Chambered cairn in Cuckoo Ball newtake

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. Despite the partial collapse of the chamber, this chambered cairn is a well- preserved example of a type of monument very rare on Dartmoor. Its relationship to a rare long cairn 400m to the north and to other burials and monuments of different types 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), with a few dating to the Neolithic (c.5000-2500 BC). To celebrate or commemorate the dead, mounds of earth or stone were piled in a roughly hemispherical or sub-rectangular shape over the burial, which was sometimes contained in a small rectangular structure, or cist, or a chamber made of stone slabs. Some monuments also include kerbstones marking the outer edge of the mound and a surrounding ditch. This chambered cairn lies in the north-west corner of Cuckoo Ball newtake, fenced off from the enclosed grazing, but open to access from the Moor. It is tapering in shape, about 20m long, 12m wide at the north end and 7m at the south end and has a maximum mound height of 1m. Two of the megaliths which formed part of the chamber at the north end remain standing. They have a maximum height of nearly 2m, maximum width of 1.6m and thickness of 0.2m. Three have fallen and any capstones have been removed. Large stones in the newtake wall may derive from the chamber.

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:

10548

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings in Dartmoor Barrows, Vol. 36, (1978), 132

Other
Devon County SMR (SX65NE-001),

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