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 Resource: Table of Devon Iron Age Forts
OS Map: SX 72608 68455
HER: MDV7776
Megalithic Portal: 34692
Alternate name: Hembury Castle Fort
ShortName: FT HembCastle
Notes: "Hembury castle. Ia hill fort with medieval castle within. Hill fort in hembury woods, south east of holne. A camp situated on the summit with a good view to the south and east. The main camp consists of an irregular area surrounded by a fosse and vallum with a small rampart on the outer side of the fosse. The height from the top of the vallum to the bottom of the fosse is between 25-30 feet, and the area is about 7 acres. On the west side near the ditch is a mound about 30m in diameter and about 20 feet high. This is surrounded by a level platform with a scarped edge descending to the level of the interior of the camp. This may be of a later date than the main ramparts. A bronze celt and some sling stones have been found within the area of the camp. The whole is on an enclosed moor with some trees growing on the area of the mound (ancient monuments)."
Nearby sites: SX 72608 68455
Distance: 1.88km
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Resource: Table of Devon Iron Age Forts
OS Map: SX 72437 71979
HER: MDV7996
Alternate name: Holne Chase Castle Fort
ShortName: FT:HolneChase
Notes: "A slight univallate hillfort situated on the north facing side of Holne Chase overlooking the River Dart. The hillfort survives as an oval enclosure measuring 120m long by 96m wide internally, defined by a single rampart and ditch with a counterscarp bank present to the north east, west and south west. It has two entrances, a simple gap to the south east and an inturned entrance to the south west."
Nearby sites: SX 72437 71979
Distance: 1.98km
Page last updated 18/02/24