Chambered cairn at Ball Gate, Corringdon Ball

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. Chambered cairns provide valuable evidence about the ceremonial and funerary practices of the Middle Neolithic period (c.3000-2400BC). Together with the examples on Bodmin these chambered long cairns represent the south- westernmost distribution of a monument type which occurs as far north as the Orkneys. This is one of the best preserved of only thirteen such monuments known on the Moor. Its relationship to two other cairns in the immediate vicinity and to other cairns and ceremonial monuments within a few hundred 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), but some earlier examples dating to the later neolithic also occur. To celebrate or commemorate the dead, mounds of earth or stone were piled in roughly hemispherical or elongated oval 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 chambered cairn, a rare earlier form of funerary monument on Dartmoor, lies on a flattish neck of land on the 310m contour between Corringdon Ball and Brent Fore Hill. It is orientated north-west/ south-east and consists of a mound of earth and stone 65m in length and over two metres in height at its higher, southern end. The traces of side ditches remain and the mound tapers slightly from 17m in maximum width at the southern end. Excavations have occurred around the chamber and again towards the northern end. Six stones of the chamber remain; one upright is still in situ but the others have been disturbed and the capstone has been displaced. These stones are up to 2m in height and the capstone is about 3m long and 2m wide. It is associated with two round cairns in the immediate vicinity.

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:

10573

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 SX66SE-056,

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