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 relatively well-preserved example of a cairn and cist, its
relationship to other monuments in the immediate vicinity indicates the
wealth of evidence relating to occupation and 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 cairn with a cist lies in heavy bracken approximately 250m north of the
outcrops of Gutter Tor, the cairn is 5m in diameter and 0.4m in height with
traces of two retaining kerbs. The cist, which is orientated approximately
north-east/south west, has both side and both end slabs but the capstone is
missing. The side slabs are up to 1.3m in length, but the end slabs are set
to enclose a space only 0.9m in length, with the side slabs extending beyond
one end slab. It lies approximately 100m south-east of an enclosure and
within 300m of several cairns.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
10581
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals Other
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.
End of official list entry
