MDE9889 - Bronze Age burial cairn on Clannon Ball (Monument)

SS 7586 4367 Cist? Clannon Ball. A stone circle 9ft 8 inches in diameter is shown on the Ordnance Survey, this circle is around a small barrow. Nearby is a stone setting (MDE1262). The position of the barrow is described on the plan as `181 ft to the W' of one of the stones in the setting. There are no stones in the area published by the Ordnance Survey [2]. However, 54 metres northwest of the stone setting (MDE1262) is a structure which might be the Ordnance Survey features and is evidently the Chanter and Worth `barrow' [1]. SS 7586 4367. The structure, at 400 metres Ordnance Datum is situated in a grassy patch within heather and bracken on a moderate west slope, where a narrow shelf crests the steep valley of Farley Water. There are extensive views on all but the northeast side. It comprises a stony suboval platform, about 2.5 metres by 1.5 metres, built up on the downhill south side to a height of 0.45 metres. Along this southern edge, on the lip of the valley there seems to be a line of stones beneath the turf though some stones protrude elsewhere on the platform. On the north side are two thin upright slabs, parallel, 2 metres apart and set rather north to south. They are 0.45 metres and 0.6 metres wide and 0.4 metres and 0.45 metres high. The eastern one is almost encircled by an erosion hollow. Between them are three in line stones with an inward (5) lean, fronted by a scarp 0.2 metres high. Along the western side the low earthfast blocks and a partly concealed outward leaning stone about 0.6 metres long. Another stone is traceable at the southeast corner. There is no evidence of Worth's "9ft 8 ins circle" (? Kerb), or of any conventional barrow, though it is conceivable that the feature, which appears to be a form of cist, was once covered by a mound. There seems to be no relationship to the nearby stone setting. The monument is under no immediate threat though a fairly well defined path crosses it and could exacerbrate erosion. [3] An arrangement of stones (but not a stone setting) are centred at SS 7586 4367 on the crest of natural slopes forming the southern side of Clannon Ball. The feature measures some 3.5 metres overall. There are six upright stones. The largest two stones are set on a roughly north to south axis, some 2.2 metres apart. Between them are three stones - edge set, running roughly west to east - to form a line. The end stones of the three abut the north to south stones at right angles, and appear to support them. This configuration of five stones seems to form the northern side of a rectangular "structure". A further stone, also on a north to south alignment, is visible at the southwest corner, and a spread of small stones is visible between it and the northwestern stone, where they have been exposed by a path. A recumbant stone lies at the southeast corner, and may well have formed the corner stone when upright in this position. Source [3] suggests that this feature is a cist and that it was possibly formerly covered by a mound. A possible interpretation of the site is that it is a cist within a small cairn. It is equally likely that the site is a free standing cist or even a class of stone setting not previously recognised. The site should not be seen in isolation as it forms one of a number of ritual/ceremonial monuments within a very restricted area on the southern edge of Clannon Ball: see MDE1262, MDE1269, MDE9893. The monument is threatened by two paths: one runs west to east through its centre, the other clips its northern side. The northeastern stone also has a major erosion hollow around its eastern side. [4-7] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [9]