MSO7901 - Bronze Age cairn on Porlock Allotment (Monument)

Summary

A disturbed Bronze Age burial cairn measuring 10.5m in diameter and 0.4m high. A shallow trench which truncates the south side of the cairn is probably due to World War Two military activity.

Please read the Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record .

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

  • None recorded

Full Description

At SS 8355 4441 is a cairn (Grinsells Porlock No 1) 10 paces across by 1ft high. Found by Grinsell on 25th April 1962 on recently swaled heath, but indicated by him as a 'doubtful or rejected' site. [1] This feature is at SS 8356 4434. It is a circular patch of heather covered stones and is probably a robbed cairn. Surveyed at 1.2500 [2-4] (SS 83564435) Cairn (NR). [5] SS 83566 44353. A disturbed cairn 10.5 metres in diameter and 0.4 metres high. It lies in an area of regenerating heather and is covered also in bracken. The cairn is circular, and turf-covered with sporadic surface stone. A shallow curving trench follows the edge of, and truncates, the south side of the cairn. To the south-east, it turns and curves into the mound; it ends at its centre, which is disturbed and hollowed. The most likely interpretation is that this feature is a prehistoric cairn disturbed by military activity. There are numerous bomb craters in the surrounding area. [6] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [7]

Sources/Archives (7)

  • <1> Article in serial: Grinsell, L.V.. 1969. Somerset Barrows. Part I: West and South. Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society. 113. P. 38.
  • <2> Photograph: Pitcher, S.. 1965. PROBABLE CAIRN AT PORLOCK FROM WEST. OS65/F173/4. B/W. MICROFILM.
  • <3> Photograph: Pitcher, S.. 1965. PROBABLE CAIRN AT PORLOCK FROM WEST. OS65/F173/3. B/W. MICROFILM.
  • <4> Unpublished document: PITCHER, GHP. Field Investigators Comments. Ordnance Survey visit, 1 July 1965.
  • <5> Map: Ordnance Survey. 1978. 1:10,000 Map, 1978. 1:10,000. SS84SW.
  • <6> Unpublished document: Wilson-North, R.. Field Investigators Comments. RCHME Field Investigation, 12 August 1996.
  • <7> Digital archive: Historic England. Various. National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) entry. 36261, Extant 21 June 2021.

External Links (1)

Other Statuses/References

  • Exmoor National Park HER Number (now deleted): MSO11537
  • Local List Status (Unassessed)
  • National Monuments Record reference: SS 84 SW21
  • National Park: Exmoor National Park
  • NRHE HOB UID (Pastscape): 36261
  • Somerset SMR PRN (Somerset): 33932

Map

Location

Grid reference Centred SS 8356 4435 (14m by 14m) Centred on
Map sheet SS84SW
Civil Parish PORLOCK, WEST SOMERSET, SOMERSET

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (2)

Record last edited

Jun 21 2021 10:14PM

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