MSO6801 - Bronze Age burial cairn on Long Holcombe (Monument)

A Bronze Age burial cairn is visible as a flat topped stony mound on aerial photographs taken in 1973. It is uneven, suggesting stone robbing has occurred. It was previously identified as a round barrow and was known as 'One Barrow'.

SS 766 355 A barrow is depicted on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey mapping of 1809, recorded as 'One Barrow Down'. [1] SS 766355 approx. Exmoor 23. Field investigation by both the Ordnance Survey, and Grinsell and Norman Quinnell, revealed no trace of a barrow in the area. [2,3] MacDermot noted the inaccuracy of many of the Exmoor 1st Edition 1 inch maps, indicating that the positioning information of the barrow may be incorrect. [2-4] Comparison of the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey 1809 mapping [1] and the modern Ordnance Survey map indicated that One Barrow should be 1 kilometre further northeast than had been supposed. A moss covered mound some 3 to 3.5 metres in diameter and 0.5 metres high was located at SS 774 360 on Wintershead Common, sometimes mis named Long Holcombe, in February 1980. It appears to be a small Bronze Age round barrow, with two stones protruding, one sandstone, one quartz, and probing indicated others. A line of rushes grew about two thirds of the way round the circumference with a gap to the west. The mound is isolated and there seems no evidence that the land has ever been cleared or cultivated. (It seems that it is not One Barrow which is erroneously shown on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map, but the position of the county boundary). The barrow appears to be in the location discovered by Eardley-Wilmot, but the relationship between the barrow and the mis-placed boundary has led to previous mis-siting. [1,6,7] Centred at SS 7731 3600 and located on the summit of Long Holcombe is a prehistoric cairn. It comprises a largely turf and moss-covered, flat-topped stony mound 15.3 metres in diameter and 0.4 metres high. Its summit is uneven suggesting some minor stone robbing, however the bulk of the mound is intact. The cairn has extensive views in all directions and it lies 106 metres northwest of a standing stone (MSO7084). Surveyed at 1:2500 scale, December 94. [8,9] The cairn described above is visible on aerial photographs as a slight earthwork on Long Holcombe. It lies within an area of peat cutting and some of the damage mentioned above may be due to this activity. [10,11] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [13] The feature is depicted on the 2021 MasterMap data at SS 7730 3600 and is labelled "Cairn". [14]