thesweetcheat

thesweetcheat

All posts 4,051-4,100 of 16,561 posts
Image of Higher Tor (Round Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Higher Tor

Round Cairn

Looking south along the ridge towards Steeperton Tor. The small bump of an outcrop to the right is Oke Tor, with the higher Hangingstone Hill, almost 2000ft and crowned with cairns, directly behind.

Image credit: A. Brookes (22.12.2018)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 19, 2019

Miscellaneous

West Hill (Quantock Hills)
Cairn(s)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 4, 2019

Two large cairns on West Hill and Fire Beacon. Pastscape descriptions:

Fire Beacon cairn (ST 1491 3697)

A Bronze Age cairn located on the summit of Fire Beacon, a south west facing hill in the western region of the Quantock Hills. The cairn is of irregular shape with a spread mound, approximately 2 metres above ground level at its highest point and 26 metres in diameter. The surface of the mound has been disturbed which may indicate that a partial excavation has been carried out, probably in antiquity. Scheduled.

West Hill cairn (ST 15433719)

A very large platform cairn lies on the summit of West Hill at ST 1542 3717. The cairn comprises a rather disturbed stony mound, 28m in diameter and 1.6m high. Stone has been taken from the mound, probably to build the nearby enclosure bank. Despite this disturbance, the vestiges of a bank around the north part of the mound, and a central mound, 10m NS x 12m EW x 1m high, may be original features, suggesting that the cairn may have been an embanked platform cairn with a central mound.

Miscellaneous

Wilmot’s Pool
Round Barrow(s)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jan 4, 2019

There are two cairns at Wilmot’s Pool. Pastscape descriptions:

Western barrow (ST 15303813)

A large Bronze Age barrow lies on the southeast side of Wilmot’s Pool at ST 15310 38135. The barrow comprises a circular mound 21m in diameter. The top of the mound has a circular depression in it, 10m NS x 8m EW x 1.5m deep. This may be the result of antiquarian excavations or it may be the site of a beacon fire. The semi-circular bank on the south edge of the mound is formed of material from this hollow. A small satellite cairn, 5m NS x 4m EW x 0.6m high lies on the southeast side of the barrow and compares to a similar feature on the southeast side of the barrow on Beacon Hill.

Wilmot’s Pool is a pond, teardrop-shaped, 45m x 30m and some 1.5m deep. It still holds water in the winter, although the north side has been breached. The pond is of considerable antiquity: it appears on a map of 1609 (Somerset Record Office 1609 A plot of Quantock belonging to the right honourable the earle of Northumberland DD/SAS C/923). Narrow ridge and furrow ploughing has slighted its west and southwest sides. The pond was probably dug in the medieval period for watering stock on the commons.

Eastern cairn (ST 15483813)

A large embanked platform cairn lies some 200m to the east of Wilmot’s Pool at ST 1548 3813. The cairn comprises a circular mound, 17m in diameter and 1.1m high. The bank which runs around the perimeter of the mound is 0.8m wide and 0.8m high. A mound 3.4m in diameter and 0.8m high is placed to the northwest of centre on top of the mound.