Stone setting (retaining kerb of a cairn) north-east of Brisworthy Plantation

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1012248

Date first listed: 16-Oct-1991

Location

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

National Park: DARTMOOR

National Grid Reference: SX 56154 65937

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. This is a well-preserved example of a retaining kerb of a cairn, incorporating an unusual constructional rock-type. The monument occupies a prominent position on Ringmoor Down and its association with other monuments indicates the wealth of evidence relating to the ritual side of 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 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 surrounding ditch. This stone setting is probably the retaining kerb of a cairn, it is 4m in diameter and consists of fourteen stones up to a maximum height of 0.55m. The stones are of quartz-schorl, rather than the more usual granite. There is a slight hollow in the centre of the setting, though no remains of a mound survive.

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: 10592

Legacy System: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings' in Dartmoor Barrows, , Vol. 36, (1978)
Other
SX 56 NE 034,

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.