A cairn 450m WNW of Putts Corner, forming part of a round barrow cemetery on Gittisham Hill

Reasons for Designation

Round cairns are prehistoric funerary monuments dating to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They were constructed as stone mounds covering single or multiple burials. These burials may be placed within the mound in stone-lined compartments called cists. In some cases the cairn was surrounded by a ditch. Often occupying prominent locations, cairns are a major visual element in the modern landscape. They are a relatively common feature of the uplands and are the stone equivalent of the earthen round barrows of the lowlands. 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. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

The Gittisham Hill barrow cemetery comprises the western area of one of the most extensive and densest concentrations of barrows in Devon. Limited archaeological excavations of some of the barrows in this concentration have revealed that they show a remarkable diversity in size and form, and in the nature of their funerary contents. The cairn 450m WNW of Putts Corner is one of the 13 which form the Gittisham Hill barrow cemetery and lies on the western edge of Gittisham Hill. Although partly disturbed it survives reasonably well and will retain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction and use.

Details

The Gittisham Hill barrow cemetery is situated in south east Devon, 8km south of Honiton, on the high ground of an extensive Greensand plateau where it forms the watershed of the south-flowing River Sid. The monument includes a single cairn situated on the west side of Gittisham Hill on ground sloping gradually down to the west. The cairn consists of a substantial mound, 26m in diameter and up to c.1m in height. Some flinty stones up to 20cm in size are visible on its surface. A central hollow and other interconnected smaller hollows may mark the site of earlier excavations, although no details of this activity are known. The cairn does not appear to have been surrounded by a ditch. The edge of the cairn remains intact, apart from the north side where a segment about 2m wide radially has been removed to create a level area to accommodate caravans and also the south east side, where a recently built toilet/shower block impinges slightly on the cairn. The toilet/shower block and all power-point posts are excluded from the scheduling.

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:

27410

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society in The Barrows of South and East Devon, Vol. 41, (1983), 5-46
Hutchinson, , Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association in Report on Barrows near Sidmouth, Vol. 12, (1880)

End of official list entry

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