West Vitifer Cist
Photo taken on 10-05-2024
Plan by RHW. Barrow Report 16. TDA Vol.29 1897
Database entries
OS Map: SX 67573 82799
OS Source: Google
HER: MDV6615
Megalithic Portal: 34980
PMD: Chagford Common
Alternate name: West Vitifer
Short Name: CT WestVitifer
Butler map: 25.11
Dixon Cist #: 123
Grinsell: CHAGFORD 4
Exist: Yes
Record: Unique
Record Source: Butler
Cist Class: Yes
Cairn Class: Yes
Barrow Report: 16
Dimensions (m): 5.5 x 0.3 C
Lidar: SX 67573 82799
Nearest Bus Stop: Warren House Inn (1.8 km) [Route: 171]
Nearby sites: SX 67573 82799
Notes
"Possible location of a Bronze Age cist, although when subject to field investigation in November 2002 the site was not found" "The cairn was partially excavated in 1897 by the Barrow Committee of the Devonshire Association. This working revealed a ring of slabs surrounding a cist which had not been previously examined. In the cist there was a complete Bronze Age beaker together with charcoal but no trace of a burial." Cairn survives, restored urn thought to be in Plymouth museum. See: Sixteenth Barrow Report 1897. Butler Vol. 2. Map 25.11 ( p.32).The author visited this site on 10 May 2024. I took photos of a possible candidate but I was unconvinced I had located the site so a wide search was undertaken of the vicinity within approx. 100 m. My initial conclusion is that the site cannot be located. However, as a desktop exercise on 23/05/24 I'm inclined to think I had actually located it. It is the dip behind the stone which appears on the RHS of the photo. This coincides within a very short distance with the location I had previously determined using satellite and also to the location given in the scheduled monument SX 67571 82800.
References
These are selected references with an emphasis on out of copyright sources linked as PDFs. For more detailed references try any linked HER or PMD record above.
- Baring-Gould, Sabine, Fourth Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee, T.D.A. Vol.29 pp.145-65 (1897)
- Brailsford, J. W, Bronze Age Stone Monuments of Dartmoor, Antiquity Volume 12, Number 48 pp.444-63 (1938)
- Burnard, Robert, Early Man, The Victoria History of the County of Devon: v. 1 (1906)
- Butler, Jeremy, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities, vol.2: The North, (1991)
- Grinsell, L.V., Dartmoor Barrows, Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings No.36 (1978)
- Newman, Phil, Headland Warren and the Birchtor and Vitifer Mines: An Archaeological Survey, English Heritage (2002)
- Pettit, Paul, Prehistoric Dartmoor, (1974)
- Worth, R. Hansford, Barrow Report 16, T.D.A. Vol.29 pp. (1897)
- Worth, R. Hansford, Barrow Report 21, T.D.A. Vol.34 pp.104- 146 (1902)
- Worth, R. Hansford, Westerland Beacon Urn from Barrow, Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries Vol 13 p.73 (1925)