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Antiquities

Cawsand Beacon, a round cairn, a ring cairn, a stone building and five post-medieval shelters on the summit of Cawsand Hill

Devon

Cawsand Beacon sits on the summit of Cawsand Hill, a commanding position on Dartmoor's open moorland. The site holds multiple layers of use: a Bronze Age round cairn and ring cairn mark ancient burial or ceremonial activity, while a stone building and five post-medieval shelters show how later people adapted the high ground for practical purposes, perhaps as refuge or seasonal shelter.

Today the beacon remains a high point with wide views across the moor. Walking here, you encounter Dartmoor's long history compressed into one small area, from prehistoric stone-heaps to the pragmatic structures of more recent centuries. It is a Scheduled Monument, protected for its archaeological importance.

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Photo: John Lord (CC BY-SA 2.0) via Wikimedia Commons

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