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: Burford Down stone row and cairns
OS Map: SX 63703 60687
HER: MDV4333
Megalithic Portal: 1463
PMD: Burford Down Stone Row
ShortName: SS BurfordDown
Butler map: 54.17
DPD page: 70
Notes: "The alleged blocking stone noted by Parsons measures 2.7m by 1.0m and has been split by drilling." TDA Vol. 85 (1953) pp. 145-147 (Hamlyn Parsons).
Nearby sites: SX 63703 60687
Distance: 1.16km
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Burford Down stone row and cairns
OS Map: SX 63695 60165
HER: MDV4333
Megalithic Portal: 1463
The Stone Rows of GB: Burford Down
PMD: Burford Down Stone Row
ShortName: SR BurfordDown
Butler map: 54.17
DPD page: 70
Barrow Report: 14 40
Notes: "This single stone row on a slight north slope extends from a crest at 260m OD to a col at 255m OD. It can be traced from its south terminal, marked by a cairn, at SX 63706017 for 336m, bearing 1o, to a possible blocking stone at SX 63706051 and of different character for a further 120m to SX63706062. The recumbent stone, considered ... to be the north terminal lies yet a further 47m distant at SX 63706067." See also: Sea Views at Burford Down
Nearby sites: SX 63695 60165
Distance: 0.76km
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Burford Down stone row and cairns
OS Map: SX 63704 60178
HER: MDV4257
Megalithic Portal: 719
PMD: Burford Down Stone Row
Alternate name: Burford Down stone row Encircled Cairn
ShortName: EC BurfordDown
Butler map: 54.17
DPD page: 70
Grinsell: HAR 5
Turner: F10
Barrow Report: 14 40
Notes: "The south terminal cairn, 9.0m diameter and 0.6m high, has a central depression, about 2.5m diameter and 0.4m deep, and is edged by 3 upright and 2 fallen orthostats, average 0.7m by 0.2m and up to 0.9m high, the remains of a retaining circle or peristalith."
Nearby sites: SX 63704 60178
Distance: 0.77km
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Burford Down stone row and cairns
OS Map: SX 6378 6016
HER: MDV4258
Megalithic Portal: 45689
PMD: Tristis Rock
Alternate name: Tristis Rock Platform Cairn Circle and Cist
ShortName: CT TristisRock
Butler map: 54.17
DPD page: 70
Grinsell: HAR 6
Turner: E22
Barrow Report: 14 40
Notes: "Retaining circle of a barrow, internal diameter between 16 and 17 feet and consisting of twelve stones which enclose the remaining south side stone of a cist. The overall length of the side stone is 4 feet 6 inches, the internal length of the cist would not have been more than 3 feet". Butler Tristis Rock - Vol. 4. Map 54.17 (p.60 diagram of Tristis Rock cairn p.59).
Nearby sites: SX 6378 6016
Distance: 0.82km
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Walk: The Neolithic tombs of Cuckoo Ball & Corringdon Ball
OS Map: SX 64747 59301
HER: MDV13095
Megalithic Portal: 45565
PMD: Butterbrook Standing Stone
ShortName: SS Butter Br
Notes: The stone is easy to approach from the dry ground to the south but just beyond the stone to the north is marshland. A standing-stone, possibly prehistoric, near Butter Brook (near Harford) is 2.03m long and has a standing height of 1.77m. The stone is located towards the north of the eastern side of the plantation around Butterbrook reservoir. [Entry no. 70 in An archaeological check-list for Harford, Devon Archaeological Society/DCRA publications no. 11 (1982)]
Nearby sites: SX 64747 59301
Distance: 1.69km
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Walk: The Neolithic tombs of Cuckoo Ball & Corringdon Ball
OS Map: SX 64494 59677
HER: MDV13092
Megalithic Portal: 3281
Alternate name: Piles Hill S.W.9 Encircled Cairn
ShortName: EC HarfordGate
Butler map: 53.11.9
Grinsell: HAR 26
Turner: F3
Notes: "This cairn occupies a prominent position on the brow of a hill and is one of two north-west of Harford Moor Gate. Measures 13 metres in diameter and 0.3 metres in height, it is turf-covered and has a retaining kerb." Visited by the author 20/04/19. Garmin gives location as SX 64495 59682 but a Lidar source gives location as SX 64494 59677 - which matches closely the HER NGR.
Nearby sites: SX 64494 59677
Distance: 1.39km
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Walk: The Neolithic tombs of Cuckoo Ball & Corringdon Ball
OS Map: SX 6445 5931
HER: MDV2849
Megalithic Portal: 23440
ShortName: ST HarfordMoor
Notes: On the western side of Harford Moor reservoir.
Nearby sites: SX 6445 5931
Distance: 1.41km
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Walk: The Neolithic tombs of Cuckoo Ball & Corringdon Ball
OS Map: SX 64396 60528
HER: MDV4354
Megalithic Portal: 45580
ShortName: ES:Lower Piles
Notes: "Within the newtake known as lower piles. A group of seven huts near the south east corner of the enclosed land. All now composed of fairly small stones the walls appearing as thick banks of stone and turf, not high, but spreading to a width of 1.8m or more. The diameters vary from c 9.20 to c 12.20m outside measurements. Only one hut has a well defined entrance, this is on the south east side of the circle."
Nearby sites: SX 64396 60528
Distance: 1.54km
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Walk: The Neolithic tombs of Cuckoo Ball & Corringdon Ball
OS Map: SX 64540 60262
HER: MDV4256
Megalithic Portal: 1108
PMD: Lower Piles
Alternate name: Piles Hill S.W.15 Ring Setting Cairn and Cist
ShortName: CT Lower Piles
Butler map: 53.11.15
DPD page: 76
Grinsell: HAR 8
Turner: D13
Barrow Report: 36 62
Notes: "A cist with a retaining circle, diameter 14 to 15 feet, of which seven stones still remain, lies about 150 yds south of the south east angle of Lower Piles enclosure. The cist measures 3 feet 7 inches in length by 1 foot 4 inches wide at the south-eastern end and 2 feet wide at the north western. The present depth is from 2 feet 9 inches to 3 feet. The cover-stone and the north-western end-stone are missing." Letchfield diagram p.76. Barrow Report 36 says "To the south-east, in the direction of the length of the kistvaen, stands a single large stone, about 100 feet distant; to the north-west, with its centre 110 feet away from the centre of the kistvaen, there is a small cairn of 20 feet diameter; this also is in the line of the length of the kistvaen." The stone is at SX 64518 60236 Butler Piles Hill S.W. - Vol. 4. Map 53.11.15 (p.33 diagram of cist & plan of cairns on Piles Hill p.30).
Nearby sites: SX 64540 60262
Distance: 1.55km
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Stalldown Stone Row
OS Map: SX 63665 61217
HER: MDV4351
Megalithic Portal: 45322
ShortName: ES Stalldown
Notes: "This settlement consists of 6 enclosures, mostly in poor condition, with 13 associated hut circles and 17 detached ones and extends over 5ha of a gentle to moderate, well drained, southeast facing slope at 270m above OD."
Nearby sites: SX 63665 61217
Distance: 1.62km
Page last updated 18/02/24