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Large round cairn on the ridge south of Watern Tor

Grid ref: SX 6291 8608

Main image: Photo: Guy Wareham, Wikimedia Commons

Historic England's scheduling record (list entry 1017924) describes a visually prominent round cairn on the eastern crest of an unnamed ridge leading south from Watern Tor. It is a stony mound 24 metres across and 3 metres high. A pit in the middle suggests early partial excavation or robbing. A pile of stones on the south side and a small drystone shelter are both recent. A band of rushes up to 3.5 metres wide round the north and east edges may show a buried ditch, which survives on the south as a hollow 1.5 metres wide and 0.3 metres deep. Some of the material for the cairn will have come from this ditch. It lies in the parish of Dartmoor Forest, about 1.8 km south of Wild Tor.

Sources: Historic England list entry 1017924, which cites Butler, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities (1991), page 211. Sandy Gerrard has dated his photograph to 23 April 1997 in a visitor comment on the Historic England page; I have not used it.

  • Period: Bronze Age
  • Status: Scheduled monument (Historic England list entry 1017924)
  • Grid reference: SX 6291 8608 (approximate, from the listing's coordinates)
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A close-up photograph from DartmoorPhotograph by Glavind Strachan Photography

“Look here, my good fellows," he cried. "I know who you be. You be them two runaways from Princetown, and I'll give you all I've got, clothes and all, if only you won't murder me.”

Also on Our DartmoorRound cairn near Challacombe Cross — Bronze Age round cairn on open moorland south east of Challacombe Cross, a scheduled monument on Dartmoor.

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