnfield, and a stone alignment, situated on a gentle north facing slope of Holne Ridge overlooking the valley of the River Dart.
Five cairns are on the east side of the monument. South of the ring cairn is another round cairn, this one measuring 5.4m in diameter and 0.6m high. This cairn was excavated by the Barrow Committee of the Devonshire Association in 1905 and this work revealed a central pit containing charcoal and burnt bones.
Most of the cairns within this monument possess hollows or trenches associated with early investigations, of which only one is documented.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV6649 - HUMAN REMAINS (Bronze Age - 2200 BC? to 701 BC)

Associated Events

• EDV7100 - Holne Moor Survey
• EDV8502 - Excavation of cairn, Holne Moor

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