Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks, walking the Stone Rows and Stone Circles of Dartmoor
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Dartmoor Resource: Search for Sites Nearby

Prehistoric sites within 2km of SX 65400 57500

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!



Search for sites near-by OS Grid Reference

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.

List of sites within 2km of SX 65400 57500

Beacon Plain A Standing Stone

Beacon Plain A Standing Stone

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Walk: The Neolithic tombs of Cuckoo Ball & Corringdon Ball
OS Map: SX 65838 59189
HER: MDV2888
Megalithic Portal: 44532
The Stone Rows of GB: Butterdon East
PMD: Beacon Plain
ShortName: SS BeaconPlain
Butler map: 53.8
Butler Vol 5: p.216 & Fig.150
DPD page: 79
Notes: "One of two large granite blocks situated some 500 meters east of Hangershell Rocks. May be fallen standing stones or stones brought to the site but never erected. This western stone lies 55 meters from the other and tapers towards its northern end. Between the two are traces of two other stones, and the fact that they form a straight line lends weight to the argument that they are fallen menhirs. This western stone was excavated in august 1968, and groups of small stones were found at the broad end and along the w side as if to receive the stone when it was erected." For more on that see coverage on the SRGB and on PMD. See also HER record MDV2883.
Nearby sites: SX 65838 59189
Distance: 1.74km

Beacon Plain B Standing Stone

Beacon Plain B Standing Stone

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Walk: The Neolithic tombs of Cuckoo Ball & Corringdon Ball
OS Map: SX 65886 59210
HER: MDV2883
Megalithic Portal: 44532
The Stone Rows of GB: Butterdon East
PMD: Beacon Plain
ShortName: SS Beacon Pl2
Butler map: 53.8
Butler Vol 5: p.216 & Fig.150
DPD page: 79
Notes: "There are two possible menhirs, on Beacon Plain, 500 yards east of Hangershell Rock. The more easterly stone measures 18 feet 4 inches in length. The other stone lies 57 yards away on a bearing 26 degrees south of west. It is 18 feet in length, 5 feet 6 inches wide at one end, and tapers to a blunt point. The stones are completely isolated on a grass moor, and have none of the characteristics of surface boulders. If they were menhirs they are the largest known on Dartmoor." There are suggestions these two stones are ends of a short stone row with a smaller stone in between. For more on that see coverage on the SRGB and on PMD. See also HER record MDV2888.
Nearby sites: SX 65886 59210
Distance: 1.78km

Black Pool (Western Beacon) Ancient Pool

OS Map: SX 65501 58131
HER: MDV127193
ShortName: PO:Black Pool
Notes: "One of over 40 such 'sacred' pools identified on Dartmoor that are thought to have potentially been designed during the prehistoric period. Livestock watering pond, 30 metres by 20 metres and 0.6 metres deep. Pool has been modified by peat cutting."
Nearby sites: SX 65501 58131
Distance: 0.64km

Butter Brook Standing Stone

Butter Brook Standing Stone

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
Alternate name: 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: 1.92km

Butterdon (ENE) Ancient Pool

OS Map: SX 65733 58969
HER: MDV127203
ShortName: PO:Butterdon
Notes: "A pool east-north-east of Butterdon. One of over 40 such 'sacred' pools identified on Dartmoor that are thought to have potentially been designed during the prehistoric period. Lies near group of features including a stone row and cairns. Sub-rectangular shallow pit 15 metres by 19 metres and 0.4 metres deep. The edges show the remains of peat cutting"
Nearby sites: SX 65733 58969
Distance: 1.51km

Butterdon East Stone Row

Butterdon East Stone Row

OS Map: SX 65870 59203
HER: MDV2888
The Stone Rows of GB: Butterdon East
PMD: Butterdon E. Stone Row
Alternate name: Butterdon E. Stone Row
ShortName: SR ButterdonE
Butler map: 53.8
Butler Vol 5: p.218 & Fig.150
Notes: There are two massive slabs with one small slab forming an alignment. It is unclear whether these were originally standing but it is thought they could have been placed in their current locations. This would make for a very spectacular stone row and one that would be quite unique on Dartmoor. However, there are stone rows consisting of two huge slabs and a small central slab in other parts of the country. The grid reference given here and the photo is of the central stone. The following interesting account comes from Hemery's High Dartmoor:

"On the Plain, about four hundred yards east of Hangershiel Rock, two great monoliths lie on the ground within sixty yards of each other. Worth was surely right in regarding them, each over eighteen feet in length, as fallen menhirs. The naturalist H. G. Hurrell wrote to tell me that he recently found, at the base end of the longer stone, "numerous stones, averaging perhaps the Size of the human head, just below ground level". I quote further from his letter: It is very difficult, I think, to explain the presence of these stones unless one assumes that they were used as packing-stones to support an erected menhir." The element of doubt undeniably present, however, should deter the over-eager restorer of monuments from arriving on the spot with tractor, sheer-legs, pulley-block and tackle. " (High Dartmoor p.258)
Nearby sites: SX 65870 59203
Distance: 1.77km

Butterdon Hill Chambered Tomb

Butterdon Hill Chambered Tomb

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Walk: The Neolithic tombs of Cuckoo Ball & Corringdon Ball
OS Map: SX 66012 58573
HER: MDV2886
Megalithic Portal: 31698
PMD: Butterdon Long Cairn
Alternate name: Butterdon Hill chambered cairn Chambered Tomb
ShortName: NT Butterdon
Butler map: 53.15
Butler Vol 5: p.155
Grinsell: A:UGB 2
Notes: "The mound is situated on a slight south-east slope at 1050 ft O.D. It is 25 metres long, orientated north-south, is 16.0 metres wide and 0.9 metre high at the north end and 10.0 metres wide and 0.7 metre high at the south end. There are no visible side ditches. The construction is of earth and small stones but extensive pillaging and/or excavation has exposed a number of large upright and some displaced stones. The mound is certainly a long barrow."
Nearby sites: SX 66012 58573
Distance: 1.24km

Butterdon Hill Stone Row

Butterdon Hill Stone Row

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Walk: The Erme East stone rows
OS Map: SX 65629 58814
HER: MDV2988
Megalithic Portal: 556
The Stone Rows of GB: Butterdon Hill
PMD: Butterdon Stone Row
Alternate name: Butterdon Hill Row Stone Row
ShortName: SR Butterdon
Butler map: 53.8
DPD page: 77
Notes: "The northern part of the Butterdon stone row has been surveyed from Hangershell Rocks cairn at SX 65645941 to Hobajons Cross at SX 65506045." and "For the 1050m of this part the majority of the several hundred stones are from 0.1m to 0.4m high and form an irregular line. There is a gap of 70.0m on the north side of Hangershell but otherwise the row is fairly continuous. The area is not entirely free of natural surface stones and while some can be immediately discounted occasionally there is a short double or triple row where all the stones are alike and these which formed the original row cannot now be determined. Barely two dozen stones are 0.5m high or higher, Hobajons Cross at 1.2m being the highest. It is possible that this was at some stage a terminal stone since it appears to have cup marks on the south face and the extension onwards, to the Longstone, is on an entirely different alignment." Lethbridge Row 1 diagram p.77.
Nearby sites: SX 65629 58814
Distance: 1.33km

Butterdon Hill Cist

Butterdon Hill Cist

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Walk: The Erme East stone rows
OS Map: SX 65781 59341
HER: MDV2887
Megalithic Portal: 45752
PMD: Butterdon Hill
Alternate name: Butterdon Ridge N.E. Cist
ShortName: CT Butterdon
Butler map: 53.8.3
Butler Vol 5: p.59 & Fig.38
DPD page: 79
Grinsell: UGB 16
Barrow Report: 61
Notes: "The western side stone and the two end stones are still standing, but the other side stone and the cover stone are missing. The cist measures 23 inches by 15 inches"... "no sign whatever of a mound, and the cist may have been freestanding". Lethbridge p.79 East of Hangershell Rock diagram p.77. Butler Butterdon Ridge N.E. - Vol. 4. Map 53.8.3 (p.25 general plan of Butterdon rows and cairns p.24).
Nearby sites: SX 65781 59341
Distance: 1.88km

Butterdon Hill Cairn

Butterdon Hill Cairn

OS Map: SX 65601 58766
HER: MDV2895
Megalithic Portal: 10002
Alternate name: Butterdon Hill Summit 5 Cairn
ShortName: CN Butterdon H
Butler map: 53.9.5
Butler Vol 5: p.160
Grinsell: HAR 17
Notes: "The northernmost of several cairns near the summit of Butterdon Hill lies approximately 200 feet south-south-east (sic) from the retaining circle at the end of the stone row (SX 65 NE 17). There are clear remains of a marginal wall on the eastern circumference of this cairn; whether it is an original feature is not known but there is no apparent reason why it should have been added later. A large cairn, 27 metres in diameter, 3.3 metres high. The barrow has an apparent berm, but this may not have been an original characteristic."
Nearby sites: SX 65601 58766
Distance: 1.28km

Butterdon Hill Encircled Cairn

Butterdon Hill Encircled Cairn

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Walk: The Erme East stone rows
OS Map: SX 65634 58816
HER: MDV2897
Megalithic Portal: 722
PMD: Butterdon Row
Alternate name: Butterdon Hill stone row Encircled Cairn
ShortName: EC Butterdon
Butler map: 53.8.1
DPD page: 78
Grinsell: HAR 16
Turner: F8
Notes: A low cairn within a retaining circle of stones is situated at SX65635881, at the south end of the Butterdon stone row (SX 65 NE 17), with which it is associated. The circle is 11 metres in diameter, and consists of twelve stones, all now recumbent, although when Worth wrote in 1941, one was erect and three were leaning. Some of the stones are unusually large. The cairn is 9 metres in diameter by 0.3 metre high, with a hollow in the centre. Radcliffe reports: Mike Brown says the row "terminates in a small kistvaen" at its southern end. Hemery says the cist "has been removed". Lethbridge p.78 Row 1 diagram p.77.
Nearby sites: SX 65634 58816
Distance: 1.34km

Cantrell Stone Row

Cantrell Stone Row

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Cuckoo Ball Chambered Tomb
OS Map: SX 65688 57135
HER: MDV2889
Megalithic Portal: 1798
The Stone Rows of GB: Cantrell
PMD: Cantrell Stone Row
ShortName: SR Cantrell
Butler map: 53.12
DPD page: 80
Notes: "A double stone row, with a cairn at the north-east end, lies near the moor gate at Cantrell, Ugborough Moor. The southern row consists of nine stones, one of which is almost buried and one has fallen. The length of the row from the centre of the cairn is 153 feet and the alignment is N44o 20' E. The rows are from 7 to 12 feet apart and the stones are about 5 feet 6 inches apart, centre to centre. The cairn has a diameter of 22 feet and encloses what may be the remains of a cist".
Nearby sites: SX 65688 57135
Distance: 0.46km

Cuckoo Ball Chambered Tomb

Cuckoo Ball Chambered Tomb

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Cuckoo Ball Chambered Tomb
OS Map: SX 65963 58195
HER: MDV2885
Megalithic Portal: 31700
PMD: Cuckoo Ball Chambered Cairn
Alternate name: Cuckoo Ball chambered cairn Chambered Tomb
ShortName: NT Cuckoo Ball
Butler map: 53.15
Butler Vol 5: p.155
DPD page: 80
Grinsell: A:UGB 1
Barrow Report: 30 56
Notes: "The remains of a long cairn and burial chamber on a hill-slope at Cuckoo Ball. The cairn, which was probably robbed for newtake walls to the west and north, is 23 metres long by 12 metres wide, aligned north/south, and is 0.7 metre high at the north. The burial chamber is at the north end."


Nearby sites: SX 65963 58195
Distance: 0.89km

Eastern beacon (S) Platform Cairn Circle

Eastern beacon (S) Platform Cairn Circle

OS Map: SX 66755 58770
HER: MDV3106
Megalithic Portal: 17583
Alternate name: Ugborough Beacon 4 Platform Cairn Circle
ShortName: PC E Beacon S
Butler map: 53.16.6
Grinsell: UGB 20
Turner: E52
Barrow Report: 62
Notes: Flat top turf-covered cairn. 20.5m. diameter, 1.7m. high. Possible remains of retaining circle. Large hollow in centre
Nearby sites: SX 66755 58770
Distance: 1.86km

Hangershell Rock (East of) Cairn

Hangershell Rock (East of) Cairn

OS Map: SX 65662 59404
HER: MDV3124
Megalithic Portal: 4615
Alternate name: Butterdon Ridge N. Cairn
ShortName: CN Hangershell
Butler map: 53.8.2
Grinsell: UGB 15
Barrow Report: 61
Notes: East of hangershell rock large cairn with hollow centre. Diameter 17m, height 1.2m.
Nearby sites: SX 65662 59404
Distance: 1.92km

Weatherdon Hill Stone Ring Cairn Circle

OS Map: SX 6516 5889
HER: MDV13165
Megalithic Portal: 45835
Alternate name: Wetherdon Hill 20 Stone Ring Cairn Circle
ShortName: RC:Weatherdon
Butler map: 53.9.20
Grinsell: HAR 14a
Turner: A28
Notes: "Weatherdon hill (4): diameter approx.5.6m ht. Approx 0.15m. Alt. C.335-340m." "Mr. L. V. Grinsell noted a small cairn-circle or ring-cairn a short distance south of cairn 2 on weatherdon hill."
Nearby sites: SX 6516 5889
Distance: 1.41km

Weatherdon Hill Ancient Pool

OS Map: SX 65619 58948
HER: MDV127227
ShortName: PO:Weatherdon
Notes: "A pool, one of over 40 such 'sacred' pools identified on Dartmoor that are thought to have potentially been designed during the prehistoric period. Lies adjacent to the Butterdon Hill stone row. Sub-rectangular shallow pit of 11 metres by 15 metres and 0.5 metres deep. Part of disused peat cutting in the area to the south end of the stone row."
Nearby sites: SX 65619 58948
Distance: 1.46km

Page last updated 18/02/24