Table of Dartmoor Reported Cairns

Photo: Stalldown Stone Ring Cairn Circle

The table below lists all the records of reported cairn included in the Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks database. Click on the table headers to get listings ordered on that column. Clicking on the Site Name will open a site page with a large photo where one is available and the location in Google Maps in satellite mode. Clicking on OS links will list nearby sites and clicking on the NMR or HER number will open the relevant record in a new window.

This listing was put together in 2017 with the construction of a list of over 1600 records of cists and cairns for the Prehistoric Dartmoor Map. These records include the 5 Volume listings by Jeremy Butler and as a consequence it was necessary to use and extend Butler's naming which is different to the naming originally used on this website. The records below use this "Alt-name" system but the site pages retain the original naming if there was one. For example the Ter Hill N.W.1 Cist below opens to the PDW site page for the Fox Tor Newtake, North Cist.

The new cairn records were given a Cairn Class and each recorded as Yes/No/Maybe. For example a hut circle mistakenly reported as a cairn will have cairn class 'No' but it remains a Reported Cairn. Another example is the Brisworthy stone circle which appears in this list with cairn class 'Maybe', this is because some authors have suggested it may be a large ring cairn as it is surrounded by a bank. Numerous records relate to either crop marks or mounds visible in aerial photography. Typically these have been given the status of 'Maybe' as they could be natural or historic period mounds from agriculture or industry. Obviously the cairn class designation is a subjective decision made depending on the reliability of the record and the accounts contained. Sites will no doubt be promoted or demoted as time goes by. All cist records are treated as a sub-class of cairn. This does not imply that a cairn mound is involved, merely that a cist monument is a burial monument and for that reason included in the cairn listings. Along with a Cist Class there is also a Hut Class used in these records. There are many records of claimed ring cairns which are far more likely to be hut circles. Conversely there are a small number of hut circles that have quite clearly been converted into cairns and so are both type of monument. This table also includes the various duplicate records and records of sites that no longer exist. Rows given a light blue background indicate sites that no longer exist, those with a light salmon background are duplicate records.

See also:

Table of Cairns

Grinsell Cairns

Butler Cairns

Reported Cairns

UPDATE 10/02/18 The search feature - listing sites within 2 km of a grid reference currently defaults to exclude most of these entries. I have deliberately restricted it to default to the older core site listings. This is to try to keep the interface usable for walkers who maybe interested in the more significant sites, stone circles and rows, but not drowned in fine detail of 100s of obscure sites. A drop down below the OS map allows the search to display "Plus Cairns". Sometime soon I will improve the interface - I'm thinking of having a "Walkers mode" and an "Archaeologist mode" - maybe storing chosen display mode in cookies.

Please contact the author if any errors are seen. The author would like to thank Sandy Gerrard and Bill Radcliffe for their encouragement and support.

Contact email: info@dartmoorwalks.org.uk