Details

The monument includes a round cairn forming an outlying part of a cairn
cemetery or cairnfield situated on a gentle north facing slope of Holne Ridge
overlooking the valley of River Dart. The cairn survives as a 7.6m diameter
mound standing up to 1m high. A trench leading across the cairn from north
west to south east represents the site of a partial undocumented
investigation. At the south eastern end of this trench is a large slab which
may have been part of a cist.

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,
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. Cairnfields are concentrations of three or
more cairns sited within close proximity to one another; they may consist of
burial cairns or cairns built with stone cleared from the land surface
(clearance cairns). Round funerary cairns were constructed during the Bronze
Age (c.2000-700 BC) and consisted of earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes
ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. Often occupying prominent
locations, they are a major visual element in the modern landscape. The
considerable variation in the size of cairnfields and their longevity as a
monument type provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and
social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. They are
particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of
surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

Despite an early undocumented investigation, the round cairn 580m south of
Horn's Cross forming part of a cairn cemetery on Holne Ridge survives well and
contains important archaeological and environmental information relating to
the monument and the landscape in which it was built.
This cairn forms part of a group of visually impressive cairns situated on
high ground overlooking the largest and best preserved Bronze Age coaxial
field system on the Moor.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
RCHME, , Holne Moor Survey carried out for DNPA, (1966)

Source: Historic England