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Summary

Ring cairn of 13 metres diameter by 0.6 metres high forming part of the Froggymead ceremonial complex, although unlike the other cairns in the group it is not associated with a stone row. Excavations in 1898 found a crushed beaker, a fragment of bronze knife dagger, a jet dress button and a flint knife. The metal artefact represents the earliest example of associated metal from a Beaker burial from Devon or Cornwall.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1017984: A stone circle, known as Fernworthy Circle, three stone alignments and five cairns 425m and 525m north west of Sandeman Bridge

Other References/Statuses

• MPP Archaeological Item Dataset: 144131
• National Monuments Record: SX68SE57
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443855
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/159
• Old SAM County Ref: 593D
• Old SAM Ref: 28672
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX68SE57

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CAIRN (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Baring Gould, S., 1898, Fifth Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee, 108 (Article in Serial). SDV337066.

A cairn situated 80 yds east of stone circle (SX 68 SE 56), excavated 1898. It had a diameter of 19 feet and was 2 ft in height. It was It was originally surrounded by a stone circle, of which only three remained. The barrow contained a central pit 4ft wide, 7ft long; and deep. The pit was packed with stones and contained a button, a food vessel of beaker type, a flint knife and spear-head or knife of bronze.

Worth, R. H., 1902, 21st Report of the Barrow Committee, 120,121,127,128,129,131,132,Pl. 4 (Article in Serial). SDV20971.

Cists excavated. Flint knife associated with a fragment of bronze and a horn dress fastener or button found. Barrow has traces of stone retaining circle.

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

'Cairn' shown on early 20th century map.

Burnard, R., 1906, Early Man, 357 (Article in Monograph). SDV322231.

The cairn appears originally surrounded by standing stones, 3 still in position, 2-3 metres from the existing foot of the slope of the barrow. This cairn was built of surface stones. Central pit also filled with stones. About 1.37 metres from the surface of the pit a small piece of oxidised bronze was found with fragments of wood attached; probably the remains of a small knife or spearhead. Nearby were 2-3 fragments of crushed pottery; close beneath them a small urn which had been crushed by subsidence. A large button or dress fastener of horn was found on the same level and 610 millimetres from the bronze object, the upper surface of which is polished and has a brown lustre. The bottom of the urn rested on calm, a flint knife among the sherds suggests that it may have been in the urn. No trace of bone. Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. Soil in vase gave traces of phosphoric acid, possibly food. To examine the interior of the circle trenches were dug.

Abercrombie, J., 1912, Bronze Age Pottery of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 13 (Monograph). SDV278572.

Worth, R. H., 1946, The Stone Rows of Dartmoor. Part 1, 304, Pl. 38 (Article in Serial). SDV251172.

Abreast of row A, at a distance of 13.4 metres to the east lies the centre of a cairn. Between this and a barrow with a kistvaen are the clear remains of a stone row.

Worth, R. H., 1953, Dartmoor, 224, Fig. 68, 76 (Monograph). SDV231148.

Spooner, G. M. + Birkett Dixon, C. E., 1955, Note on the Antiquities situated in the Forestry Commission ground at Fernworthy and Bellever. Appendix 1 (Report - non-specific). SDV351955.

Clarke, D. L., 1970, Beaker Pottery of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 158, Fig. 886 (Monograph). SDV278573.

Pettit, P., 1974, Prehistoric Dartmoor, Pl. opposite p90 (Monograph). SDV231149.

Gerloff, S., 1975, The Early Bronze Age Daggers of Great Britain, 165, No 280 (Monograph). SDV339147.

Turner, J. R., 1976, Ancient Monuments on Forestry Commission Land. Fernworthy and Bellever (Report - non-specific). SDV351823.

Fernworthy Plantation, Froggymeade 7D. Cairn 22 metres east of site 3D. The cairn is 5.8m in diameter with three stones spaced on the east side. A beaker, flint knife, dress fastener and a piece of bronze were discovered when the cairn was excavated in 1898, the best finds associated with the group.
February 1976. Froggymeade sites 1D-9D have been cleared as on open space with seven posts ringing the clearance zone. The trees ouside the post ring on the north side are within falling distance of the cairn.
Included in 1955 Spooner and Dixon report (B) Region north of the South Teign (Froggymeade, Toms Hill and Hemstone), Site No. 1.

Dartmoor National Park Authority + Forestry Commission + Dartmoor Preservation Association, 1976, Conservation of Ancient Monuments. The Report of a Working Party (Report - non-specific). SDV248248.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 146 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

Lydford 24. Site visit 15th April 1973. Diameter 6.4 metres, height 0.5 metres now. The stones of the retaining circle now stand clear of the cairn. The finds are in Plymouth Museum. Clarke defines the beaker as developed southern British.

Turner, J., 1978, Report of Work Carried Out by the Forestry Commission since January 1976 (Report - non-specific). SDV351816.

No work has been carried out on the Froggymeade sites since February 1976. The clearance zone of this group should be marked out with posts as one open space so that there would be no need for any site number posts inside the clearance zone, making the site more photographic. Vegetation on these sites are very good, in fact site 7D (cairn) looks in excellent condition.

Robinson, R., 1983, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1983 (Un-published). SDV345762.

Department of Environment field monument warden site visit 11th October 1983.

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

Not visible on 1946 RAF aerial photo due to tree cover.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 54, 78 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

F4. Encircled cairn. Ring of orthostats, 13 metres internal diameter, around cairn 5.5 metres diameter and 0.5 metres high.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 144131 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Site visit 28th April 1997. Ring cairn forming part of ritual complex. Diameter 13 metres, heigh 0.6 metres. Mound diameter 6.4 metres, heigh 0.6 metres. Four stones and a slight, 0.1 metre bank measuring 1.5 metres wide lies 3 metres from the base of the mound.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 162-5, 242, Map 35, Figure 35.7 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Fernworthy cairn '5' at SX65568408 of circa 6.0 metres diameter by 0.6 metres high is 75 metres to the east of the Fernworthy stone circle. The stones were replaced after the 1897 excavations and only a shallow central depression now records the disturbance. Trenches were cut across the cairn revealing a pit of 1.2 metres by 2.2 metres and 1.0 metres below the original ground surface. This contained a small piece of bronze with a wooden handle, part of a knife or spear head, a perforated shale button, and a flint knife. There was no trace of human remains but amidst the charcoal on the floor of the pit was the crushed remains of a beaker, originally protected by a few slabs around it and a few shards of a second pot. Three stones of a surrounding circle of slabs stand 2 metres outside the base and others probably lie beneath the turf.

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

(01/06/1995) Centred SX 6555 8407 is a cairn measuring 6.7m (N to S) by 7m and 0.5m high. It possesses several amorphous scarps which are probably the result of excavations in 1897. In the centre of the top is a small modern rectangular hole - probably caused by a stake.
The area around the cairn is covered by amorphous scarping as well as ridging from forestry planting. A slight ditch curving around the N of the cairn from the NW through to the NE might be the result of excavation to locate a kerb. To the E, the SE and to the S are large stones which might be the remains of a circle.

Dartmoor National Park Authority, 1996, Condition Survey of Identified Archaeology within Woodland Areas 1996 (Un-published). SDV351820.

Fernworthy, Froggymeade Group 7D. Site visit 27th September 1996. Site marked by 5 posts.

English Heritage, 2005-2008, Prehistoric Survey Information (Cartographic). SDV345521.

Cairn shown on survey.

Newman, P., 2013, Fernworthy Forest Sites Survey (Un-published). SDV351708.

Newman, P., 2013, The Archaeology of Fernworthy Forest, Dartmoor, Devon, 9, 15, 16, Fig. 5-7, 11 (Report - Survey). SDV351784.

The five barrows at Froggymead are all in poor condition. Barrows A-D were excavated by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1898 and still bear the scars. Barrow D appears to have been reconstructed following the excavation. Although now turf covered, the excavations revealed that these features were constructed from stone and are more properly referred to as cairns.
Barrow D which produced most of the finds in 1898, is located in its own clearing, 75m SE of the
circle. Although undoubtedly part of this complex, it is isolated and is the only barrow not apparently
associated with or in the vicinity of a stone row. The diameter of the reconstructed, approximately circular earthen mound is around 7.8m and it stands to a height of 0.4m. Three earthfast stones on the eastern circumference appear to represent remains of a retaining circle, recorded during the excavations in 1898 as ‘standing stones’ though these are not depicted on the section drawing. Similarly, a curving earthen bank following the circumference on the NW side was not recorded by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee and may have resulted from their diggings.
Upon excavation the barrow was found to comprise a mound of small stones covering a central pit which contained a fragment of bronze which may have been a knife or spearhead, a dress button made from either Kimmeridge shale or jet and a flint knife. However, the best find was a crushed beaker. When reconstructed it became one of Dartmoor’s most important Bronze Age fi nds and is now on display in Plymouth City Museum along with the other artefacts retrieved.

Quinnell, H., 2017, Dartmoor and Prehistoric to Early Medieval Tinworking, Dartmoor and Prehistoric to Early Medieval Tinworking, 19 (Article in Monograph). SDV360639.

(Quinnell, H, 2017, Dartmoor and Prehistoric to Early Medieval Tinworking)
Beaker finds are sparsely found across Southwest Britain; the scarcity of early Beaker burials means there are few early associations for copper alloy artefacts. The knife dagger from Fernworthy from a burial in a pit beneath a barrow, associated with a Long Necked Beaker, jet button and flint knife, probably dates to the 22nd or 21st centuries BC; earliest associated metal artefact from any Beaker burial from either Dartmoor, or Devon / Cornwall (citing Gerloff, 1975).

Ordnance Survey, 2023, Mastermap 2023 (Cartographic). SDV365227.

'Cairn' shown on modern mapping.

Unknown, Unknown, Beaker from Froggymead Barrow (Photograph). SDV278578.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, Unknown, SX68SE57 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV278564.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV5894 - BUTTON (Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 701 BC?)
• FDV5892 - BEAKER (LANEBA to Early Bronze Age - 2200 BC to 2000 BC)
• FDV5893 - KNIFE (Bronze Age - 2200 BC to 701 BC?)
• FDV5895 - KNIFE (LANEBA to Early Bronze Age - 2200 BC to 2000 BC)

Associated Events

• EDV6216 - Condition Surveys of Ancient Monuments on Forestry Commission Land
• EDV6203 - Archaeological Survey of Fernworthy Forest
• EDV7389 - Fernworthy Forest condition survey 1996
• EDV7410 - Fernworthy Forest condition survey 1992
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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