| Print

HOLDSTONE CAIRNS

ABOUT THIS MONUMENT

+ / -

EH Visitor Information
Related Monuments
Related Text
Investigation History

More Pictures
Modern Map
Old Map
Aerial Photograph

Monument Types
Sources
Thesaurus
Description

DESCRIPTION

+ / -

The remains of three mutilated cairns on Holdstone Down. None survive to a height greated than 0.6m.

DETAIL

+ / -

MORE INFORMATION & SOURCES

+ / -

('A'-SS 61944769; 'B'-SS 61974769; 'C'-SS 61994768)
Holdstone Barrows (Tumuli) (NR) (1)

These three tumuli have been totally destroyed. The site of 'A'
is apparent as it has been used as a quarry in building a rough
cairn immediately north of the trig. pillar. Tumuli 'B' and 'C'
could not be found as they had been completely razed and their
stones scattered.
Visited 9.6.1952. (2)

Holdstone Barrows, bowl barrows, visited by C Whybrow and
L V Grinsell in May 1961.
'A'-SS 61934769. 12 paces in diameter and 1ft high.
'B'-SS 61984770. 20 paces in diameter and 1ft high.
Three large stones were noted in truncated top by H J Wickenden
in 1939.
'C'-SS 62024768. Mutilated cairn, possibly a barrow, 14 paces
in diameter and 9 ins high.
A modern-looking cairn immediately north of OS trig point is
almost certainly not a barrow. (see authy 2). (3)

Only very slight unsurveyable vestiges of these three barrows
survive. (4)

The mutilated remains of three summit cairns on Holdstone Down. The summit of Holdstone Down is now dominated by a completely modern cairn, over 2m in height; immediately south is an OS triangulation pillar. The summit is easily accessible and forms an alternative route for the South-West Coast Path, which means that it is a much visited site. The three cairns are all extant, but are all in a very disturbed and robbed state.

Cairn A is centred at SS 61944770. It consists of a low circular earth and stone mound 10.7m in diameter, and at best 0.5m high. The feature has been almost completely obliterated on its northern side by a combination of circumstances:
1 - the construction of a triangulation pillar on the fabric of the cairn on its north east;
2 - the construction of a modern cairn to the immediate north-north-east, which has led to robbing of the older cairn;
3 - the alternative route of the coastal path, which passes over the northern lip of the cairn itself.
The best preserved part of the cairn is its south side, which forms a compact stone and earthen scarp 0.5m high. A sub-square hollow 2.5m wide and 0.4m deep has been dug into the mound slightly to the east of centre, and is almost certainly the result of an excavation.
Vegetation: heather on southern and western parts of the mound; turf on northern and eastern parts. Aspect: predominantly southerly.

Cairn B is centred at SS 61974770. It consists of a low sub-circular spread of stones some 19.8m north-south by 18.2m west-east and generally less than 0.5m jigh. The South West Coast Path crosses the centre of the cairn from west-east. The feature has been badly robbed and as a consequence has an irregular surface with a number of small hollows. An indistinct central hollow 3.5m square and 0.3m deep is probably the result of an excavation; the west-east path runs across it.
Vegetation: denuded bare surface; turf and some low heather. Aspect: very open in all directions.

Cairn C is centred at SS 61994768. It consists of a low circular spread of stones some 20.2m in overall diameter, and never more than 0.6m high. The feature has been badly robbed, with hollows impinging on the mound to west and east. In addition two slight central hollows may be the result of an excavation. In construction detail the cairn seems to be composed of a central mound of stones 13m in diameter and 0.3m high, surrounded by a shallow ditch and an external stony ring 18.2m in diameter and 0.3m high. It is reminiscent of the classification bowl barrow with ditch and external bank, although its form may be in part due to excavation and robbing.
Vegetation: bare, denuded surface; low heather and turf. Aspect: open in all directions except north-west.

These cairns form an important group on the extreme north-western fringe of Exmoor. Their battered condition is largely the result of a number of agencies: antiquarian interest; the inclosure of Holdstone Down (see SS 64 NW 13); military activity on the Down during World War 2 (see SS 64 NW 17); robbing to construct the modern summit cairn. Nevertheless it seems likely that the cairns were never of any great height, and should probably be paralleled more with the 3 cairns on Trentishoe Common (see SS 64 NW 4) than with groups like the Chapman Barrows (see SS 64 SE 19). The summit of the Downs has a very thin soil cover, and cairns B and C have been overlooked or written off in the past mainly because they are stone monuments on a largely soil-free, rocky surface. Surveyed at 1/2500. (5)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1905

( 2) Field Investigators Comments

F1 SW 30-JUN-52

( 3) Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings

28, 1970 Page(s)116

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F2 MJF 14-AUG-72

(5) Field Investigators Comments

RCHME Field Investigation F3, 15-JUN-1993, WR Wilson-North

MONUMENT TYPES

+ / -

COMMENTS

+ / -

Please help us keep our information accurate let us know if you see any errors on this page.

Further information about monuments may be obtained by contacting Archive Services, through the Historic England website.

HE Archives
HE Prints
Historic England
Heritage Gateway
National Heritage List for England