One of three cairns on Three Barrows, Ugborough Moor

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 large cairn is one of a well-preserved group of three occupying a prominent position on the summit of a hill named after them, their size suggests that they were prestigious monuments. Their relationship to other monuments of the same type along the eastern side of Erme Valley and to the reave which passes over Three Barrows and through this cairn, indicates the wealth of evidence relating to both occupation and 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). 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 a surrounding ditch. This is the largest of three large cairns situated prominently on the hill known as Three Barrows. It is formed by a mound of stones on a stone and earth base and is 40m in diameter and 2.5m in height. A reave runs through the cairn, which is the central one of the group, but passes the other two. The mound stones have been moved around by visitors and the cairn has a hollow in the centre.

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:

10572

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Spence Bate, C, Trans. Devonshire Assoc. in Researches Into Some Ancient Tumuli on Dartmoor, Vol. 5, (1872), 553

Other
Devon County SMR SX66SE-009,

End of official list entry

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