← Browse Cairns & Barrows · Browse the directory
- Period: Bronze Age
- Status: Six scheduled monuments (Historic England entries listed below)
- Size: About 26 mounds on the western slope and at least 22 on the northern slope, with lynchets
A cairnfield is a scatter of stone mounds on one stretch of hill, partly burials and partly stone cleared from farmed ground. Historic England records two on White Hill. The western one lies on a gentle west-facing slope overlooking Lydford and holds about 26 mounds and a lynchet (a cultivation terrace). The northern one lies on a south-facing slope above the valley of the Walla Brook and holds at least 22 mounds, a length of boundary bank and another lynchet, with remnants of a field system around it.
The mounds are low, between 0.15 m and 0.8 m high, and most are 2 m to 9 m across. Some have a hollow in the middle from early digging or robbing.
The six scheduled monuments
| Historic England entry | Grid reference | What survives |
|---|---|---|
| 1007538 | SX 52687 83860 | The main western-slope monument: 21 mounds and a lynchet, 15 round (2 m to 7 m across) and the rest oval, six with a hollow in the middle. |
| 1007543 | SX 52604 83808 | Two cairns on the western slope: an oval 4 m by 2.7 m and a round 5 m across, up to 0.55 m high. |
| 1007544 | SX 52647 83808 | One oval cairn on the western slope, 3 m by 2.5 m and 0.2 m high. |
| 1007659 | SX 53459 84047 | The main northern-slope monument: 13 cairns, a length of boundary bank and a lynchet, with traces of a field system round it. |
| 1007660 | SX 53360 84018 | Two outlying cairns on the northern slope: an oval 7 m by 4.5 m and a round 4.5 m across. |
| 1007661 | SX 53315 84006 | Two cairns on the western edge of the northern field: a round 4 m one and an oval 4.7 m by 3.5 m. |
Grid references are from the Historic England entries. Each entry covers one scheduled monument; a monument can hold several features.
Contact us if you have information about this listing
The 6 rings on this map are the separate scheduled monuments that make up this listing, placed from Historic England’s records. Tap a ring for its grid reference and a link to its official entry. The pin marks the middle of the group.
Official record
Explore the area
Go deeper with Dartefacts
Dartefacts is a database of Dartmoor sites with far more close-up detail than we can show here, and it is the best place to go deeper. Dartefacts is free to use, and nobody has to pay to look things up. If you want more, a yearly subscription adds 10-figure grid references, map zoom down to 1:25,000 and lists to tick off the places you have visited, and it helps keep the site going. We would encourage you to subscribe.
Thoughts
Be the first to share a thought about Cairnfields on White Hill.
Share a thoughtKnow another Dartmoor place, tor or landmark we should include? Suggest a listing, it is free.
Suggest a listing