Cairn west of Ball Gate, Corringdon Ball
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1013030
- Date first listed:
- 09-Feb-1978
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1013030
- Date first listed:
- 09-Feb-1978
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 06-Dec-1991
Location
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Devon
- District:
- South Hams (District Authority)
- Parish:
- South Brent
- National Park:
- Dartmoor
- National Grid Reference:
- SX 66992 61303
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 monuments as well as later industrial remains, gives significant insights into successive changes in the pattern of land use through time. This large cairn occupies a prominent position on a flattish neck of land between two hills. Its close relationship to Corringdon Ball chambered cairn and other nearby burial and ceremonial monuments 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). 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 round cairn lies just to the west of Ball Gate, immediately outside the newtake wall and less than 100m from a chambered cairn. It consists of a low mound of earth and stone 21m in diameter and up to 1m in height. The centre of the cairn is hollow and it is thought that the bulk of the stones which formed the mound were taken to build the newtake wall. The present perimeter is defined by a residual band of stone three metres wide.
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:
- 10574
- 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 66 SE 089,
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.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 30-Jun-2026 at 02:05:40.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.