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.
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Grey Wethers Double Stone Circle
OS Map: SX 63875 83161
HER: MDV6758
Megalithic Portal: 532
PMD: Grey Wethers Stone Circles
ShortName: SC Grey Weth N
DPD page: 134
Turner: G4
Notes: "Northern stone circle of the pair known collectively as The Grey Wethers. This circle measures 31.5 metres in diameter and is denoted by 20 upright granite slabs with an average height of 1.1 metres. Excavations carried out by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee towards the end of the 19th century revealed a layer of charcoal covering the original ground surface. A shallow trench visible leading through the southern circle may be the result of this excavation. The circle was restored at this time"
Nearby sites: SX 63875 83161
Distance: 1.57km
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Grey Wethers Double Stone Circle
OS Map: SX 63874 83121
HER: MDV6759
Megalithic Portal: 532
PMD: Grey Wethers Stone Circles
ShortName: SC Grey Weth S
DPD page: 134
Turner: G2
Notes: This site is one of the most impressive on Dartmoor. The circles were restored in 1909 by Burnard. At the time only 9 stones remained standing in the north circle and 7 in the south circle. It is thought that the reconstruction is fairly accurate. The circles are separated by a few meters and are almost identical. Both circles have 30 stones and diameters very close to 33 m and they are within 2 degrees of being on an exact north to south alignment. The slight differences between the two circles could even be a result of the restoration. Apparently "wether" is an old English name for sheep and legend has it that a drunken farmer leaving the Warren House Inn was persuaded that the Grey Wethers were a desirable flock for sale! See also, Legendary Dartmoor: Grey Wethers
Nearby sites: SX 63874 83121
Distance: 1.59km
OS Map: SX 62101 83873
HER: MDV6765
Megalithic Portal: 45860
PMD: Quintins Man
ShortName: SSxQuintinsMan
Butler map: 34.1
Notes: "A cairn. The name implies a standing stone, but there is no knowledge of one in living memory." [worth] See also, Legendary Dartmoor: Dartmoor's Quintin's Man
Nearby sites: SX 62101 83873
Distance: 0.68km
OS Map: SX 62102 83952
HER: MDV27278
ShortName: PO QuintinsA
Notes: "Previously identified as a prehistoric barrow, survey work in 1995 suggested this to be a natural feature. One of over 40 'sacred' pools identified by Greeves (2019) that may have prehistoric origin. Lies north of the Quintin's Man cairn."
Nearby sites: SX 62102 83952
Distance: 0.65km
OS Map: SX 62053 84056
HER: MDV127217
ShortName: PO QuintinsB
Notes: "A pool measuring 20 by 16m. One of over 40 such 'sacred' pools identified on Dartmoor that are thought to have potentially been designed during the prehistoric period."
Nearby sites: SX 62053 84056
Distance: 0.66km
OS Map: SX 61972 84365
HER: MDV127218
ShortName: PO QuintinsC
Notes: "Pool north of Quintin's Man measures 12 by 8m. One of over 40 such 'sacred' pools identified on Dartmoor that are thought to have potentially been designed during the prehistoric period"
Nearby sites: SX 61972 84365
Distance: 0.75km
OS Map: SX 63017 82814
HER: MDV110432
Megalithic Portal: 35327
PMD: Sittaford Tor
ShortName: SC Sittaford
Notes: Discovered by Alan Endacott in 2007 as described in Devon Archaeological Society Newsletter No. 117 January 2014. Circle consists of 30 recumbent stones and has a diameter of 32m. It is about 1km from the Grey Wethers which are to the ENE. It is on the same arc as the previously known circles in northeastern Dartmoor.
Nearby sites: SX 63017 82814
Distance: 1.42km
OS Map: SX 6400 8287
HER: MDV6754
Megalithic Portal: 23218
ShortName: PD:Sittaford
Notes: "An oval enclosure lying within Great Stannon Newtake. It is defined by a 4.5m wide and 1.2m high rubble bank surrounding an internal area measuring 53.5m east to west by 39m north to south. An 8.3 metre wide entrance gap on the eastern side by a stony mound. The considerable size of the bank combined with its proximity to a number of ritual monuments within Great Stannon Newtake strongly supports that this enclosure is much more likely to have been used for ritual than domestic purposes and it has consequently been identified as a henge."
Nearby sites: SX 6400 8287
Distance: 1.86km
OS Map: SX 63479 82641
HER: MDV21894
Megalithic Portal: 45792
PMD: Sittaford Tor
Alternate name: Sittaford Tor S. Ring Setting Cairn and Cist
ShortName: CT Sittaford
Butler map: 34.3
Butler Vol 5: p.183 & Fig.126
DPD page: 125
Turner: D25
Notes: "Cairn 5 metres in diameter, 0.75 metres high. Surrounded by two rings of kerb stones up to 0.75 metres high. Many stones forming the outer ring are recumbent. Mound material up to 0.2 metres high. Inner kerb is 2.8 metres diameter and the outer is 5 metres diameter. Slab in centre may be an intact cist. Grass and rushes. Animal poaching on western side of cairn.". "This mutilated kerbed cairn is situated on a peat-covered moorland slope below Sittaford Tor at 488m OD. It measures about 5m in diameter and comprises a probably (hidden) central cist set within twin concentric kerbs of granite slabs." Lethbridge photo bottom p.125. Butler Sittaford Tor S (Cairn 3) Vol. 2. Map 34.3 (p.112, also Butler Vol. 5. diagram p.183).
Nearby sites: SX 63479 82641
Distance: 1.74km
OS Map: SX 64084 82827
HER: MDV20908
Megalithic Portal: 45611
PMD: South Teignhead
ShortName: PC S Teignhead
Butler map: 35.17
Butler Vol 5: p.157
Turner: E4
Notes: Oval cairn measuring 12.0m x 8.0m. It is flat-topped apart from a slight hollow in the centre. It appears to have multiple concentric rings of spaced small stones set on edge, with at least six rings being visible on its north side. To the south-east some stones are set at right angles to the rings. Butler in Volume 5 p.157 refers to a 14 x 6 m long cairn on the southern slopes of White Ridge. Presumably he refers to this site.
Nearby sites: SX 64084 82827
Distance: 1.95km
OS Map: SX 61735 85482
HER: MDV66367
Megalithic Portal: 29778
PMD: White Horse Hill
ShortName: CT Whitehorse
DPD page: 131
Notes: This cist was excavated in August 2011. It possibly featured on an 1892 map by John Chudleigh in An Exploration of Dartmoor's Antiquities. It was re-discovered in 1999 and recently excavated. Carbon dating suggests it is Bronze Age in date. Dates for the top of the cist gives 2800-1890BC and for the bottom of the cist 3650-3100BC. Provisional carbon dates for artifacts suggest the remains are Bronze Age (1900-1500BC). Inside the cist an animal hide bag was found containing cremation remains including a number of artefacts including amber beads (amber would have been imported from overseas), wooden ear studs, a delicate bracelet studded with tin beads, a textile fragment with detailed leather fringing and a unique coiled bag.
There is some good coverage on the Legendary Dartmoor website, see: Whitehorse Kist 1, Whitehorse Kist 2 and Whitehorse Kist 3.
See also DNPA: Update on Whitehorse Hill Cist excavation and Dartmoor tomb treasure horde uncovered by archaeologists. Not listed in Butler - relevant map of area is Vol. 2. Map 41. Lethbridge pp.131-132
Nearby sites: SX 61735 85482
Distance: 1.60km
Page last updated 18/02/24