Multiferroics - where ferroelectric and magnetic orders co-exist - continue to be of technological and scientific importance, and of particular interest are the improper multiferroics, where polar order arises as a direct consequence of magnetic ordering. This area is driven by the continuous discovery of new materials, with potentially new coupling mechanisms. Towards this end, we are currently investigating rare earth tantalates of the form, A4Ta2O9 (where A=Mn or Co). This is driven by some prior theoretical calculations, where Mn4Ta2O9 has been predicted to be a ferroelectric, based on purely structural considerations. Both these systems are shown to exhibit long range magnetic order, and we propose an elastic and inelastic neutron investigation of these systems, in an attempt to discern the nature of spin order, and magnetic excitations in this hitherto unexplored class of systems