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 cairn lies in close proximity to a chambered cairn and another round
cairn in a prominent position on flattish area on the 310m contour between
two hills. Its relationship to other burial monuments in the immediate
vicinity and to other cairns and several stone alignments within a few
hundered metres, 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 cairn lies 10m to the north-west of the chambered cairn at Ball Gate
and another cairn which occupy a neck of land on the 310m contour which
joins Corringdon Ball and Brent Fore Hill. It is a mound of earth and stone
6m in diameter and 0.3m in height and has a retaining circle of which six
stones remain in situ, just breaking the turf. It is hollow in the centre,
revealing a stone which may be the east endslab of a cist.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
10571
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
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
