Cosdon Beacon summit cairn and beacon site

Historic England's scheduling record (list entry 1010793) describes Cawsand Beacon, also known as Cosdon Beacon, on the summit of Cawsand Hill. It is a round cairn, later reused as a beacon site, with a ring cairn, a stone building and five post-medieval shelters. The cairns are part of a cemetery of at least two round cairns, two ring cairns and one platform cairn. The beacon cairn is 27 metres across and up to 3 metres high. Large hollows in the middle may come from early excavation or robbing, though it has also been suggested that the beacon builders dug them to make a hearth. It lies in the parish of South Tawton, about 1.4 km south-east of Ladybrook Tor and 2.6 km south-west of South Zeal.

The beacon is thought to be medieval in origin, though the earliest written mention is from the 16th century. When lit it would have been seen over much of North Devon, and until late in the 19th century this spot was believed to be the highest in southern England. Five shelters of drystone walling, round or triangular inside, were built from the cairn's own stone on its edge, and an Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar stands on the east side of the mound, outside the scheduling.

Three metres east of the beacon is a circular rubble bank 1.3 metres wide and 0.3 metres high round a space 4.3 metres across. It has been called a hut circle, but it more likely marks the building where the person lighting the beacon would have stayed in a crisis. A large ring cairn lies 25 metres east of the beacon, a rubble bank 3 metres wide and up to 0.6 metres high around a space 22.5 metres across.

Sources: Historic England list entry 1010793, which cites Rowe, A Perambulation of the Ancient and Royal Forest of Dartmoor, pages 86 to 87, Butler, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities, vol 2 (1990), pages 206 to 207, Russell, 'Fire Beacons in Devon' (Devonshire Association Transactions, vol 87, 1955), page 284, Darvill, Single Monument Class Description: Ring Cairns (1989), and the Devon County Sites and Monuments Register (SX69SW18, SX69SW53 and SX69SW16).

• Period: Bronze Age
• Status: Scheduled monument (Historic England list entry 1010793)
• Grid reference: SX 6363 9149 (approximate, from the listing's coordinates)