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One of several cairns with cists south of Langcombe Brook

A Scheduled Monument in Sheepstor, Devon

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Coordinates

Latitude: 50.4801 / 50°28'48"N

Longitude: -3.957 / 3°57'25"W

OS Eastings: 261246.486975

OS Northings: 66305.690274

OS Grid: SX612663

Mapcode National: GBR Q5.D3BY

Mapcode Global: FRA 27LS.J76

Entry Name: One of several cairns with cists south of Langcombe Brook

Scheduled Date: 2 December 1991

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1012282

English Heritage Legacy ID: 10672

County: Devon

Civil Parish: Sheepstor

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.2500-500 BC). To celebrate or commemorate
the dead, mounds of earth or stone were piled in a 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 with a cist lies close to the southern bank of Langcombe Brook, to
the west of a tributary stream. It consists of a mound 6m in diameter and
0.4m in height with a possible retaining kerb visible around the north side
and a cist. The cist is 1.3m in length, 0.7m in width and 0.4m in depth.
Both side stones and the western end stone are in place, the eastern end stone
and coverstone have been displaced. There are several other cairns with cists
in the Langcombe Brook valley.

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 provide 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, give significant insights into successive
changes in the pattern of land use through time.
This cairn is a relatively well-preserved example close to the brook. Its
relationship to other monuments indicates the wealth of evidence relating to
the ritual side of prehistoric life on this part of the Moor.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Devon County SMR SX66NW-42,

Source: Historic England

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