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Name:Chains Barrow
Hill number:17920
Height:486.4m / 1596ft
Parent (Ma):2889  Dunkery Beacon
RHB Section:41: South Central England
County/UA:Somerset
Hill area:Exmoor
Catchment:Exe
Watershed:Land's End to John o' Groats, Land's End to Dover, The Lizard to Dunnet Head
Class:Tump (400-499m), Clem
(Tu,4,Cm)
Grid ref:SS 73311 42116
Summit feature:no feature
Drop:64.4m
Col:422m  SS 8449 4159  
OS map sheet(s):(1:50k) 180
(1:25k) OL9W
Observations:trig point on tumulus 260m SE at SS 73459 41908 is 0.9m higher
Survey:Abney level
Comments:perimeter of tumulus is all below 486.0m. Low probability that tumulus was constructed above natural summit
Change log:show changes for this hill entry
GPS data:show GPS entries for this hill

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N.B. Some hill summits are on private property or on land where there is no public right of way.  Permission should be sought from the landowner where access to a hill summit is through private land.
Please report via the contact page any logs you see below which describe or encourage acts of trespass.  Please quote the hill number and hill name.

Logged Descriptions  (logged by 43 users)ByDate of Ascent
I'm the first person to log here the relocated 'summit' an arbitrary spot in a level bog about 250m away from the original summit on the barrow itself. The barrow has been the highest point for millenia and remains so. It is certainly older than any human-made bings or spoilheaps that are counted as 'hills', with the possible exception of the artificial megalithic mound of Silbury Hill.Martin R19/02/2024
From B3358. Good parking in the layby at the start at 72882 40128. Up a couple of pastures and then onto the moorland on a glorious sunny day.clivevilla09/07/2022
Up the permissive path from B3358, quickly onto access land to trig pt on barrow. Dry conditions, even where the cotton grass was abundant. With plenty of time on our Warwick to Ilfracombe drive, we returned via Pinkery Pond to give a fine short walk finishing down a nice combe. 500 yds on B3558 back to car was OK, a wide verge about half the way. With Petepwheeler04/06/2022
Parked in layby to S, by start of Permitted Path. Quick up and down.PGCE10/12/2021
9/9 For the day on Exmoor. Up the permissive path across the fields from the large loop layby to the south. Then across the moor to the Trig on top of the enclosed ancient barrow. Quite boggy underfoot.(S)silveracorn_alan03/08/2021
On the Chains walk with AlexPjb10015/12/2020
Parked in layby at entrance to Pinkery Farm. Quiet run along the Chains.Claireb 02/09/2020
Large area to park to the south, Then up the ROW following the marker posts. Crossing a BW then up to the Trig. Boggy in places.fosal2919/09/2019
From large lay-by to south up PROW, following posts to gate and then to trig. Although dry, some very wet areas but easily avoided.PeterD20/04/2019
Easy, large parking area where the Macmillan way intersects with the road to the south. Waymarked walk all the way to the final gate (follow the posts to avoid the boggy areas). Then, from the interesting notice alongside the final signpost, turn right for a few metres to find a path leading directly up to the summit.moorsman15/06/2016
From layby where Macmillan Way intersects B3358. Easy walk on good track. Chains Barrow, a Bronze Age bowl barrow with trig pillar atop. Having been there probably in excess of 3,000 years the top of the barrow is the HP.jonglew03/04/2016
With Jo, from Goat Hill Bridge: track/path to Pinkery Pond and onto Chains Barrow, then going past pond onto Woodbarrow Hangings past Long Stone to Parracombe Trig before returning via Pinkery Farm. Weather; cloudy, humid, good visibility on Chains Barrow but became low mist with poor visibility on Woodbarrow Hangings.amblerbob01/07/2015
1/3 very, very mucky walk up from main road, best climbed on a dry day !Fergalh10/01/2015
11-mile loop from Goat Hill Bridgedavidpettit8418/07/2014
Climbed from Two moors way up The Hoar oak water and Then compass reading to The Trig. Back onto The trail via Macmillan way west and Then down The Chains valley Over The brow, down a deep slope and Followed The stream to where it joins The Hoar oak water and Back onto The Two moors way.Dazingdale22/03/2014
Walked alone straight through the horned cows!jimbloomer17/10/2013
Parked on moors north of East Ilkerton, walked to Shallowford, past Pinkery pond onto Chains Barrow, to Exe Head, down Two Moors Way to Cheriton and walked through fields and along lanes back to the starting point. 11 miles.DanTrig28/08/2013
From lay-by on B3358 at SS 72907 40111. Diary extract:- We took a concessionary path north called Macmillan Way West (for some strange reason). It climbed steadily to a stile and once over we were on access land where we could wander at will. This was fortunate, as wander we did! Due to a massive herd of dodgy looking horned cattle, we’d no real alternative than to leave the path and give them a wide birth over some putrid terrain. An awful boggy, tussocky, rushy, gorsy, heathery nightmare. I’m sure being gored a bit by the cattle would have been slightly less ghastly! Thus avoiding the cattle (I won’t call them cows because we’re not scared of cows) we reached a stile and once over the fence we were safe from the cattle and could use the path for the last section to the summit. To be honest though, the path at this point wasn’t much better than the evil terrain we’d just endured.David Gradwell27/10/2011
Good path up from B road to south past cattle. With Darren.Chris Pearson12/08/2010
dullish damp moorld summit; pleasant view. good B/W from layby to S RHW08/06/2003
BrianMatthews31/05/2023
Swindon Bagger29/05/2023
Andy West15/05/2023
Matt04/07/2022
andrew brown23/06/2020
Chasejet23/05/2020
Rockdoctor10/07/2018
mae05/10/2017
MM30/08/2016
Dusty16/02/2014
Isambard25/09/2013
asbown17/07/2013
Edwin Gradwell27/10/2011
stevent080901/01/2011
George Gradwell23/06/2008
ad-lib31/03/2002
andrew.allum01/01/2000
isabelle22/09/1996
IainT13/02/1996
David Purchase04/04/1994
RichardM13/12/1980
Rob Rees23/03/1980
amblemark01/01/1970