Details
The monument includes a prehistoric cairn located at Selworthy Beacon, a post-medieval beacon site situated on a high ridge which extends eastwards from Minehead to Bossington Hill. The cairn is considered to be an outlying member of a round cairn cemetery, the centre of which is located some 500m to the east. The cairn is formed by a near-circular stone and earthen platform which has a maximum diameter of 11.5m and a maximum height of 1.1m. The cairn has been modified, as its name suggests, for use as a fire beacon probably during the 16th century when the original cairn mound was truncated. It is now topped with a modern stone heap of approximately 7m in diameter which lies at the centre of the platform.
Selected Sources
Book Reference - Title: National Monument Record - Type: DESC TEXT - Description: SS 94 NW 102
Article Reference - Author: Grinsell, L V - Title: Somerset Barrows - Date: 1969 - Journal Title: Proceedings Somerset Archaeological & Natural History Society - Volume: 113 pt 1 - Page References: 36 - Type: DESC TEXT - Description: Minehead Without No 1