Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks, walking the Stone Rows and Stone Circles of Dartmoor

Dartmoor Guide: Thornworthy and Metherall

Guide to the Monuments on Thornworthy and Metherall

Thornworthy and Metherall

Table of Ritual and Burial Monuments on Thornworthy and Metherall

The following table lists the records currently in this Guide Map. For an explantion of the Guide Maps and a table of all 62 Guide Maps, follow this link: Guide List Table. Introductory text will be added to each guide list in 2025. Notes on duplication and omissions will appear below the table once checks have been finalised.

Guide #	Butler	SiteID	Site Name	ShortName	Record Source	Map	Turner	HER	Photo	Unique?	Checked
1	25.	30	Heath Stone Standing Stone	SS Heath Stone	PDW	SX6713383755		MDV6650	Y	Unique	1
2	35.22	371	Thornworthy Cist	CT Thornworthy	Butler	SX6674684348	E39	MDV6613	Y	Unique	1
3		1110	Chagford Common (c.5) Cairnfield Master	CN:Chagford M	HER	SX6780083600		MDV121528	N	Duplicate	1
4	25.7	1107	Chagford Common 1 Cairn	CN:Chagford 1	Butler	SX6780083650		MDV64199	N	Unique	1
5		2607	Chagford Common 2 Cairn	CN:Chagford 2	Grinsell	SX6785083590		MDV13036	N	Unique	1
6		2608	Chagford Common 3 Cairn	CN:Chagford 3	Grinsell	SX6784083620		MDV13037	N	Unique	1
7		2609	Chagford Common 4 Cairn	CN:Chagford 4	Grinsell	SX6785083640		MDV13038	N	Unique	1
8		4208	Chagford Common 5 Cairn	CN:Chagford 5	HER	SX6784083620		MDV64200	N	Unique	1
9		190	Yardworthy Stone Row	SR Yardworthy	PDW	SX6760584395		MDV61337	Y	Unique	1
10		4061	Yardworthy stone row Cairn	CN Yardworthy	HER	SX6760184390		MDV14228	Y	Unique	1
11		2561	Metherall Cairn	CT?Metherall	Turner	SX6684084010	C02	MDV6655	N	Unique	1
12		635	Metherall Settlement	ST:Metherall	PDW	SX6680084000		MDV107529	N	Unique	1
13		634	East Lowton Settlement	ST:EastLowton	PDW	SX6660083700		MDV107002	N	Unique	1
14		2550	East Lowton Reported Cairn	CNxEastLowton	Turner	SX6658083710	C01	MDV6585	N	Unique	1

Thornworthy and Metherall Guide Map

Guidance for walkers: The monuments featured in this database are archaeological treasures and need to be protected and preserved - please do not disturb any sites. Please check access and firing times before visiting sites, not all sites listed are on open access land. Firing ranges and boundaries of open access areas are marked on the OL28 OS Dartmoor Explorer map. Please stick to the country code and consider giving support to the numerous agencies that help to keep Dartmoor a fabulous natural and historic environment!

List of Ritual and Burial Monuments on Thornworthy and Metherall

Heath Stone Standing Stone

OS Map: SX 67133 83755
NMR record: SX 68 SE 42
HER record: MDV6650
Megalithic Portal: 14933
ShortName: SS Heath Stone
Butler map: 25.
Notes: The original Heath Stone was a boundary stone which was referred to in the Perambulation of the Forest of Dartmoor in 1240 and some very early maps. According to Butler (Vol. 2 Map 25 p.32) the stone carved with a biblical inscription in 1970 that is currently known as the Heath Stone is unlikely to have been the original Heath Stone as it is in a useless position to be of any use as a boundary stone. The stone was not included in maps from the 18th century and then reappeared in a different location. It is doubtful that the current stone is the original or that it is prehistoric. Crossing suggests that the large standing stone in the Hurston Ridge stone row is the actual Heath Stone. See also, Legendary Dartmoor: The Dartmoor Heathstone
Nearby sites: SX67138376

Thornworthy Cist

OS Map: SX 66746 84348
NMR record: SX 68 SE 48
HER record: MDV6613
Megalithic Portal: 15453
PMD: Thornworthy
ShortName: CT Thornworthy
Butler map: 35.22
Butler Vol 5: p.64 & Fig.42
DPD page: 137
Grinsell: CHA 3
Turner: E39
Barrow Report: 16 21 56
Notes: Butler Vol. 2. Map 35.22 (p.169, photo on p.136, diagram Vol. 5. p.64).Originally there was a second slightly smaller cist. This was removed after the excavation and re-erected at Torquay Museum. It is now at the High Moorland Visitor Centre at Princetown. See also: Thornworthy 2 Cist
Nearby sites: SX66758435

Chagford Common (c.5) Cairnfield Master

OS Map: SX 67800 83600
NMR: No record found
HER record: MDV121528
ShortName: CN:Chagford M
Notes: HER: Cairn cemetery with at least five cairns to the west of the northern Prehistoric settlement on Chagford Common. They are probably some of the nine cairns excavated by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1900 on Chagford Common.
Nearby sites: SX67808360

Chagford Common 1 Cairn

OS Map: SX 67800 83650
NMR record: SX 68 SE 102
HER record: MDV64199
ShortName: CN:Chagford 1
Butler map: 25.7
Grinsell: CHA 7, 8, 9, 10
Notes: CHA 7, 8, 9, 10
Nearby sites: SX67808365

Chagford Common 2 Cairn

OS Map: SX 67850 83590
NMR record: SX 68 SE 100
HER record: MDV13036
ShortName: CN:Chagford 2
Grinsell: CHA 7
Notes: Disturbed cairn. See also CHA 10a-i NMR 443914
Nearby sites: SX67858359

Chagford Common 3 Cairn

OS Map: SX 67840 83620
NMR record: SX 68 SE 101
HER record: MDV13037
ShortName: CN:Chagford 3
Grinsell: CHA 8
Notes: Round cairn. Diameter 4.7 metres, height 0.4 metres. Slight unsurveyable central hollow. A fragmentary and spread bank leads away from this mound towards the nearby agglomerated enclosure. See also CHA 10a-i NMR 443914
Nearby sites: SX67848362

Chagford Common 4 Cairn

OS Map: SX 67850 83640
NMR record: SX 68 SE 102
HER record: MDV13038
ShortName: CN:Chagford 4
Grinsell: CHA 9
Notes: cairn, slight hollow centre. Diameter 6m, height 0.4m. See also CHA 10a-i NMR 443914
Nearby sites: SX67858364

Chagford Common 5 Cairn

OS Map: SX 67840 83620
NMR: No record found
HER record: MDV64200
ShortName: CN:Chagford 5
Nearby sites: SX67848362

Yardworthy Stone Row

OS Map: SX 67605 84395
NMR record: SX 68 SE 133
HER record: MDV61337
Megalithic Portal: 6333471
The Stone Rows of GB: Yardworthy
PMD: Yardworthy
ShortName: SR Yardworthy
Notes: Quinnell quoted on HER: Stone row in Yardworthy Newtake, an area of rough pasture that has since undergone some stone clearance. Apparently the remains of a double row it starts 3.0 metres from a low barrow at SX67608438 and extends to the north-east for 7.0 metres. The north-west side consists of four stones, 2.0 to 2.5 metres apart. The south-eastern side about 1.4 metres distant has only one stone and two turf humps which may conceal others. Visible stones are barely 0.1 metres high. Immediately beyond the north-east end is a hollow or stone pit about 4.0 by 2.0 metres diameter. This, and clearance in the area may have destroyed any continuation.

The stones of the row are around 20 cm in length and almost impossible to photograph as a collection. There is a goood plan to the site on the Stone Rows of great Britain linked in the listings above.

The site was visited by the author and Steve Szypko on 03/03/2025 and we found 3 of the 4 stones reportedly visible - the other may have been under surface water. It is almost impossible to capture these small stones in one photo so a montage of 4 photos is linked to this record; the cairn and the 3 stones found. The cairn and row was difficult to find.

The stones of the stone row stones were recorded on a Garmin GPS device at: SX 67605 84398, SX 67605 84395, SX 67606 84395. The cairn is centred at SX 67601 84390.

Nearby sites: SX67618440

Yardworthy stone row Cairn

OS Map: SX 67601 84390
NMR record: SX 68 SE 133
HER record: MDV14228
ShortName: CN Yardworthy
Notes: HER: Small cairn situated at the south-western end of the remains of a double stone row. The cairn is bout 4 metres by 2.8 metres by 0.4 metres high.
Nearby sites: SX67608439

Metherall Cairn

OS Map: SX 66840 84010
NMR record: SX 68 SE 49
HER record: MDV6655
Megalithic Portal: 15138
PMD: Metherel
ShortName: CT?Metherall
Turner: C2
Barrow Report: 56
Notes: Cairn or hut circle? Excavation of three hut circles in 1936, prior to the construction of new reservoir at Fernworthy, showed the eastern circle, "No 6" (SX66858402), to represent the remains of a cairn with a probable cremation burial in a pit beneath a cover-stone.
Nearby sites: SX66848401