Cairn south-east of Higher Piles
Overview
Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number: 1013212
Date first listed: 25-Oct-1991
Map
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Location
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
County: Devon
District: South Hams (District Authority)
Parish: Harford
National Park: DARTMOOR
National Grid Reference: SX 64895 61104
Summary
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.
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 the later industrial remains, gives significant insights into successive changes in the pattern of land use through time. This is a well-preserved example on the hillside in an area of concentrated settlement. Its relationship to other monuments of the same type also indicates the wealth of evidence relating to the ritual side of Prehistoric life on this part of the Moor.
History
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.
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 a 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, 200m. south of Piles Gate, is 6m. in diameter and 0.7m. high
and covered by turf and whortleberry. There are traces of a retaining kerb on
the west side.
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: 10525
Legacy System: RSM
Sources
Other
SX66SW-149,
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 Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
End of official listing