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How and why the ancients enchanted Great Britain and Brittany

A Guide to Stone Circles (New Edition), Aubrey Burl

A Guide to Stone Circles (New Edition), Aubrey Burl

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Vixen Tor - Cist in England in Devon

Submitted by Andy B on Thursday, 22 September 2011  Page Views: 7361

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Vixen Tor Alternative Name: Vixen Tor 1; Grinsell Whitchurch 2; Dixon 41; Butler (V3 44.10.1)
Country: England County: Devon Type: Cist

Map Ref: SX5424074392
Latitude: 50.551069N  Longitude: 4.058846W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
1 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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lauraaurora saw from a distance on 1st Sep 2020

Andy B have visited here

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Creative Commons : Vixen Tor A view across the Walkham valley from Walkhampton Bridleway 1. Copyright Derek Harper and licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Bronze Age cairn and cist. The cairn mound measures 5.5 metres in diameter and stands up to 0.2 metres high. The cist lies within the cairn and survives as a stone lined pit, with its top protruding above the present ground surface.

Note: There is no public access to Vixen Tor, see the comments below for further details.

Update December 2019: This cairn is featured on the Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks (PDW) website - see their entry for the Vixen Tor Cist. The cairn is also recorded as Pastscape Monument NO. 440423, as MDV3596 (Cairn and cist 150m north of Vixen Tor) on the Devon and Dartmoor HER, and scheduled as Historic England List ID 1021118 (Cairn and cist 150m north of Vixen Tor).

Note: Landowner wins right to bar ramblers from Dartmoor's tallest Tor
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Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by AngieLake : Vixen Tor in a magical Dartmoor landscape. (4 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Bladup : A very complete cist at Vixen Tor. (2 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Bladup : Vixen Tor. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by threlkeld : The path to Vixen Tor (upper center right) although the wall before it was as far as was allowed. January 21st 2019. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by AngieLake : There were a couple more large stones forming the field wall with paint on them. These looked as if they might have been part of some megalithic structure at one time. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by AngieLake : We really weren't sure if this was Vixen Tor 'site 2' on Butler's map. It was closer to the farm wall than the 2nd one (see next pics).

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by AngieLake : The bridge over the leat on the way to Vixen Tor. Note the 'feather and tare' slots on the left of surface.

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Antonine : Photo taken in 2010 (1 comment)

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Antonine : Looking across the leat toward Vixen Tor, 2010

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Antonine : There has been recent cases of ritual sacrifice of sheep on an ancient pagan sacrificial altar somewhere east of the tor.

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Antonine : There are many remains of settlement on the common including extensive field systems.

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Antonine : There is a natural spring just outside the wall

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Antonine : The enclosure wall, 2010

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Antonine : 2010

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Antonine : The tor and cist, 2010 The tor is the highest free standing rock on Dartmoor. The Bronze Age cist lies within a cairn, and is 150 m north of the tor, not far from the enclosure wall on the south facing slope above the River Walkham. The cairn and cist have been partially excavated and reconstructed.

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Antonine : Vixen tor is on private land and access has been denied to the public by the Alford family since 2003 causing much protest.

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Antonine : The tor with cist on the left, 2010

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Antonine : Photo taken in 2010

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Antonine : There is a local legend that Vixen Tor is named after a witch called Vixana, who was a cannibal. She lived on those unfortunate bodies who were sucked into the bog below the tor. She would conjure up thick mist so that travellers would lose the path and and drown in the bog. One day a traveller showed up who was wearing a magic ring given to him by a Dartmoor elf. The ring would enable him to se...

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Postman : Out of bounds but not out of site.

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Postman : Vixen tor and the cist.

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Postman : Looking over the cist to Merrivale and the plague market.

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Postman : Vixen tor cist.

Vixen Tor
Vixen Tor submitted by Postman : Vixen tor, a standing stone and the cist.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 815m W 261° Windy Post Cross* Ancient Cross (SX53437428)
 927m W 280° Barn Hill Cairn (SX53337458)
 1.1km ENE 72° Cairn south of Stone Row B (Merrivale)* Cairn (SX553747)
 1.1km ENE 70° Merrivale NW* Stone Circle (SX55307475)
 1.1km ENE 78° Merrivale 6* Stone Row / Alignment (SX5534474590)
 1.1km ENE 78° Merrivale 5* Stone Row / Alignment (SX5534974592)
 1.1km ENE 79° Merrivale row 4* Stone Row / Alignment (SX5535674586)
 1.1km ENE 76° Merrivale circle* Stone Circle (SX55357463)
 1.1km ENE 78° Merrivale Menhir* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SX55367459)
 1.1km ENE 78° Merrivale Second Menhir and Cairn* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SX55377459)
 1.2km ENE 66° Merrivale N circle* Stone Circle (SX5532674841)
 1.2km ENE 71° Merrivale SW row 3* Stone Row / Alignment (SX5539474761)
 1.2km ENE 70° Merrivale Centre S* Cairn (SX55407477)
 1.2km ENE 74° Merrivale Stone Slabs 1 and 2* Stone Row / Alignment (SX55457470)
 1.2km ENE 71° Merrivale Centre N* Cairn (SX55437477)
 1.3km ENE 70° Merrivale North Row* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SX55457479)
 1.3km ENE 71° Merrivale* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SX55487477)
 1.3km ENE 72° Merrivale Cists* Burial Chamber or Dolmen (SX5549074762)
 1.4km WNW 295° Whitchurch Common Ring Cairn (SX5301674995)
 1.4km ENE 71° Merrivale NE circle* Stone Circle (SX55547481)
 1.4km ENE 72° Merrivale Centre Row* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SX55567478)
 1.4km ENE 64° Merrivale settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX5555174979)
 1.6km ESE 111° King's Tor* Rock Outcrop (SX557738)
 2.0km NW 321° Cocks Tor Stone Row / Alignment (SX530760)
 2.1km SSW 201° Sampford Spiney Church* Standing Stones (SX53427246)
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"Vixen Tor" | Login/Create an Account | 4 News and Comments
  
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Vixen Tor by coldrum on Friday, 23 September 2011
(User Info | Send a Message)
Walking Britain or Forbidden Britain?

Vixen Tor

http://www.johnbainbridgewriter.com/vixentor.htm
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Keep off my land! Landowner wins right to bar ramblers from Dartmoor's tallest To by AngieLake on Friday, 23 September 2011
(User Info | Send a Message)
In Butler's 'Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities Vol 3, The South West', he says:
"Four sides of a large cist 1.2m long can be found about 100m north of Vixen Tor, its sides projecting well above ground level and made still more prominent by the two slabs propped up against it. A pair of stones were required to construct one end and apparently it was closed by a double capstone as well, 1 (fig. 44.8). Most of the cairn material has gone. All that remains is an arc of banking around the north-west side covering two or three large blocks, probably the last of an outer pillared circle.
A companion cairn with central pit but still in a fair shape lies on the moorland side of the nearby field wall a short distance to the north-west, 2 (5.0 x 0.3 m)."

[No.s 1 and 2 can be seen on map.]

At the back of his book, Butler lists the various monuments with their OS grid refs. He lists the above as follows:
10.1* Vixen Tor 5423 7438 Dimensions ?C
10.2 Vixen Tor 5417 7446 Dimensions 5.0 x 0.3
[* = plan in text]
So that must be the one scanned/posted from the book?
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Keep off my land! Landowner wins right to bar ramblers from Dartmoor's tallest To by Andy B on Thursday, 22 September 2011
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More background here
http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/For_bidden.htm
[ Reply to This ]

Keep off my land! Landowner wins right to bar ramblers from Dartmoor's tallest Tor by Andy B on Thursday, 22 September 2011
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Ramblers and climbers have been banned from one of Dartmoor's most historic sites.

The beautiful Vixen Tor has been closed off for good after landowner Mary Alford won an eight-year battle to keep walkers off her land.

Her victory comes after a fight which included two planning inquiries and a series of mass trespasses to protest against the Tor's closure.

A planning inquiry ruled in favour of Mrs Alford, who bought 360 acres of land around the site in 2003 and immediately closed off access to it by putting up fences and spraying parts of it with manure.

She said she wanted to seal off the area because she was worried about insurance claims.

The Tor is the tallest and one of the most dramatic on Dartmoor and its rocky peak has often been described as resembling a sphinx. There is also a Bronze Age kistvaen - or burial chamber - on its slopes.

Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2039912/Get-land-Ramblers-lose-year-battle-access-historic-Dartmoor-tor.html

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