This chambered cairn will be taken by the sea in some years. It is directly situated at the current cliff edge and the weather keeps unveiling more and more of the interior. Perfect nesting ground for fulmars, though. Therefore always approach it from the sea if you want to respect the birds and don’t want to be spat at. Luckily they always missed hitting me, so far.
19.06.2012
Billy Fear
I walked the long way to Mount Misery and all I found was joy.
This impressive cairn is meant to be of the Maes Howe type.
It has been used by the lighthouse keepers to store potatoes in the past, so they say.
It is now used by fulmars as a breeding place so when I went I didn’t want to disturb my favourite birds too much. Otherwise it would have made as a great resting place.
There is a resemblence to the cairns of Harbourne Head. I think that they are connected to all the other cairns around here. On the summit there are 2 cairns about 45m apart with a 3rd one about 400m to the East.
Of the summit cairns the South-Eastern one measures about 10m, the other about 17m.
There are quite a lot of cairns in the surroundings. Some of them are just clearance cairns, some are genuine burial cairns. It is not easy do be sure about these sites and hard to find information to clear up doubts.
The 2 cairns on my pictures are on the summit are a few hundred metres W from the Harbourne Head Menhir. I measured them about 23m in diameter and they are 20m apart from each other. The eastern cairn is the more prominent one of the two.
On the day I have been there the reservoir was rather filled up and about one quarter of the settlement was under water. Apparently in dry times the whole settlement shows plus a monastic homestead which might have been linked to the old abbey in Buckfast.
The site has been excavated during the construction of the dam in the fifties.
This is a massive settlement, if not 2 seperate ones that at some point merged. There is a boundary between which makes this plausible. There is a total of over 50 huts, some of them in surprisingly good condition considering the closeness to the edge of the Moor.
The 4 settlements here are some of the highest if not the highest ones on the Moor. There are just under 30 huts between the 4 and a lot of pillow mounds of the warren. If I didn’t know better I would have assumed that the pillow mounds were as ancient as the settlements. They somehow give the place a nicer appearance. There is also a little shelter that looks a bit like a bee-hive hut.
These cairns are not in a good state and very overgrown. There is a total of 7 cairns and a few huts around. The biggest cairn(picture) is about 16m in diameter, the others are much smaller.
As the peat has diminished the appearance of this cairn, the 2 boundary stones and the OS triangular pillar give this site an aesthetic treat for the eyes. One of the Boundary stones is called Petre’s Bound Stone, the other Petre On The Mount. I have to admit I don’t know for sure which one is which. They mark the boundaries of Buckfastleigh and Holne.
The diameter of the cairn is 30m.
I have been up there now 4 times and everytime I was in the midst of fog or low clouds with no visibility.
This cairn has been the accomodation of peat cutters around 1847 who supposedly took down Petre’s Cross which stood there for nearly 300 years. The armless cross has been re-errected upside down.
This double row runs 250 meters parallel with Butterdon Row and measures about 120m with a cairn at the South. At close proximity are 2 more cairns, one to the South, the other to the East.
This cairn is the closest to the ring in the South. It is a few paces West of the row and measures about 16m in diameter.
This double row with terminal cairn and a former cist is an interesting one as it has been incorporated so to link 2 later enclosures. There’s also a hut circle touching it near the northern end. The row was originally about 225m long and runs North-South.
The row is about 500m long and has a ring cairn at its southern end, a fallen terminal pillar at its northern end. It is intersected by a leat and a field wall in the northern section.
The summit cairn is incorporated into the bedrock outcrop. There are 2 large slabs errected on the south westerly side. The cairn is part of the Pupers Reave.
This is a much re-shaped cairn with no apparent organised structure, and some doubt its antiquity.
Non the less the view is spectacular, one my favorites.
This once rather large circle has only 4 stones remaining upright situated in the south-east. The circle probably had a diameter of around 25 m. 100 meters to the South East is a possible standing stone of 1m height. Apart from this there seems to be no other pre-historic structure close by.
I measured the stone at 2.30m above the packing stones. It is one of probably only 4 menhirs on the Moor that appear not being part of a row or other complex.
Snowdon is made up by 4 cairns running roughly North-South. They are a prominent horizon feature viewed from the East as far as Ashburton.
The cairns increase in diameter towards the South and the 3 southernly cairns are spaced about 120m apart from each other, whereas the northernly one is about 175m away from the nearest neighbour. The most northenly cairm is not on the OS map.
I managed to witness a fantastic sunrise for the Summer Solstice in 2004. But the sun did not rise in line with the row. It came up quite a bit North of it. It didn’t take any of it’s magic away especially as there was ground frost around. Summer in Dartmoor!
It would be quite interesting to go for the Winter Solstice sunset and stand at the bottom end of the row.
My guess is that the longstone was the terminal stone of the row, with a cairn circle at it’s end. It reminds me of the Down Tor complex(though different orientation).
There are a couple of big slabs lying around which could have been part of the cairn circle.
From the A865 at Gramasdail take turning towards Flodaigh. After the 1st loch south of the road is a gate and little track which helps for the first few paces. The circle is about 300m from the road. Boggy!
It’s a shame that when D18 was restored they decided on very shiny stainless steel rods which are a bit too visible.
The stone stands about 1.80m above the peat level.
It takes a fair while to get to this stone through the deep forest. But thanks to the Forestry Commission there are road-like tracks leading near to it. (0.5 km).
Very solitary and peaceful.
These ones are rather small and submerged. There is another Stone perfectly aligned on the OS map (NF 865 729) 2.5km WNW. I have not been there and on that day I could not see it. But even on a clear day I doubt that with the peat that high anything can be seen. Non the less it is an intriguing line of sight.