MDE12598 - Bronze Age burial cairn north of Hoccombe Hill (Monument)

A probable Bronze Age burial cairn measures 8 metres in diameter and 0.5 metres high. The centre of the summit is hollowed suggesting either excavation or robbing, or possibly disturbance during the World War Two military occupation of the area.

Centred at SS 7854 4406 are the remains of a substantial, well defined cairn. It was located during field reconnaissance. It occupies a gentle northeast facing slope on Hoccombe Hill and it is 8 metres in diameter (with a summit diameter of 4.8 metres) and 0.5 metres high. The centre of the summit is hollowed suggesting either excavation, robbing, or possibly disturbance caused during the World War Two military occupation of the area (see MSO7776). Pieces of shrapnel and rocket casing are visible in the hollow, suggesting that it has been used as a convenient location for dumping such items as they are discovered from time to time. A second smaller cairn is visible some 110 metres to the northwest (MDE12800). [1] The cairn described above is visible on aerial photographs, slightly obscured by vegetation. It lies within an area of the Exmoor Firing Range and a number of impact craters are visible in the area, suggesting that the monument could have sustained damage during training exercises in the Second World War. [2,3] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [4] The cairn is depicted and labelled on 2021 MasterMap data. [5]