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Cairn with a cist, the western one of two between Langcombe Brook and Deadman's Bottom

A Scheduled Monument in Sheepstor, Devon

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Coordinates

Latitude: 50.4839 / 50°29'1"N

Longitude: -3.9612 / 3°57'40"W

OS Eastings: 260955.375291

OS Northings: 66732.301737

OS Grid: SX609667

Mapcode National: GBR Q5.CVNC

Mapcode Global: FRA 27LS.8KM

Entry Name: Cairn with a cist, the western one of two between Langcombe Brook and Deadman's Bottom

Scheduled Date: 14 March 1962

Last Amended: 2 December 1991

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1012292

English Heritage Legacy ID: 10676

County: Devon

Civil Parish: Sheepstor

Traditional County: Devon

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Devon

Details

Many examples of Prehistoric funerary monuments are preserved on Dartmoor,
mostly dating to the Bronze Age (c.2500-500 BC). To celebrate or commemorate
the dead, mounds of earth or stone were piled in a roughly hemispherical
shape over the burial, which was sometimes contained in a small rectangular
structure, or cist, made of stone slabs. Some monuments also include
kerbstones marking the outer edge of the mound and a surrounding ditch.
This cairn with a cist lies on a west-facing slope between Langcombe Brook
and Deadman's Bottom, close to another cairn and cist. It consists of a mound
5m in diameter and 0.3m in height with a retaining kerb on its northern side
and a rectangular cist. The cist is 0.8m in length and 0.7m in width. It
retains both end slabs and the eastern side, the other side slab and
coverstone were noted nearby by Worth in 1890.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Dartmoor is the largest expanse of open moorland in Southern Britain and
because of exceptional conditions of preservation, it is also one of the most
complete examples of an upland relict landscape in the whole country. The
great wealth and diversity of archaeological remains provide direct evidence
for human exploitation of the Moor from the early Prehistoric period onwards.
The well-preserved and often visible relationship between settlement sites,
major land boundaries, trackways, ceremonial and funerary monuments, as well
as later industrial remains, gives significant insights into successive
changes in the pattern of land use through time.
This cairn with a cist is a relatively well-preserved example close to
another monument of the same type. Its relationship to this and other
monuments indicates the wealth of evidence relating to the ritual side of
Prehistoric life on this part of the Moor.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Devon County SMR SX66NW-010,

Source: Historic England

Other nearby scheduled monuments

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