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- Period: Prehistoric (Bronze Age by type)
- Status: Five scheduled monuments (Historic England entries listed below)
- Cairns: Two tor cairns, two round cairns and two ring cairns, a cairn cemetery
A cairn cemetery is a group of burial or ritual mounds on one hill. Historic England records one on Cox Tor, made of two tor cairns, two round cairns and two ring cairns. A tor cairn is a stony bank built round a natural rock outcrop; the one on the summit is 32 m across round a 13 m outcrop, and the Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar stands on its eastern side. Three small shelters were later built into its stones.
The two ring cairns north of the pillar were dug by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1898. They had an outer circular bank filled with loose stones and earth, but no burials or finds.
The five scheduled monuments
| Historic England entry | Grid reference | What survives |
|---|---|---|
| 1011500 | SX 53064 76185 | The summit tor cairn: a bank 9.5 m wide and 2.5 m high round a 13 m outcrop, 32 m across overall, with a small stone hut circle 11 m to the north-east. |
| 1011252 | SX 53001 76020 | A tor cairn on a rocky terrace on the south slope, 24.8 m across, with two banks round an 11 m outcrop and a 15 m rubble bank that may be part of a funerary enclosure. |
| 1011502 | SX 53029 76344 | A round cairn on a small outcrop on the plateau north of the tor, oval, 23.8 m by 28.2 m and up to 1.2 m high, with a hollow suggesting early digging or robbing. |
| 1011495 | SX 53061 76502 | A small round cairn 5 m across and 0.5 m high on the plateau to the north, with a shallow central hollow. |
| 1011503 | SX 53034 76425 | Two ring cairns about 10 m apart, each about 10 m across with a stony bank up to 0.8 m high; excavated in 1898. |
Historic England's titles measure from the Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar or from the summit; grid references are from the same entries.
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The 5 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.
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Photograph by Glavind Strachan Photography“Kill a robin or a wren, Never prosper, boy or man.”
Also on Our DartmoorLydford Castle — A Norman stronghold reduced to atmospheric ruins on the edge of Dartmoor, where castle and landscape have merged over nine centuries.
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