Western Beacon

Nearest town:
Rattery (8km ENE)
OS reference:
SX655576
OS sheet:
202
Latitude:
50° 24' 8.02 N
Longitude:
3° 53' 34.14 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Western Beacon (Cairn(s)) by costaexpress

Decided to walk over Western Beacon to see the cairns on the way back from the Cuckoo Ball , pleased I did, a bit of wind and much cooler up here

costaexpress
costaexpress Jul 21, 2024
Image of Western Beacon (Cairn(s)) by thesweetcheat

Large, walker-vandalised, cairn at SX65475768, looking towards Plymouth Sound.

Image credit: A. Brookes (30.8.2010)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 24, 2010
Image of Western Beacon (Cairn(s)) by thesweetcheat

Well-preserved cairn at SX65435762, looking NE towards Ugborough Beacon.

Image credit: A. Brookes (30.8.2010)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 24, 2010
Image of Western Beacon (Cairn(s)) by thesweetcheat

The northernmost cairn at SX65545773. As with many summit cairns, the full size of the original mound is much greater than the area of piled stones suggests – the area in the foreground reveals in situ stonework and gives a better idea of the original (massive) size.

Image credit: A. Brookes (10.6.2010)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jul 5, 2010
Image of Western Beacon (Cairn(s)) by thesweetcheat

Looking north-northeast across the northern cairn to Butterdon Hill and Ugborough Beacon.

Image credit: A. Brookes (6.10.2010)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jul 5, 2010
Image of Western Beacon (Cairn(s)) by thesweetcheat

Two of the larger cairns on the hill. The one on the right (SX65475768) has been vandalised since Lubin’s 2005 photos by the addition of a horrible walker’s cairn.

Image credit: A. Brookes (10.6.2010)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jul 5, 2010
Image of Western Beacon (Cairn(s)) by thesweetcheat

The cairns at SX65455765 and SX65475768. Butterdon Hill and Ugborough Beacon are on the skyline behind.

Image credit: A. Brookes (10.6.2010)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jul 5, 2010
Image of Western Beacon (Cairn(s)) by thesweetcheat

The stone on the far left is one of a series of (medieval?) boundary stones running from Western Beacon to Butterdon Hill.

Image credit: A. Brookes (10.6.2010)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jul 5, 2010
Image of Western Beacon (Cairn(s)) by Lubin

The cairn at SX65395757. This is the cairn that has been built on the summit of the Beacon.

Image credit: Peter Castle. ©
Lubin
Lubin Sep 11, 2005
Image of Western Beacon (Cairn(s)) by Lubin

The cairn at SX65455765, with the one at SX65475768 in the background.

Image credit: Peter Castle. ©
Lubin
Lubin Sep 11, 2005
Image of Western Beacon (Cairn(s)) by Lubin

The inside of the cairn at SX65475768.

Image credit: Peter Castle. ©
Lubin
Lubin Sep 11, 2005
Image of Western Beacon (Cairn(s)) by Lubin

The cairn at SX65475768 . The next one you come upon, there is also another one very close to this one.

Image credit: Peter Castle. ©
Lubin
Lubin Sep 11, 2005
Image of Western Beacon (Cairn(s)) by Lubin

The next cairn from the north at SX65425769.

Image credit: Peter Castle. ©
Lubin
Lubin Sep 11, 2005
Image of Western Beacon (Cairn(s)) by Lubin

There are seven cairns on Western Beacon. This is the first one seen when approaching from the north. It is at SX65545773.

Image credit: Peter Castle. ©
Lubin
Lubin Sep 11, 2005

Articles

Western Beacon

thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Nov 21, 2011

Second visit (30.8.2010), after a quick stop-off at the remains of Cantrell stone row. The walk up from the row through deep bracken is hot under a blazing Bank Holiday sun. Visibility is much better than my previous trip back in June and there are plenty of folk up here enjoying the weather.

We stop for a while to take in the views south off the moor, where patchwork fields eventually give way to sea and sea meets sky. Beautiful.

But we have a long way to go, if we’re to make it to Corringdon Ball today. The main aim of the trip is to visit a few of Dartmoor’s (comparatively rare) Neolithic monuments. It’s with this in mind that we head off north-eastwards, to find the Cuckoo Ball chambered tomb.

Western Beacon

thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 23, 2010

The OS map simply notes “cairns”, so I am a little unprepared for the number of cairns that are actually crowding the top of the Beacon. I pass what I take to be one next to the path on the climb uphill, but the better-preserved ones are out of sight until the top is gained. These are similar to the ones I am becoming used to from trips to the Brecon Beacons, proper rubble-constructed summit cairns. They are in pretty good condition, except one that has a mini-shelter built on its top (I learn from TMA when I get home that these cairns were restored after earlier walker-damage).

From the top of the Beacon, views open northeast to the higher Ugborough Beacon, also topped with assorted barrows, and north to Butterdon Hill, which is the site of my first Burl-guided sites of the day. The route to Butterdon is marked by a very handy row of post-medieval boundary stones, the first of which start in the midst of the Western Beacon cairns. At these southern reaches of the moors, there are a few folks about and although the sky is overcast, it doesn’t look like it will rain. Nevertheless, this is an expansive landscape and it’s reassuring to have a helpful navigation aid as I head downhill and northwards in the company of these markers.

Western Beacon

Lubin
Lubin Sep 11, 2005

These photographs, of the seven cairns, were taken on the 18th August 2005 while I was returning from a circular walk from Cantrell taking in the Cuckoo Ball , Glasscombe, Corrindon Ball, Butterdon Hill area.
The grid references I have used were taken from Jeremy Butler’s Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities. I approched the Cairns from the north following the boundary stones from the top of Butterdon Hill down past Black Pool.

Western Beacon

K
KPH Jul 17, 2000

Southern dartmoor OS 655 576

Behind the village of Ugborough is the impressive bulk of Western Beacon topped with a system of five large cairns. Its the Southern most hill on Dartmoor and the cairns are aligned so that they have a stunning view over the South Hams and, on a clear day, the English Channel. A nice place to spend eternity. I always approach this site arse about face because the cairns are just up the hill from my back garden. On reaching the site there is an impressive stone row which leads roughly northwards. The stones are on average 4ft high and spaced at about 90 paces apart. They lead from the cairns down the Beacon then up the next hill called Butterdon. On top of Butterdon is another impressive array of cairns. To the right hand side of the summit there appears to be a collapsed stone circle. Its weird looking, if it was a circle then all the stones have fallen inwards, suggesting to me that it was deliberately but not very comprehensively wrecked. The stone row continues Northwards but the stones are much smaller and only a couple of feet apart. They go on for a long way. Any amateur anthropologist could guess that the rows were used as part of a burial procession ceremony leading from the heart of the moor, up hill and down dale ending at the summit of Western Beacon. Sat on top of Butterdon’s biggest cairn one day (feeling myself deliberately but not very comprehensively wrecked) I was checking out the alignments with the stone row, and other distant Tors. I had a thought. If you don’t know what a Tor is then look at Mr Copes photograph of Bowermans nose on Dartmoor. A Tor is a natural rock formation but it looks completely artificial. Huge flat stones piled on top of each other by nature not by man. So what would an ancient people make of these things ? They would probably think they had been put there by giants, or by gods. So why not imitate them by building their own burial mounds on hill tops ? A stroll across to nearby Ugborough beacon seems to add weight to this idea. That big Tor is in places nearly buried under the remains of a large cairn. Some of the chambers of the cairn look like they have been rebuilt in more recent times but I would guess by the amount of stones up there that the Tor would have been completely covered. The view from Ugborough Beacon also looks out across the South Hams but is somewhat tamed by a golf course. Tossers.

Miscellaneous

Western Beacon
Cairn(s)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Nov 21, 2011

Mr Crossing has this to say about Western Beacon (from “Crossing’s Guide To Dartmoor” (2nd edition, 1912):

“The view from this fine border height, the southernmost of all the Dartmoor eminences, is one of great beauty. The estuary of the Erme is in full view, and we are placed so high above it (1,088 ft) that it looks quite near. The West Pigedon of an older day, it forms a conspicuous landmark from numerous points in the South Hams. Eastward rises East Pigedon, now represented by the hill crowned with the Beacon Rocks. Most of the tor has been detroyed by quarrymen, and the six cairns that are to be seen here has been despoiled. One of these was placed on the rocks, but very little of it now remains. The foundations of a small square building are to be seen upon it. It is not possible to obtain a correct measurement of all of these cairns, but one of them is 85 yards in circumference, and another 67 yards.”

Sites within 20km of Western Beacon

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