Ring cairn 920m south west of Little Staple Tor

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1020013
Date first listed:: 24-Apr-2002

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1020013
Date first listed:: 24-Apr-2002

Location

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

County:: Devon
District:: West Devon (District Authority)
Parish:: Whitchurch
National Park:: DARTMOOR
National Grid Reference:: SX 53018 74995

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 provide 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. A ring cairn is a prehistoric ritual monument comprising a circular bank of stones up to 20m in diameter surrounding a hollow central area. The bank may be kerbed on the inside, and sometimes on the outside as well, with small uprights or laid boulders. Ring cairns are found mainly in upland areas of England and are mostly discovered and authenticated by ground level fieldwork and survey, although a few are large enough to be visible on aerial photographs. They often occur in pairs or small groups of up to four examples. Occasionally they lie within round barrow cemeteries. Ring cairns are interpreted as ritual monuments of Early and Middle Bronze Age date. The exact nature of the rituals concerned is not fully understood, but excavation has revealed pits, some containing burials and others containing charcoal and pottery, taken to indicate feasting activities associated with the burial rituals. Many areas of upland have not yet been surveyed in detail and the number of ring cairns in England is not accurately known. However, available evidence indicates a population of between 250 and 500 examples. As a relatively rare class of monument exhibiting considerable variation in form, all positively identified examples retaining significant archaeological deposits are considered worthy of preservation.

The ring cairn 920m south west of Little Staple Tor survives well and contains archaeological and environmental information relating to this area during the prehistoric period. This monument lies within a coaxial field system and forms part of a particularly well-preserved palimpsest on Whitchurch Common, containing abundant evidence for the use of the area in both prehistoric and historic times.

Details

The monument includes a ring cairn situated on a gentle west facing slope of Barn Hill overlooking large areas of West Devon and East Cornwall. The cairn survives as a 2m wide rubble bank containing a large number of edge set stones. This bank stands up to 0.6m high and surrounds an internal circular area measuring 6.6m in diameter. A 3m wide and 0.1m deep ditch surrounds the ring bank. This monument sits within an extensive coaxial field system which extends over much of Whitchurch Common and the slopes of Cox Tor and forms the subject of separate schedulings.

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:: 34428
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Turner, J R, 'Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings' in Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, , Vol. 48, (1990), 68

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.