MMO1861 - Bronze Age round barrow or ring cairn east of Woolhanger Farm (Monument)

A possible round barrow or Ring Cairn of possible Bronze Age date, is visible on aerial photographs of the 1950s onwards as an earthwork on a gentle west facing hill slope to the east of Woolhanger Farm, Lynton and Lynmouth parish, centred on circa SS 7040 4522. The roughly circular earthwork is approximately 15 metres in diameter at its base and 8 to 9 metres towards the top, which is either truncated or concaved. It is unclear from the aerial photographs whether this is due to recent disturbance or a feature of its construction. Its location at 300 metres above Ordnance Datum, just below a spur of Butter Hill, may indicate that it is located on a false crest, intended to be viewed from the valley bottom to the northwest. It may be associated with a smaller mound to the north, recorded as a clearance cairn but in a roughly similar topographical situation. Its location towards the corner of a field may support an alternative interpretation as a clearance cairn, but its large diameter and somewhat concave or truncated appearance is more typical of a prehistoric monument. The mound has been somewhat damaged by ploughing or other agricultural improvements, but is still visible on aerial photographs of 1995. [1-4] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [5]