Home
Listing
Search the List

Enrich the List

Apply for Listing

What is Listing?

Listing Guidance
Listing

Find out about listed buildings and other protected sites, and search the National Heritage List for England (NHLE).

Find out about listing

The Old Blacksmith’s Shop The Old Blacksmith's Shop, Wiltshire © Historic England DP276780
Advice
Advice Finder

Heritage at Risk

Your Home

Technical Guidance

Planning

Caring for Heritage

Constructive Conservation

Heritage Protection Guide

Coronavirus Support & Advice
Advice

See our extensive range of expert advice to help you care for and protect historic places.

Get our advice

Tubwell Row Darlington, since 2001 improvements to Darlington Town Centre have sought to celebrate its architecture and create a pedestrian heart with an inclusive shopping and civic area © Historic England
Research
Our Research Strategy and Agenda

Research Methods

Current Research

Research Results

Support & Collaboration

Inclusive Heritage

Latest Research

Heritage Counts
Research

Discover and use our high-quality applied research to support the protection and management of the historic environment.

Discover our research

Testing vertical aerial photography methods at British Camp on the Malvern Hills. Read about our latest aerial investigation methods © Historic England Archive. (S3282_V_0651)
Images & Books
Find Photos

Search All Publications

Buy Books

The Historic England Archive
Images & Books

Historic England holds an extensive range of publications and historic collections in its public archive covering the historic environment.

Browse our collections

A portrait of John Laing outside Bournemouth train station, during a staff outing of Laing's London office. Photographed 30 May 1953 © Historic England Archive. John Laing Photographic Collection. JLP01/08/008844
Services & Skills
Education

Grants

Our Planning Services

Training & Skills

Archive Services

Heritage Action Zones
Services & Skills

Find out about services offered by Historic England for funding, planning, education and research, as well as training and skill development.

Learn about our services

New Heritage Partnership Agreement Signed at King's Cross Station © Historic England
Get Involved
High Street Culture

Everyday Heritage

Support Us

Volunteer in Heritage

Protect Your Heritage

Visit Your Heritage

Help Write History
Get Involved

Explore the many ways you can help to support the incredibly rich and varied heritage.

Get involved in heritage

Brixton Windmill - Friends of Brixton Windmill. Shortlisted for ‘Best Rescue of an Industrial Building or Site’ Angel Award in 2012 © Historic England
What's New
News

In Your Area

Historic England Blog

Latest Research

Heritage Online Debate

Statements

Stay up to Date

Coronavirus Support & Advice
What's New

Read about our current news, projects and campaigns nationally and in your area.

Catch up with what's new

Sandra Kazlauskaite interviewing a Youth Club group at Grantham Community Centre. © Emm Nunn
Sign in
Manage my account

Sign out

Cairn 410m south-west of White Tor summit

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1007429
Date first listed:: 04-Nov-1993

Enrich the List

Be the first to add a photo and help showcase this place to others.

Upload a photo

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1007429
Date first listed:: 04-Nov-1993

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Devon
District:: West Devon (District Authority)
Parish:: Peter Tavy
National Park:: DARTMOOR
National Grid Reference:: SX 54014 78316

Reasons for Designation

Dartmoor is the largest expanse of open moorland in southern Britain and, because of exceptional conditions of preservation, it is also one of the most complete examples of an upland relict landscape in the whole country. The great wealth and diversity of archaeological remains provide direct evidence for human exploitation of the Moor from the early prehistoric period onwards. The well-preserved and often visible relationship between settlement sites, major land boundaries, trackways, ceremonial and funerary monuments as well as later industrial remains, gives significant insights into successive changes in the pattern of land use through time. Round cairns are prehistoric funerary monuments dating to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They were constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, the latter predominating in areas of upland Britain where such raw materials were locally available in abundance. Round cairns may cover single or multiple burials and are sometimes surrounded by an outer ditch. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major visual element in the modern landscape. Their considerable variation in form and longevity as a monument type provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection. Dartmoor provides one of the best preserved and most dense concentrations of round cairns in south- western Britain.

Despite evidence for partial excavation, the cairn 410m south-west of White Tor summit survives comparatively well and forms part of a widely dispersed group of at least fourteen cairns on the southern and eastern slopes of White Tor. This area contains abundant archaeological evidence relating to prehistoric settlement and land-use and this funerary monument is therefore an important constituent part of this Bronze Age upland landscape.

Details

This monument includes a cairn situated on a gentle south-facing slope overlooking the valley of the Colly Brook. The cairn mound measures 15m long by 6m wide and stands up to 1m high. A shallow hollow in both the northern and southern ends of the mound is probably the result of a partial excavation carried out by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1899. This work revealed a pit containing ashes and charcoal. This cairn forms part of a widely dispersed group of at least fourteen cairns on the southern and eastern slopes of White Tor.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 20390
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Butler, J, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities, (1991), 96
Baring-Gould, S, 'Devonshire Association Transactions' in Sixth Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee, , Vol. 31, (1899), 152
Grinsell, L V, 'Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings' in Dartmoor Barrows, , Vol. 36, (1978), 160

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.