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Summary

A Bronze Age ring cairn forming part of a cairn cemetery located on a north facing slope of Holne Ridge overlooking the River Dart valley. It survives as a rubble bank with a central void.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1019272: Four cairns 310m south of Horn's Cross forming part of a cairn cemetery on Holne Ridge

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67SE38
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442965
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67SE/84
• Old SAM Ref: 28769.02

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 2373-2374 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX67SE38, Sketch plan and section (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV140009.

(27/04/1950) A robbed cairn. The whole of the centre of this cairn has been removed leaving a ring-like effect. Robbers were apparently quarrymen; the marks of their stone- splitting tools are to be seen on a large stone in the north-east side of the cairn.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1977, SX67SE38 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV140013.

(14/07/1977) SX 6693 7079. This cairn is 21.2 metres in diameter overall and is constructed of small boulders and situated on a moderate north facing slope at 400 metres above OD. It consists of a ring of stones average width 5.3 metres and height 0.6 metres with a central void 10.6 metres in diameter. One large boulder has been drilled and split but there is no other evidence of disturbance to this ring cairn. 1:10 000 survey revised on PFD.

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

Remains of cairn. Diameter 20.5 metre, ring (width 4.0 metres, height 0.6 metres).

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

Cairn is visible on Royal Air Force 1946 aerial photograph and 1985 National Monuments Record photograph.

National Monuments Record, 1985, NMR SF2600, 457-462 (Aerial Photograph). SDV346525.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 66, A12 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Ring cairn measuring 13m internal diameter, with bank 3m wide and 1m high. Possible ring of stones under bank.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 152236 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(18/05/1999) At SX 6691 7077. Ring cairn 270m south of Horn's Cross forming part of a cairn cemetery on Holne Ridge. Ring cairn. Diameter 19.9m, height 0.9m. 4m wide bank standing up to 0.9m high surrounding an 11.9m diameter internal area. A stone on the inner face of the east side of the cairn has been cut by tear and feather. Grass, heather, bilberry and bracken.

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 '9' at SX66917077 of 22.0 metres diameter by 0.8 metres high. It is a ring cairn with an interior diameter of 13 metres. A massive circular bank spread to 4.5 metres across but still 0.8 metres high is covered in vegetation but a few blocks showing through the turf suggests that the interior at least was originally faced.

Probert, S. A. J. + Newman, P., 1997, Holne Moor, Dartmoor, Devonshire. A Landscape Survey by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (Report - Survey). SDV173671.

(18/04/1996) SX 66917078. A well preserved ring cairn lies on the moderate north facing slope of Holne Ridge 250 metres south of Horns Cross. A turf covered stony bank encloses a roughly circular area 10.8 metres in diameter. The bank is unbroken and the enclosed area is at the same level as the surrounding ground surface.

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 2015-2017, 2015-2017 Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV361462.

Visible on aerial photograph.

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

'Cairn' shown on modern mapping.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1019272 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

The second cairn lies north of the first and is of the ring type. It survives as a 4 metres wide rubble bank standing up to 0.9 metres high surrounding an internal area measuring 11.9 metres in diameter.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7100 - Holne Moor Survey

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