MSO7768 - Bronze age barrow or burial cairn on Stowey Ridge (Monument)

Summary

A Bronze Age burial cairn or barrow is visible as a sub-circular stony mound 7.5 metres in diameter and 0.4 metres high. It has been slightly damaged by ploughing.

Please read the Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record .

Type and Period (2)

Protected Status

  • None recorded

Full Description

SS 8090 4508. A sub-circular stony mound 0.2 metres high and 6 paces in diameter, slightly damaged by north to south ploughing in 1977, set on gentle north facing slope. Barrow excluded from ploughing in 1983. [1] Barrow extensively damaged by stock and when visited was heavily poached. Seems as though a feeding point was put on the top out of the waterlogged ground surrounding it. Suggested that the farmer pegs an area 12 metres diameter total around the barrow to allow regrowth of grass. [2] SS 8090 4508 - The ploughed down remains of a cairn visible as a subcircular turf covered stony rise about 7.5 metres north to south by 6 metres and 0.4 metres maximum height. Its content of small consoilidated stones extrude around the west side. It is situated on a slight east facing slope in a turnip field, some 385 metres above Ordnance Datum on Stowey Ridge. It is not shown on the 1889 Ordnance Survey map [3] when the area was open moorland but is almost certainly a prehistoric burial cairn. [4] The barrow survives as a very low stoney mound within improved pasture. Locate to SS 80908 45124 by hand-held GPS. [5] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [6]

Sources/Archives (6)

  • <1>XY Verbal communication: Various. 1900-. Somerset County Council / South West Heritage Trust staff comments. I Burrow, 10 June 1983. [Mapped feature: #40534 ]
  • <2>XY Verbal communication: Various. 1900-. Somerset County Council / South West Heritage Trust staff comments. E Dennison, 18 April 1986. [Mapped feature: #40534 ]
  • <3> Map: Ordnance Survey. 1868-1901. County Series; 1st Edition 25 Inch Map. 1:2500. 1889, Somerset 33(6).
  • <4> Unpublished document: Sainsbury, I.S.S. Field Investigators Comments. RCHME Field Investigation, 8 November 1995.
  • <5>XY Verbal communication: Various. 1900-. Somerset County Council / South West Heritage Trust staff comments. Chris Webster, Somerset Historic Environment Record, 19 April 2006. [Mapped feature: #40534 ]
  • <6> Digital archive: Historic England. Various. National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) entry. 1106932, Extant 22 February 2022.

External Links (1)

Other Statuses/References

  • Exmoor National Park HER Number (now deleted): MSO11495
  • Local List Status (Unassessed)
  • National Monuments Record reference: SS 84 NW24
  • NRHE HOB UID (Pastscape): 1106932
  • Somerset SMR PRN (Somerset): 33872

Map

Location

Grid reference SS 8090 4512 (point)
Map sheet SS84NW
Civil Parish OARE, WEST SOMERSET, SOMERSET

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (1)

Record last edited

Feb 22 2022 3:57PM

Feedback?

Your feedback is welcome. If you can provide any new information about this record, please contact us.