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Group of three closely spaced cairns on the south-western brow of Western Beacon

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1012229
Date first listed:: 09-Oct-1991

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1012229
Date first listed:: 09-Oct-1991

Location

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

County:: Devon
District:: South Hams (District Authority)
Parish:: Ugborough
National Park:: DARTMOOR
National Grid Reference:: SX 65455 57636

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 provides 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. These three large cairns are well-preserved examples which occupy a prominent position on the south-western brow of Western Beacon. Their relationship to other monuments of the same type indicates the wealth of evidence relating to the ritual side of prehistoric life on this part of the Moor.

Details

Many examples of prehistoric funerary monuments are preserved on Dartmoor, mostly dating to the Bronze Age (c.2500-500 BC). To celebrate or commemorate the dead, mounds of earth or stone were piled in a roughly hemispherical shape over the burial, which was sometimes contained in a small rectangular structure, or cist, made of stone slabs. Some monuments also include kerbstones marking the outer edge of the mound and a surrounding ditch. These three closely spaced cairns are situated on the south-western brow of Western Beacon. Each cairn consists of a base built of stone and earth and surmounted by a mound of stones. The cairns range in size with the following dimensions; 12m, 23m and 23m in diameter and 1m, 1.7m and 1.8m high. Some of the stones of the mounds have been repositioned by visitors to form shelters.

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:: 10546
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings' in Dartmoor Barrows, (1978)
Grinsell, L V, 'Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings' in Dartmoor Barrows, (1978)
Other
Devon County SMR (SX 65 NE 004),

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 Culture, Media and Sport.