MSO7382 - Modern clearance cairn north of Whitburrow Wood (Monument)

On a grass verge between a farm track and a hedgebank. It is 15 metres in diameter east to west, and 11.5 metres from north to south. Since the north side has been cut straight and parallel to the hedge 1.5 metres away. Otherwise the perimeter is quite circular save for a gap of 2.5 metres in the south, nearest the track. This gap seems to be the result of robbing since the interior of the cairn has been gutted leaving a ring bank 3 metres wide and 0.6 metres high. In isolation this would be accorded the status of a prehistoric cairn, but is almost certainly of relatively modern date. The hedgebank which backs it retains a field level at least 1.2 metres higher than the verge with a series of clearance heaps along the edge of the field. Although it is not prominent it is obvious to anyone approaching Woodcocks Ley, and must have been discounted by Grinsell in 1969 when recording a cairn to the west (MSO7355), and by Pitcher in 1965 when investigating a cairn site to the north (MSO7521). It is concluded that the cairn represents field clearance, possibly as late as 1939-45. [1,2] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [3]