Two cairns on the south side of Ugborough Beacon

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1012249

Date first listed: 25-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 66722 58780

Summary

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

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 two large cairns are well-preserved examples and occupy prominent positions near the summit of a hill, forming an important beacon group, visible for a considerable distance, at the southern edge of the Moor. Their relationship to other monuments of several types indicates the wealth of evidence relating to the ritual side of prehistoric life on this part of the Moor.

History

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

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 two very large cairns on the brow of Ugborough Beacon each consist of an earth and stone base surmounted by a mound of stones. The more westerly cairn is 28m in diameter and 1.7m high with a flat top and a hollow in the centre, suggesting it has been disturbed in the past. The more easterly cairn is now partially turf covered and is surrounded by traces of a retaining curb. It is 24m in diameter, 1.75m high, and has a hollow centre suggesting it has been robbed in the past. Visitors have repositioned some of the stones of the mound 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: 10542

Legacy System: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings' in Dartmoor Barrows, , Vol. 36, (1978)
Other
Devon County SMR (SX 65 NE 191),
Devon County SMR (SX 65 NE 192),

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.