Tor cairn 50m north east of Hookney Tor

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, 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. Tor cairns are ceremonial monuments dating to the Early and Middle Bronze Age (c.2000-1000 BC). They were constructed as ring banks of stone rubble, up to 35m in external diameter, sometimes with entrances and external ditches, and roughly concentric around natural outcrops or tors. In some cases a kerb of edge-set stones bounded the inner edge of the bank, and the area between the bank and the outcrop was sometimes in-filled by laying down a platform of stone rubble or turves. Excavated examples have revealed post-holes and pits within the area defined by the ring-bank, some containing burial evidence, and scatters of Bronze Age artefacts concentrated around the central tor. Tor cairns usually occur as isolated monuments, though several are associated with broadly contemporary cairn cemeteries. They are very rare nationally with only 40-50 known examples concentrated on the higher moors of Devon and Cornwall, where their situation in prominent locations makes them a major visual element in the modern landscape. As a rare monument type, all surviving examples are considered worthy of preservation.

The tor cairn 50m north east of Hookney Tor survives well and is one of only five known examples on Dartmoor where the ring banks are attached to the face of a tor. This cairn is one of a cluster of large cairns situated in a prominent position within this part of Dartmoor. It is considered that as a group they formed significant territorial markers.

Details

The monument includes a tor cairn situated on Hookney Tor from which there are extensive views in all directions. The cairn forms part of a discrete cluster of mounds situated along a prominent ridge. This cairn includes a rubble bank attached to the southern face of a rock outcrop. The ring bank survives as a 2m wide curving earthwork standing up to 0.8m high enclosing a`D'-shaped area measuring 12m long east to west by 6m wide north to south. The tor itself measures 6m wide and up to 0.9m high.

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:

34429

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SX68SE47, (1987)

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