MSO6838 - Bronze Age burial cairn on Roosthitchen (Monument)

[SS 7219 4014] Tumulus (NR) [1] Exmoor No 1a. A Barrow, 14 paces in diameter and 3.25 feet high, with large stones in and around the circumference. Visited by Grinsell and Charles Whybrow 22nd May 1961. [2] This is a bowl barrow. A few stones protrude from it but they are not part of a retaining circle. See GPs AO/65/129/4 and 5. Published survey (1/2500) revised. [3] No change. Surveyed at 1:2500 on PFD. [4] SS 722 402. Round barrow on Roosthitchen. Scheduled. [5] SS 721191 40151. A round cairn 10 metres in diameter and 1 metre high. Although previously classified as a barrow, several stones protrude from the surface of this turf covered feature and probing revealed a high content of stone, therefore it would probably be more correctly classified as a cairn. The cairn, first shown as `Tumulus' on the 1888 Ordnance Survey map [6], is prominently situated about 415 metres above sea level on a north-east facing slope, named Roosthitchen [5] in an improved enclosed area which is slowly reverting to rough grassland and heather. The cairn has views from the north-west around to the east but elsewhere the hillslope intervenes. It is built up on the slope and its stony content is evident especially around the lower north-east side. In its southwest quadrant a large quartz boulder appears to have been pulled out of its original hollow and about 7 or 8 smaller stones are evident around it. This is disturbance and not part of a kerb. Another large quartz boulder has rolled down the slope outside the cairn in the north-east. There is no trace of a surrounding dich but a hollow `scoop' (about 9 metres by 7 metres) in the slope to the south-west suggests some material may have come from here. There are several quartz stones scattered about the surrounding area. The cairn, almost certainly a prehistoric burial, is a Scheduled Monument: Somerset No. 370. Surveyed at 1:2500. [7] Round bowl barrow 0.9 metres high and 18 metres across. There are signs of a peristalith for revetment. The barrow is in poor condition. [8] In private ownership. [9] The Scheduled Monument Condition Assessment of 2009 gave the site a survival score of 0. [10] The site was surveyed in April 2015 as part of the 2015 Exmoor Scheduled Monument Condition Assessment. It was given a survival score of 0. [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. [12] The feature is depicted and marked "Cairn" on the 2022 MasterMap data. [13] The site is included in a 2023 Condition Survey [14]