Ancient Monuments

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One of two cairns north-east of Harford Moor Gate

A Scheduled Monument in Harford, Devon

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Coordinates

Latitude: 50.4223 / 50°25'20"N

Longitude: -3.9083 / 3°54'29"W

OS Eastings: 264535.325638

OS Northings: 59788.392771

OS Grid: SX645597

Mapcode National: GBR Q7.WXFB

Mapcode Global: FRA 27PY.55P

Entry Name: One of two cairns north-east of Harford Moor Gate

Scheduled Date: 27 November 1991

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1012462

English Heritage Legacy ID: 10618

County: Devon

Civil Parish: Harford

Traditional County: Devon

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Devon

Details

Many examples of prehistoric funerary monuments are preserved on Dartmoor,
mostly dating to the Bronze Age (c.2500 to 500BC). To celebrate or
commemorate the dead, mounds of earth or stone were piled in roughly
hemispherical shape over the burial, which was sometimes contained in a
small rectangular structure, or cist, made of stone slabs. Some monuments
also include kerbstones marking the outer edge of the mound and a
surrounding ditch. This cairn, one of two north-east of Harford Moor Gate,
is 7.5m in diameter and 0.4m in height, it is turf-covered and has traces of
a retaining kerb.

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 provides direct
evidence for human exploitation of the Moor from the early prehistoric
period onwards. The well-preserved and often visible relationship between
settlement sites, major 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. This cairn
occupies a prominent position on the brow of a hill, its relationship to
other ceremonial and settlement monuments in this part of the Erme Valley,
including Bullaven Reave which lies immediately to the north, indicates the
wealth of evidence for prehistoric activity on this part of the Moor.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings' in Dartmoor Barrows, , Vol. 36, (1978), 141
Other
Devon county SMR SX65NW-48,

Source: Historic England

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