MSO11052 - The Fortescue Monument at Drybridge Combe (Monument)

A small mound is located in line with a bank from former mining activity. [1] This feature is marked as a "Cairn" on the 1980 Ordnance Survey mapping. [3] This is annotated as "Monument" on more recent Ordnance Survey maps. [4] This is the Fortescue Monument, often known as the Fortescue cairn; it is a 20th Century memorial to Sir John William Fortescue (1859 -1938). He was a statesman, military historian and a naturalist writer, the author of 'The Story of a Red Deer'. The Fortescue family owned the Exmoor estate until the 1990s. [5, 6] The plaque reads "JOHN WILLIAM FORTESCUE / HISTORIAN OF THE BRITISH ARMY / 1859 - 1933". [7] The cairn is shown on modern MasterMap data. [8] The cairn is visible on aerial photographs taken in 2021 as a substantial stone structure. [9]