Two very large round barrows beside a forestry track. Coflein descriptions:
West barrow (ST01708397)
The westernmost of a pair of round barrows (see also nprn 93177), measuring 17.5m (E-W) by 16m and 2.8m high.
East barrow (ST01778397)
The easternmost of two round barrows (see also nprn 93176) measuring 19m (E-W) by 17m and 3.4m high.
Round barrow and associated inscribed stone (original now moved). Coflein description:
Twmpath Diwlith (SS83218879)
A round barrow, 22.9m in diameter and 1.5m high, when rifled in 1921, on behalf of the NMW, the mound proved to have been raised in two stages, there being a primary, previously rifled, cist.
Bodvoc Stone (SS83078878)
The Bodvoc Stone now forms part of the Margam Stone Collection (NPRN 94512), housed in the old school house, Margam, but originally stood as a monument stone on one of a line of Bronze Age cairns on Margam Mountain. Its inscription reads; ‘BODVOCI HIC IACIT FILIUS CATOTIGIRNI PROENPUS ETERNALI VEDOMAVI’ – ‘[The Stone] of Bodvoc. Here he lies, son of Cattegern [or Cattegirn], and great-grandson of Eternalis Vedomavus’.
The sixth-seventh century stone was defaced with modern graffiti and an OS mark before being moved to the Museum, and now a replica stands in its place.
Pair of round barrows on the highest (eastern) summit of Mynydd Margam. Coflein descriptions:
Mynydd Margam East I (SS82918875)
One of a pair of barrows on Mynydd Margam, 21.3m in diameter and 0.6m high; disturbed.
Mynydd Margam East II (SS82838868)
One of a pair of barrows on Mynydd Margam, 21.3m in diameter and 0.9m high; disturbed.
Two round barrows on the western summit of Mynydd Margam. Coflein descriptions:
Mynydd Margam Beacon (SS81918885)
A circular mound, 14m in diameter and 1.2m high, upon the highest point of Mynydd Margam has been assumed to have been a beacon site.
Mynydd Margam South (SS82018868)
A circular mound, 18m in diameter and 0.6m high.
English Heritage description of this impressively sited fort:
The monument includes Castle Ring, a large univallate hillfort in a naturally strong defensive position on the summit of Oak Hill, a steep sided spur at the north end of Stiperstones. The enclosed area of the hillfort is roughly triangular in plan with maximum internal dimensions of 280m NNE to SSW by 190m transversely giving an internal area of approximately 3.8ha. The artificial defences are designed to enhance the natural strength of the site. The natural hillslopes fall precipitously on all sides except the south, the natural approach along the ridge top. Here the earthworks are at their most elaborate and include a strong cross-ridge rampart 8m wide and 3.5m high with an outer ditch on the south side 5m wide and 1.2m deep set across the narrow neck of the spur. The rampart is interrupted approximately midway along its length by a slightly offset, inturned entrance 6m wide. Around the south east side of the hillfort the already steep natural hillslope has been cut back slightly to form a well defined scarp slope up to 4.8m high. This ends after 260m fading out on the natural slopes around the north eastern tip of the spur. Here the hillfort relies for defence solely on the precipitous nature of the hillslope. Around the west and north west sides the natural hillslope has been cut back to form a scarp slope, up to 4m high with an outer berm or silted ditch averaging 3m wide. There is no visible evidence of habitation in the interior of the hillfort, the surface of which follows the natural contours of the hill, but the buried remains of such features will survive beneath the surface.
English Heritage descriptions:
West barrow (SO 34921 99327)
The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a Bronze Age bowl barrow situated on level ground at the summit of Round Hill where the ground slopes gently away to the north, east and south. From this location there are extensive views of the surrounding countryside, notably The Stiperstones to the east and the undulating lowlands to the north. The barrow at The Napp, 200m to the east, is also clearly visible from this location, and is the subject of a separate scheduling. The barrow mound, which is of earth and stone construction, is about 30m in diameter and survives to a height of 2.5m. Although no longer visible at ground level, a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the barrow, surrounds the mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature approximately 3m wide.
Eastern barrow – The Napp (SO 35120 99329)
The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a Bronze Age bowl barrow situated on the top, and at the southern end, of a natural north-south ridge, near to the summit of Round Hill. From this elevated position there are extensive views of the surrounding countryside, notably the Stiperstones to the east and the undulating lowlands to the north. The barrow on Round Hill, 200m to the west, is also clearly visible from this location, and is the subject of a separate scheduling.
The barrow mound is of earth and stone construction. It is about 20m in diameter and survives to a height of 2m. The height of the monument has been greatly enhanced by its topographic location. To the west, where no break of slope is now detectable between the ridge and the barrow mound, the combined height of these two features is 4m.
Although no longer visible at ground level, a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the barrow, surrounds the mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature approximately 3m wide.
Part of the top of the mound has been partly excavated, which has resulted in the creation of a level platform. At the base of the resulting 0.6m deep cut is an embedded stone slab. This slab may be the remains of a cist (a stone slab coffin) from a later intrusive burial within the mound. No records are known to survive of this excavation
The 1/25000 OS map shows the eastern barrow as “Motte”.
Coflein shows four cairns here, one of which (Cairn I) is a very fine, well-preserved example of a round cairn.
Cairn II (ST25099278)
One of a linear grouping of four cairns, set about 40m north of Cairn I, centrally disturbed, 10m in diameter and 0.4m high.
Cairn I (ST25109273)
One of a linear grouping of four cairns, centrally disturbed, 21m in diameter and 2.3m high.
Cairn III (ST25109271)
One of a linear grouping of four cairns, 18m in diameter and 1.0m high, surmounted by a modern cairn.
Cairn IV (ST25099270)
One of a linear grouping of four cairns, 8.0m in diameter and 1.3m high, having the appearance of being ditched and counterscarped on the south-west.
Not necessarily a barrow, but a prehistoric “long mound” according to Coflein:
An elongated isolated mound aligned east – west. The mound is 24 m in length. At the east end the mound is 10 m wide and 1 m high with a slight hollow in the center of the highest point. The west end appears much eroded. What survives is 3 m wide and only 0.2 m in height. Some apparently in situ stone work may be the remains of some form of stone structure at this end of the mound.
Surveyed 2005. Coflein also has some pictures:
coflein.gov.uk/en/site/284527/images/DYFFRYN+MYMBYR%2C+LONG+MOUND/
The most southwesterly outpost of the Nantlle Ridge, just scraping in as a 2000fter since a 2008 survey. Pastscape have the following description for the cairn, which has the remains of a kerb:
An apparently structureless cairn, 9.14m in diameter and 1.22m high, set upon the SE end of the summit ridge of Craig Goch.
Plan and further description here:
Description from English Heritage:
This alignment, runs north-east/south- west across the north-west side of Glasscombe Ball from a cairn at its northern end to another at the southern end, beside the Redlake Railway track. It cuts off the spur of Glasscombe Ball on the 360m contour. The alignment consists of at least twenty fallen stones in a single row 84m long, the stones are irregularly spaced and are up to 1m in height. A small cairn lies near either end, both are 4.5m in diameter and 0.5m in height.
Another of Herefordshire’s “lost” round barrows, not shown on the OS 1/25000. This one is notable because of the largely intact cist (minus capstone) contained inside the mound. English Heritage have this to say:
The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a bowl barrow, situated on a slight mound on the top of the Cefn Hill ridge, overlooking the Monnow Valley and just west of the Cefn Track. The remains include an earthen mound, c.10m in diameter and c.0.5m high. The mound has an uneven surface and flattish top, in the centre of which is a stone-lined burial chamber, or cist. The cist was revealed when the owner attempted to level the mound in the early 1980s, and consists of four slate slabs set on their sides to enclose a sub-rectangular area, aligned roughly north-south. The two short sides, both 0.76m long and 0.15m wide, are set inside the longer stones, the eastern of which is 1.7m long and 0.25m wide, and the western 1.4m long by 0.16m wide. The chamber is 0.5m deep, and is now empty. Its fill of loose soil was removed by the owner and examined by members of the Herefordshire Archaeology Unit; two flints and some very small bones were recovered. No cap stone was found, and it is possible that this was removed during an early investigation of the site, probably along with further finds from within the chamber. The cist is similar to those found in the Olchon Valley earlier this century, and c.4km to the north west, again just below the Cefn Track, is another example with the same south west aspect (the subject of a separate scheduling); both command impressive views and it is likely that more await discovery along the ridge. The track, which may itself be prehistoric in origin, is also the parish boundary, and these monuments may have served as territorial markers, defining land divisions which have been retained to the present day.
Group of three ploughed-down round barrows, not shown on the OS 1/25000 map. Worthy of inclusion in view of the relative scarcity of preserved round barrows in this part of Herefordshire. English Heritage have this:
NE barrow (SO 38646 60279)
The barrow 550m south east of Milton Cross sits at the eastern edge of a field, separated from the Pembridge Road by a hedge. The remains include an earthen mound, c.22m in diameter and 0.6m high. Material for the construction of this mound will have been obtained from a surrounding ditch which is now completely infilled.
Central barrow
The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a bowl barrow, situated on a level floodplain north of the River Arrow. The land was seasonally flooded and subsesquently divided by a series of drains, many of which have now been filled in. The barrow is in the middle of a line of three similar examples, extending WSW-ENE. A section of Rowe Ditch stretches north- south across the valley for c.800m, passing 250m west of the most westerly of the group. The remains of this middle barrow include an earthen mound, circular in form, and c.24m in diameter by c.0.7m high. Material for the construction of this mound will have been obtained from a surrounding ditch which is now completely infilled. Before the advent of ploughing and the construction of the nearby drains and field boundaries, the three monuments would have formed a clearly visible alignment across the flat valley floor. The other two barrows are the subject of separate schedulings (SM27490, SM27506), as is the Rowe Ditch.
SW barrow (SO 38271 60133)
The barrow 460m south of Milton Cross includes an earthen mound of circular form, c.32m diameter and 1.2m high. Air photographs taken in 1959 indicate a ditch around the southern half of the mound, from which material for its construction would have been quarried. No surface evidence for this feature is now visible. There is a field boundary immediately to the south west of the barrow beyond which the ground surface has been ploughed flat and is 0.5m lower than its neighbour.
The barrows have been damaged by the insertion of a later lime kiln. English Heritage description:
The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of two bowl barrows, one superimposed upon the other, and a lime kiln which has been inserted into the first barrow mound. The monument is dramatically situated on a spur of high ground in the foothills of the Black Mountains, overlooking the headwaters of the River Monnow. The remains include an earthen mound of oval form, measuring c.25m south west to north east by c.17m transversely. An almost continuous kerb of large stone blocks is visible around the foot of the mound, except in the south west quarter where it has been modified by the lime kiln. This kerb would originally have formed an internal revetment to the foot of the mound which has subsequently been revealed by erosion. In the north west the kerb appears to turn inwards along an alignment which probably represents the original edge of the barrow, subsequently modified by the construction of the lime kiln. Plough erosion in this area has resulted in a false foot to the mound some 1.5m beyond the kerb. The barrow has a gently domed profile and rises to a height of c.1.8m. Material for its construction will have been quarried from a surrounding ditch, although this has become infilled and no evidence for it is visible at the surface. Superimposed upon this barrow is a second earthen mound, again oval in plan, and offset towards the south west end of the underlying one. This mound measures roughly 10m x 8m and has a domed profile rising c.1.2m. To the south west and south its sides merge with that of the barrow beneath, falling steeply to the surrounding ground level. The south west quarter of the first barrow has been modified by the insertion of what is known to be a lime kiln. The remains of this appear as a hollow measuring c.8m across at the base and rising to the summit of the mound. The hollow represents the remains of the firing chamber and is now filled with a large quantity of stones, many of which show signs of heating. The kiln may have been constructed to provide mortar for the construction of the farm buildings at nearby Llan Oleu. On the northern side of the hollow a number of stone slabs form a ledge leading into the chamber, which may be the remains of the kiln lining, or perhaps a ledge which would have supported a framework above the hearth, holding the stone for burning. In its lofty position the monument commands impressive views in all directions and is clearly visible from below the surrounding area. A footpath passes below it to the north and Offa’s Dyke path passes along the ridge above.
English Heritage description:
Despite an early investigation of the mound, the bowl barrow west of Walford Farm is a well preserved example of this class of monument. The barrow mound will retain details of its method of construction and evidence for the burial practices of its builders. The accumulated ditch fills will contain environmental evidence of activity at the barrow and land use around it. The buried ground surface beneath the mound itself will similarly preserve environmental evidence for the landscape in which the barrow was constructed. The 18th century investigation of this barrow, while causing only slight disturbance to the mound, has demonstrated the importance of its deposits. Other records indicate its probable association with similar barrows, now destroyed. The barrow has group value drawn from surrounding monuments, and its roadside position makes this barrow a clearly visible landmark.
Details
The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a bowl barrow situated on level ground south of the River Teme and immediately south of the A4113. The barrow consists of an earthen mound, circular in form, c.20m diameter and c.1.2m high. Material for the construction of the barrow mound will have been quarried from a surrounding ditch, which is now completely infilled and no longer visible on the surface. The barrow mound has a slightly flattened top which may have resulted from an archaeological investigation, in 1736, when an urn containing human bone was found. The barrow stands in an archaeologically rich area, which includes the Iron Age hillforts of Brandon Camp and Coxall Knoll, two Roman camps, and the Romano-British town of Leintwardine to the east on a Roman road (all the subject of separate schedulings).
English Heritage description:
The monument includes the remains of a small ring cairn situated on the summit of Churchmoor Hill. The monument is visible as a well defined, doughnut shaped mound 9m in diameter, comprising a turf covered circular bank 2.5m wide and 0.5m high surrounding a central hollow 4m in diameter and 0.4m deep. Although no longer visible at ground level, a ditch, from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument, surrounds the bank. This has become infilled with the passage of time but survives as a buried feature some 1.5m wide.
Recently discovered Neolithic causewayed enclosure, a rarity in Herefordshire (at present). Description from Pastscape:
Geophysical Survey and Excavation were carried out at a cropmarked enclosure site at Hill Croft Field, Bodenham as part of the Herefordshire Rivers Lugg Valley Project. The geophysical survey recorded and located the ditch and entrance, but no further archaeological features were identified. Three 10m x 5m trenches were opened in order to examine different areas of the site. The archaeological deposits in Trench 1 confirmed the interpretation of the enclosure as a site of the causewayed camp tradition.
The site of an Early Neolithic causewayed enclosure at Hill Croft Field, 400 metres East of Ashgrove Farm, Bodenham. Aerial photographs of the area revealed a cropmark of a curvilinear interrupted ditch forming an irregular ovoid enclosure, measuring approximately 175 metres by 168 metres. This was originally believed to represent an Iron Age hilltop enclosure. Geophysical survey and excavation were carried out in 2006 as part of the Herefordshire Rivers Lugg Valley Project. This recorded and located the ditch and entrance, but no further archaeological features were identified.
Three trenches were excavated, one of which exposed the entrance identified on the aerial photo, and the western ditch terminal. The ditch ranged in width from 2.9 to 3.1 metres. The finds from the excavation, including animal bone, flint, pottery, charcoal and mollusc shells, all dated to the Early Neolithic period. This is the first causewayed enclosure to be identified in Herefordshire and also in the wider West Midlands.
The site was included in research into the dating of Early Neolithic enclosures, and radiocarbon dates estimate the date of construction to be in 3640-3500 cal BC. The ditch at Hill Croft Field may have largely infilled by the later fourth millennium cal BC. The mid-fourth millennium cal BC date of the monument confirms that in this region, as in others, enclosures of the period included forms other than the readily recognised causewayed plans of, for example, Dorstone Hill or Womaston.
Coflein has the following for this cairn, not marked on the OS 1/25000 map:
Remains of a round cairn situated on the summit of the ridge extending to the N of Hatterrall Hill. The cairn measures 7m in diameter and about 0.5m in height.
The name means “Rough Slope” and is pronounced “Roo Aroo”, splendidly.
Coflein has the following description for the fort:
A subrectangular enclosure, c.140m by 70m, defined by a bank and ditch; before the SE facing entrance is a sub-oval area, c.185m by 104m, multivallate away from the steep natural slopes to the NE, which both enclosures rest upon.
Mr Crossing has this to say about Western Beacon (from “Crossing’s Guide To Dartmoor” (2nd edition, 1912):
“The view from this fine border height, the southernmost of all the Dartmoor eminences, is one of great beauty. The estuary of the Erme is in full view, and we are placed so high above it (1,088 ft) that it looks quite near. The West Pigedon of an older day, it forms a conspicuous landmark from numerous points in the South Hams. Eastward rises East Pigedon, now represented by the hill crowned with the Beacon Rocks. Most of the tor has been detroyed by quarrymen, and the six cairns that are to be seen here has been despoiled. One of these was placed on the rocks, but very little of it now remains. The foundations of a small square building are to be seen upon it. It is not possible to obtain a correct measurement of all of these cairns, but one of them is 85 yards in circumference, and another 67 yards.”
The most south-easterly of a series of round barrows flanking the River Teme between Beguildy and Knighton, this one has the remains of a secondary cist.
EH description:
The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a Bronze Age bowl barrow situated on level ground within the flood plain of the River Teme. Other similar monuments were built within the valley, either close to the river or on the valley sides, however the majority of those built in the flood plain have been severely damaged by ploughing or have been eroded by the river. The barrow has an oval mound measuring 19m north-south and 15m east-west. This was orginally circular with a diameter of about 15m. It survives to a height of 1.2m and is composed of earth and riverine gravels. Partly embedded in the top of the mound are the remains of a cist (a stone slab coffin), which measures 1.5m by 1m. All four sides of the cist survive but the covering slab has been removed. The height of the cist within the mound would suggest that it was not for the primary burial, but a later insertion. Although no longer visible at ground level, a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the barrow, surrounds the mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature approximately 3m wide.
According to Wikipedia:
The name “Skyborry” is an anglicisation of the Welsh for barn, ysgubor.
Round barrow overlooking the River Teme. Although more elevated than other nearby barrows, it seems at least possible that this was associated with a series of round barrows along the river between Beguildy and Knighton.
EH description:
The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a Bronze Age bowl barrow located on a south west facing slope overlooking the Crochen Brook valley. It is one of several barrows situated within the valley of the River Teme. The barrow includes an earth and gravel mound up to 3m high with a diameter of approximately 30m. Although no longer visible at ground level, a ditch, from which material was quarried during the construction of the barrow, surrounds the mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature, approximately 3m wide.
Both Coflein and the Ordnance Survey are cagey about this one. Coflein’s map search function reveals it as a “round barrow” but the record suggests natural. The OS show “mound” in plain text. However, given its proximity to a number of other riverside barrows along the River Teme, it seems possible that this is a further example. Coflein also suggests it may have remnants of a ditch:
A mound, 39m in diameter and 2.0m high, cut by a road to the N, thought likely to be natural.
(source Os495card; SO27NW12)
There are indications of a circular ditch.
RCAHMW AP965129/48-9
J.Wiles 26.11.03
Second in a series of round barrows along the River Teme between Beguildy and Knighton. Coflein description:
A barrow, 21m in diameter and 2.0m high, set on a river terrace.
One of a series of round barrows flanking the River Teme between Beguildy and Knighton (also the England/Wales border). Coflein description:
A barrow, 22m in diameter and 2.0m high, set in a valley-bottom situation, where boulder kerbing has been noted.
English Heritage records state ring-cairn rather than circle:
The monument includes a ring cairn situated on the rounded summit of Pen-y-wern Hill. The ring cairn survives as a flat-topped circular mound 30m in diameter and up to 0.9m high. The mound is irregular and hummocky over much of its upper surface and a shallow hollow 5m in diameter and 0.3m deep lies south west of its centre. Around the perimeter of the mound are eleven earthfast kerb stones, the largest with dimensions of 0.8m by 0.4m. Other stones scattered across the surface of the mound are loose and have probably been disturbed from the cairn edge. Although no longer visible as a surface feature a ditch will surround the mound with an estimated width of 2m. An associated stone 150m SE, formally standing upright, is related to the ring cairn, though the subject of a separate scheduling.
Bowl barrow with infilled ditch, close to a particularly fine section of Offa’s Dyke.
English Heritage description:
The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a Bronze Age bowl barrow. It is situated on top of a small ridge near to the head of the valley on the western side of Llanfair Hill where the ground slopes away to the east and west. From the barrow there are extensive views of the countryside to the south. The barrow mound is of earth and stone construction, about 14m in diameter and survives to a height of 0.7m. Although no longer visible at ground level, a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the barrow, surrounds the mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature approximately 3m wide. All fence posts are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included.
There are two separate earthworks here: Piercefield Wood Camp (the SW) and Piercefield Camp (the NE). Descriptions from Coflein:
Piercefield Wood Camp
A sub-rectangular enclosure, c.98m E-W by 82m, defined by a bank and ditch, except where it rests on precipetous slopes above the Wye valley, to the N. There is a possible S facing entrance.
Within the enclosure are features relating to the Piercefield ‘Wye walk’.
Piercefield Camp
A sub-rectangular enclosure, c.388m NE-SW by 94-116m, set upon the gently sloping summit of a steep sided promontory ridge above a bend in the Wye valley. Facing the neck of the ridge the enclosure is defined by double banks and ditches, elsewhere by a single bank, or ruined wall, above steep natural slopes.
The standing stone near the SW camp is apparently a landscaping feature associated with the now-ruined Piercefield Park. Coflein says:
Mid-late 18th century grotto and associated standing stone, part of Piercefield Wye Walk, set within the confines of a relict defended enclosure.
To the west of the grotto, next to the path, is a small standing stone, to the east of which is a large deep rectangular rock-cut hole (? natural).
Heath Mynd lies to the southeast of much be-cairned Corndon Hill and its steepness on all sides makes it a Marilyn. There is a complex cairn on the summit, which Pastscape give as a ring cairn surmounting a platform cairn:
A platform cairn surmounted by a ring cairn is situated at SO 33569408, upon the highest part of Heath Mynd at about 445.0m. above OD., in open moorland.
The platform cairn measures 20.5m. in diameter, and stands 0.7m. above present ground level. It is composed of mixed large and small stones, mossed over around the perimeter, but disturbed internally over much of its area; the stones having been scooped out to make sheep shelters in recent times (On the north-west side is a circular sheep shelter, 4.5m. across and 0.7m. high).
Within and against the perimeter on the north-east side, is a well-preserved ring cairn, measuring 8.5m. in diameter, and 0.6m. in height above the surface level of the platform cairn. It comprises an unbroken bark of large stones and boulders, 3.5m. in width, topped with a layer of small stone which is packed into the larger stones below, to give the cairn a well-finished appearance. Into the interior, (which is the surface of the platform cairn below) has been thrown a heap of large boulders in recent times. South-west of the centre of the platform cairn, an O.S. traingulation pillar has been erected.
The assemblance is reminiscent of the cairns on Allt Llwyd, Gwynedd
Brief EH description:
Caer-Din Ring is sub-rectangular in plan. Its overall dimensions are approximately 114m east-west by 122m north-south, and its internal area is about 0.85ha. The earthworks which define the interior of the settlement consist of a bank, constructed of earth and stone, and an external ditch. The bank is between 6m and 9.5m wide, and stands up to 1.8m high. The width of the ditch is between 3m and 4.5m, and along part of the outer edge on the north western side its steep rock-cut face is still plainly visible. The original entranceway into the settlement is on the eastern side and is 4m wide. A smaller entranceway at the north west corner of the enclosure appears to be a later feature. Within the interior there are a series of level platforms, some of which are partially cut into the gently sloping ground. These platforms provided level areas for the construction of houses and ancillary buildings.
Much more here:
list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1021280&searchtype=mapsearch
One of a pair of cross dykes (along with Upper Short Ditch) running across the Kerry Ridgeway drove road. Michael Watson in “Shropshire: An Archaeological Guide” (2002 Shropshire Books) ascribes a Bronze Age date to it.
According to Michael Watson (“Shropshire: An Archaeological Guide” (2002) Shropshire Books), this dyke is Bronze Age. It spans the ancient drove road of the Kerry Ridgeway and is partly in England and partly in Wales, with an original lenght of approx 900m. A counterpart dyke (“Lower Short Ditch“) lies a couple of miles to the east along the ridge.
Coflein offers a few entries for this one, including these:
SH71221403
Uncertain site. 2 conjoined sub-oval huts, at apex of triangle of E/W straggling stone walls. Tumbled stone construction, straddling stream course.
SH71201425
Group of 3 huts related to large enclosure, on E slopes of lake.
SH71271413
c.86m SE of main hutgroup, single polygonal hut c.12mx7m, tapering to S. Indistinct on APs due to scree lines and dense gorse in vicinity.
Much interfered with cairn below Great Borne. Pastscape description:
Remains of a round cairn 8.5m in diameter and up to 0.4m high. It would appear that at some time the centre was completely excavated and the stones piled around the perimeter, ... but subsequently the removed material has tumbled back so that the central pit is now only 0.8m deep.
At just over 850m OD, this must be one of England’s highest funerary monuments. Pastscape description:
Remains of a round cairn on the summit of Grasmoor. It consists of an oval-shaped mound of stones measuring 17.5m by 12.5m east-west. It measures up to 1m high on the on its downslope north side and 0.2m high on all other sides. On the monument’s summit there is a fellwalker’s shelter constructed from the stones which originally would have formed part of the round cairn.
Three round barrows on Bathampton Downs. Pastscape descriptions:
Two southern barrows
ST 76696465 and ST 76766460
Two barrows, south east of Sham Castle,were noted by Rev.J.Skinner in the early 19th.C., as 20-30 feet in circumference and 2 feet high. One was ditched and had been excavated before 1821.(2). The easternmost was excavated in 1856 by the Rev.Scarth but no record of finds survives. Both were trial-excavated in 1904 by trenching and found to be of soil and rubble. No finds were made.
At ST 76692 64660 a circular mound 1.2 m high and at ST 76761 64607 a very similar mound 1.1 m. high. Neither has a visible ditch and both appear to be bowl barrows.
Northern barrow
A barrow, described by the Rev. J. Skinner in the early 19thc (2), as 60 paces in circumference and 4-5 feet high. It was ditched and mutilated by quarrying. Skinner noticed remains of inurned cremations in the quarry face on the west and in the barrow. The mound was further excavated in 1905 and found to comprise a mound of soil and rubble with a revetment wall 22 feet in diameter. Three inurned cremations were found in pits cut in the underlying rock and are now in Bath Museum with other potsherds, flint flakes, animal bones, etc., found in the excavation.
This a bowl barrow 2.0 m high with traces of a ditch.
Pastscape description:
A probable long barrow known locally as “The Clump”, it is 130ft long by 60ft wide by 5ft high, orientated from NE to SW. It has been roughly dug over, and is now planted with trees and enclosed by a modern wall. There is a local tradition of soldiers being buried here, but the site is thought by Overy to be the possible remains merely of quarrying for “tilestone”. (Witts shows his round barrow No 94 here on his map, but this may be due to his wrongly locating ST 79 SE 14).
This feature has been considerably mutilated by stone digging with the result that there are now only amorphous remains which measure up to 1.7m high. It seems probable that it was a long barrow.
Pastscape description:
The site was described by J Smyth (c.1640) as one barrow; Thomas Leman c.1790 referred to two barrows, and Fosbroke in 1807 wrote that a barrow here had been excavated a few years previously, but “its contents proved uninteresting”. The Tithe map (c) (1847) gives ‘Barrow Piece or Tump’ in field No 183. The balance of evidence favours a long barrow dug in the middle about 1780’.
Inspection of APs tends to confirm these two mounds as two parts of a long barrow, with broad end to NE.
ST 7971 9596. This long barrow comprises an elongated mound 82.0 metres along its long axis (NE-SW) and 34.0 metres transversely and up to 1.7 metres in height. The summit is divided into two distinct mounds and it is badly mutilated and denuded by annual ploughing.
Pastscape has a record for two cairns within the fort enclosure, which are noted as “presumably” bronze age:
NY 3433 3363 & NY 3419 3363. Two cairns within the prehistoric enclosure on Carrock Fell.
In June 1996, RCHME carried out an analytical survey of the prehistoric enclosure on Carrock Fell as part of a thematic project to record the industry and enclosure of the Neolithic (Event record 923509).
The cairns, which have previously been described as part of the record for the surrounding prehistoric enclosure (NY 33 SW 1), were allocated a new number to enhance the record. Neither cairn is certainly prehistoric, although a Bronze Age date has been presumed. The western cairn is c 11m in diameter and up to 0.4m high, while the eastern one is up to 12.0m in diameter and up to 1.2m high. The larger eastern cairn was described by Hutchinson in 1794; despite this, a survey by the Lancashire Unit in 1986 suggested that both cairns had been built relatively recently by walkers. An alleged ‘cist’ in this cairn identified by is more likely to represent later robbing.
Coflein description of the two cairns:
Western cairn
A heather-covered cairn 9m diameter up to 1m high. It is disturbed at the centre.
Site as described when visited during Upland Survey in 2004. 2004.
Eastern cairn
The mound is about 33 ft in diameter and 2’ 6” high. The centre has been robbed to form a hollow 2’ 6” deep in which the stones of the cairn have been rebuilt as a small sheep-shelter.
Ploughed out round barrow, has now disappeared. There was a burial and associated finds here. From Pastscape:
A barrow about half a mile east of Arbor Low [The published mound is 3/4 mile N.E.] was opened in May 1824 when part of a skeleton and a broken urn about 6 ins. in diameter, with calcined bones, were found. The burial had been previously disturbed by workman.
[1966 field report:] This barrow has been ploughed/over, max. height 0.4 m Published survey (25”) revised.
NB: The field boundary shown on the 2008 1/25000 running along the SE side of the barrow to the SW is no longer there (see also Google Earth, which shows no barrow or field boundary).
Multiple cairns (possibly). Coflein descriptions (2002):
Bryn Mawr South (SN68970818)
[This is the marked on the OS 1:25000 as “cairn”]
Two contiguous cairns. That to the SW is 4.6m diameter, that to the NE 7.6m.
Both cairns have been robbed and are nowhere more than 0.3m high. the NE cairn shows traces of kerbing.
Bryn Mawr (SN69180820)
Six or seven stoney mounds that have variously been interpreted as peat stools, clearence cairns or collections of road metal. The presence of a modern sheep-shelter upon one of the ‘heaps’ does allow them to be dated as ‘pre-recent’. Two of the heaps have been likened to ritual cairns.
Two cairns, slightly NW of the position of the “cairn” marked on the OS 1:25000 Explorer. Coflein descriptions (2002):
SW cairn (SN68720791)
Interpreted as a robbed ring-cairn, the description given of this monument, a 7m diameter circle largely enclosed by a trench and partly by a low bank, seems ambiguous.
NE cairn (SN68760799)
The robbed remains of a kerbed cairn, 6.0m in diameter and 0.2m high.
Coflein description (2002):
Kerbed cairn, 9.8m in diameter, 0.5m high. A possible cist capstone has been revealed toward the N of the cairn.
Coflein description (2002):
Ring cairn with an internal diameter of 6.2m, the encircling bank is reported as somewhat spread.
Not labelled on the OS Explorer (1:25000), although three mounds are shown. Coflein description from 2002:
A group of sixteen cairns, including three possible ring cairns and three exhibiting evidence of kerbing, which are considered to be ritual cairns, the remainder are thought to be clearance features, however these two catagories of cairn should not be expected to be mutually exclusive.
Two cairns on Mynydd Gellionen. Coflein descriptions:
South cairn (SN7030427)
The remains of a denuded cairn measuring 12.5m-13.7m across and 0.3m high with the remains of a cist near its W side. (1989)
North cairn (SN70190462)
A circular stony patch, probably a cairn base, 13.7m-14.9m in diameter with a raised rim1.8m-3m wide and 0.3m high. The rim is practically destroyed on the SW. A small modern cairn has been erected near the NE edge. (1989)
Description from Pastscape:
A kidney-shaped mound is situated at SJ 67521899 upon level ground within an arable field under pasture. It measures 18.0m N-S by 15.0 to 18.0m E-W, there being a hollow in the W side. The maximum height is 0.8m. The mound, a presumed prehistoric cooking site, is composed of black earth with burnt stones, and is well-preserved. Surveyed at 1:2500.
Setting of four small stones in Tywyn churchyard, noted in 2001 survey of Merioneth’s prehistoric monuments.
Crossing, writing in 1909, also noted the cist-like structure, so it’s not a very modern re-arrangement:
We shall make our way to Forsland Ledge, or, as one document gives it, Fosborne Ledge, though this name is never heard, a small pile of rocks 1/3 mile S.W. of Willes [High Willhays], and about 200 ft below it. The beholder looks down from it down into the gorge of the Ockment, and upon a picture that has not many equals on the moor. The range of hills from Newtake by Black Ridge, Cut Hill and Fur Tor to Great Mis Tor, bounds the view to the S. We look into the recesses of the moor around Cranmere, and upon the two Kneesets. Across the valley is Amicombe, and beyond it Great Links Tor, which from no other point presents a finer appearance. Away to the R. are the rocks of Black Tor at the foot of which is seen the shelter from which artillery practice is watched, with the in-country over the down beyond. But the features that arrest are Lints Tor, which came into view shortly after we left Willes, and the winding Ockment far down below. The resemblance of the tor to a castle has already been mentioned, and the rambler will not fail to be struck by it here. The rocks crown a rounded hill, covered with grass, on which are long lines of heather. Below it on the W. the Ockment flows the part of the stream here being that between Kneeset Foot and Sandy Ford. In several parts of Dartmoor are tors bearing resemblance to a building, or ruins, but nowhere is the illusion so perfect as here. To the R. of the tor Kneeset Foot is seen, with the pass called Broad Amicombe Hole above it. Great Kneeset is 1 1/4m. beyond the tor; Little Kneeset is a little to the right of this, and 1m. further away. Forsland Ledge is about 550 fft above the river; the hill on which it is placed is very steep, and plentifully strewn with granite. Quite close to is a small tumulus, within which is what appears to be a ruined kistvaen.
William Crossing – Crossing’s Guide To Dartmoor (2nd ed. 1912).