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Cairn 250m SSE of the Ordnance Survey triangulation point on Beacon Hill

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1014127
Date first listed:: 07-Feb-1996

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1014127
Date first listed:: 07-Feb-1996

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Somerset
District:: Somerset West and Taunton (District Authority)
Parish:: West Quantoxhead
National Grid Reference:: ST 12575 40764

Reasons for Designation

The area of the Quantock Hills, although small in extent, is one of the few remaining expanses of open moorland in southern Britain. Its archaeological importance lies in the existence of a landscape displaying examples of monuments tracing the exploitation of the hills from the Bronze Age onwards. Well-preserved monuments from the Bronze Age and Iron Age, including round barrows, cairns, settlements, hillforts and a trackway, as well as later industrial remains, give insights into changes in the pattern of land use on the hills through time. These earthwork features are one of the key components of the Quantocks' broader landscape character. Round cairns are prehistoric funerary monuments dating to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They were constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, the latter predominating in areas of upland Britain where such raw materials were locally available in abundance. Round cairns may cover single or multiple burials and are sometimes surrounded by an outer ditch. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major visual element in the modern landscape. Their considerable variation in form and longevity as a monument type provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. Twelve round cairns have been recorded on the Quantocks, although the original figure is likely to have been higher. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

Despite being spread, the cairn on Beacon Hill is integral to the wider mixed cemetery and will contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to it and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes a cairn on the south side of Beacon Hill at the north west end of the Quantocks. The cairn forms part of a wider mixed cemetery on the hill which includes two barrows and three cairns. The cairn has a mound which is spread and measures c.12m in diameter and is 0.2m high. It was first identified by A T Wicks in 1933.

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:: 22084
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Wicks, A T, Barrow Lore, (1933), 104-108

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.