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!
About the database listings: In all listings clicking on the photo or the site name will open a page for the site with a larger photo and further details from the database. The database now has over 6680 records covering nearly all publicly listed sites on Dartmoor including around 4800 round houses. This level of detail is of interest to archaeologists but tends to swamp listings of sites more likely to be of interest for walkers. For this reason, the listings default to around 550 core sites only. These are the stone circles, stone rows and the ring cairns listed by Turner. The default search radius is 2 km. The controls below the map can be used to start a new search by entering a 6- or 8-digit reference (without the prefix "SX"). The search radius can be specified and you can add incremental Display layers of detail on top of the core sites. If using a more detailed layer you will need to decrease the search radius to avoid getting hundreds of search results.
These listings have incorporated, matched up and merged all of the records from all of the major archaeological listings including: Worth, Grinsell, Turner, Butler, Bill Radcliffe, Sandy Gerrard, Megalithic Portal, the National Monument Records and the Historic Environment Records. The author would like to thank Bill, Sandy, the lovely people both at Megalithic Portal (especially Anne Tate who did an amazing job to link listings) and at ACE Archaeology for collaborative work over the years to synchronise and correct listings across the various websites which now interlink. A culmination of years of work the final merger of cairn records took 3 months of cross referencing in 2017 the result being a snapshot of the records at that time. This data has in turn been refined since by field work and research. The round house data was supplied by Sandy Gerrard. Grid references are in order of accuracy: from Google Earth satellite, if visible and found, from a Garmin GPS reading, if visited by the author and from the literature otherwise. Individual site pages will state the source of the grid reference and provide satellite imagery. If a site listing lacks a photo it has not yet been visited by the author in which case the grid reference is from the literature.
Currently the database only includes sites which can be represented by a grid reference. Reaves are not included as they require GIS shape technology which is beyond the current capability of this system. To see the sources for the records, look at the tables on the resources menu. The database listings can also be viewed on a Google map and downloaded as GPS datasets for Garmin devices.
Corrections, or any feedback or suggestions are very welcome, email: info@dartmoorwalks.org.uk.
NOTE: Clicking on the icons for each monument in the map will give the name of the site. You can zoom in and out and drag the map around.
OS Map: SX 63350 92479
HER: MDV13064
Megalithic Portal: 22695
Alternate name: Cosdon Hill N.4 Encircled Cairn
ShortName: EC Cosdon N4
Butler map: 40.9
Grinsell: ST 10
Notes: Cairn at the junction of two Bronze Age reaves. "Round cairn on Cosdon Hill, measuring 7.3 metres in diameter and standing up to 0.8 metres high. A number of edge set stones visible around the southern side of the cairn mound suggests the existence of a kerb. There is a hollow in the north side of the mound, probably the result of partial robbing or an early excavation."
Nearby sites: SX 63350 92479
Distance: 1.77km
OS Map: SX 60787 91954
HER: MDV6867
Megalithic Portal: 17956
PMD: Cullever Steps
ShortName: CT Cullever
Butler map: 40.14
Butler Vol 5: p.181 & Fig.123
Grinsell: BEL 2
Turner: D11
Notes: "A Bronze Age ring cairn situated below Belstone Tor within the valley of the East Okement River. The cairn survives as a 0.5 metre high bank surrounding a 4.1 metre diameter internal area. The bank around the southern and eastern side of the cairn is faced on both sides with edge set stones. A large flat stone lying on the south western part of the ring bank may represent a displaced cist coverstone. The overall dimensions of the cairn are 9.5 metres east to west by 8.5 metres north to south." Butler Vol. 2. Map 40.14 (diagram Vol. 5. p.181).
Nearby sites: SX 60787 91954
Distance: 1.90km
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Resource: Table of Devon Iron Age Forts
OS Map: SX 60400 94160
HER: MDV6880
Megalithic Portal: 47073
ShortName: FT:East Hill
Notes: "A promontory fort of likely Iron Age date containing a further, probably earlier, enclosure. It occupies an elevated position at the tip of the spur between the East Okement River and the Moor Brook. The southern and eastern sides of the site are formed by precipitous slopes that fall into wooded gorges while the west and northwest are delimited by a well-defined rampart and ditch pierced by a single entrance. The highest point within the fort, the SE quadrant, is occupied by the earlier enclosure which does not possess an entrance. Traces of ridge and furrow are visible in the southern part of the interior."
Nearby sites: SX 60400 94160
Distance: 1.64km
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Nine Maidens Cairn Circle, Belstone Tor
OS Map: SX 61232 92849
HER: MDV6865
Megalithic Portal: 535
PMD: The Nine Stones
Alternate name: Nine Stones Cairn Circle
ShortName: CC Nine Stones
Butler map: 40.13
DPD page: 156
Grinsell: BEL 1
Turner: G23
Barrow Report: 21 42
Notes: The "Nine Stones" cairn circle "survives as a ring of at least 16 upright stones, standing up to 0.7 metres high, surrounding a slightly raised 7 metre diameter internal area". "A loose granite boulder in the centre of the circle may cover a cist; and there are vestiges of a mound around it. Well preserved." See also, Legendary Dartmoor: The Nine Maidens
Nearby sites: SX 61232 92849
Distance: 0.93km
OS Map: SX 61477 93055
HER: MDV13049
Megalithic Portal: 23222
ShortName: CN WatchetHill
Butler map: 40.12
Grinsell: BEL 3
Notes: "A Bronze Age round cairn situated on the summit of Watchet Hill. The cairn survives as a 0.8 metre high oval mound measuring 16.6 metres long north to south by 13.8 metres wide east to west. A T-shaped trench, the consequence of a partial early excavation, cuts through the central part of the mound. Adjacent to the south eastern side of the mound there is a 2.3 metre wide and 0.2 metre deep ditch. This represents the remains of the quarry ditch from which material was derived during the construction of the cairn. The ditch would have originally surrounded the mound but now survives largely as a buried feature."
Nearby sites: SX 61477 93055
Distance: 0.61km
Page last updated 18/02/24