Pillow mound near Trowlesworthy Warren House

This pillow mound is one of the earthwork features that make up Trowlesworthy Warren, a medieval rabbit warren on the high moor south of Princetown. Pillow mounds are low, elongated mounds built to provide rabbits with suitable ground for burrowing and breeding. They are characteristic of medieval warrens across England, where rabbits were managed as a valuable resource for meat and fur.

The warren sits on exposed moorland, and the mound itself is subtle in the landscape, best appreciated as part of the wider pattern of earthworks scattered across this part of Dartmoor. Walking here gives a sense of how the medieval economy extended onto the moor, and how the land was actively managed centuries before the modern moorland we see today.

Historic England listed designation: Pillow mound 490m south of Trowlesworthy Warren House, forming part of Trowlesworthy Warren