MSO12023 - Possible prehistoric cairn and barrow at Monkham Hill (Monument)

A possible cairn or stone circle and two barrows reported on Monkham Hill. It is difficult to ascertain whether these features exist due to afforestation, or whether they represent features recorded under another Monument record.

Page notes that Savage's map shows two barrows and a "circle" below the brow of Monkham Hill and that Savage refers to the features as "an extensive circle of large stones, and two barrows close to it". They are mentioned earlier in Gough's "Camden" which says that "on the summit of Monkham Hill are several barrows, and a circular enclosure of loose stones piled up forty feet in diameter… (that) commands the whole line of coast from Porlock Bay to Quantock's Head Point". Page says the barrows remain but he could find no-one who remembered it, but it was apparently on the top of the hill. Savage's map places the barrows and circle at c. SS 989 389. Nothing can be found in this area nor could the channel be observed from it. Page says the two barrows remained and it seems likely from Gough's description that the circle was simply a cairn. It is now virtually impossible to identify the features. They could be the three barrows on Withycombe Common (MMO195), those on Rodhuish Common (MSO7442, MMO194), or completely destroyed or obscured by afforestation. [1-5] The area of the National Grid Reference is now occupied by a young commercial forestry plantation (trees 3 to 4 metres high) and is therefore inaccessible. [6] No stones could be located in this area of forestry plantation with mature trees. Ground cover is thick, and it is likely if anything in the subsurface has been disturbed. It is possible that this record is confused with the prehistoric cairns on Withycombe Common (MMO195) or Rodhuish Common (MSO7442). [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. [8]