As it was a hot day I decided to go North from here to find Butterdon Hill Long Cairn and then call it quits for the day and leave Corringdon Ball for the next day. First time I have been forced off the moor due to the heat, rain, mist and fog yes, heat no!
Took the train to Ivybridge and then skirted East and finally North around Western Beacon where I was able to follow the field notes to the Monument, thank you once again to those who write them up
In summer vegetation.
Looking across the chamber to the fertile farmland below. The capstone or roof slabs are missing.
Looking NE towards Ugborough Beacon.
The remaining slabs of the chamber.
The stones left standing.
Looking from the south with most of the bracken now gone.
Looking from the north west.
The chambered tomb now the bracken has nearly gone.
The entrance looking from the southwest.
The entrance of the chamber after I had cleared the bracken away.
After leaving Western Beacon (30.8.2010), we head generally northeast, following whatever sheep tracks we can. There is no particular path heading towards Cuckoo Ball and the bracken is at its highest at this time of year. Eventually we reach a post and wire fence, itself almost hidden beneath the summer vegetation. We follow it along for a while, in the knowledge that the tomb is close to it. However, after a short while the fence turns due east and I realise we had gone in the wrong direction. Turning back, we follow the fence southwest for a while, doubling back over the route we had come. At another turn, this time to face south, a bit of rock breaks the surface of the green sea of bracken. We’ve found it!
Luckily the two surviving (leaning) uprights are very substantial and big enough to be seen even at this time of year. In fact, once located, the bracken immediately around the wrecked chamber was much more patchy and we are able to have a decent poke about. It’s difficult to get a sense of what used to be here, the two uprights could have supported a capstone to rival the Cornish quoits. A real rarity on Dartmoor (Spinster’s Rock excepted), even in its ruined state this is definitely worth a visit. It’s also off the tops and tors, so little visited I suspect – we don’t see anyone in the vicinity while we’re here. The ground slopes away to the south, towards the fertile farmland of the South Hams. The slopes of Ugborough Beacon fill the view to the east. A pleasant place to spend some time on a sunny day.
But, as ever, we have places to be. We head off roughly north along another sheep track, hoping to find the remains of Butterdon Hill long cairn, another of Dartmoor’s rare Neolithic survivors.
The tomb stands just inside a newtake wall beside the track that runs from the gate at the foot of Western Beacon around it’s east side. It would be best to visit it, as I found when I got there, around February or March time as the rest of the year it is covered with bracken. There are around ten stones left at the northwest end ,two still upright.
