A summer visit (30.8.2010) is probably not the time to see the best of this long barrow. After leaving Cuckoo Ball we head north along further sheep tracks, not entirely sure that we would find this in the thick bracken. However, the low mound is still apparent and a bit of poking and prodding around in the covering vegetation reveals the presence of a number of in-situ slabs, which Jeremy Butler has suggested may represent remains of a gallery grave.
In truth this is not the most impressive of monuments, and its main attraction is the scarcity of such Neolithic relics on Dartmoor. We continue north, towards Spurrell's Cross stone row, en route to the furthest and final Neolithic site of the day, the chambered long barrow at Corringdon Ball.
The Butterdon Hill Chambered Tomb lies around 500 metres further north along the same path as the Cuckoo Ball Tomb. It is in better condition than the previous one and as it is in the open moor. It does not appear to have been excavated. Once again it is best to visit in the early months of the year before it is taken over by the bracken.