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 Walk: Butterdon Hill (nr Moretonhampstead) Standing Stone
OS Map: SX 73858 89023
HER: MDV8221
Megalithic Portal: 4624
Alternate name: Cranbrook Castle Fort
ShortName: FT Cranbrook
Notes: "The outer rampart cuts or overlies the banks of an earlier field system. Upwards of 30 clearance cairns are visible in the interior; date unknown. The outer defences on the east and west sides are clearly incomplete. On the north side the inner rampart line is marked by 2 very low linear dumps of stone, which appear to have acted as markers for the front and rear of the rampart. No trace of an accompanying ditch. The original bivallate plan of the hillfort is reinforced by the abrupt termination on the west side of both the outer bank and inner bank and ditch in line. Other aspects of the unfinished hillfort are the irregularities in height of inner rampart on the south side. These probably mark divisions between construction gangs."
Plan from the 7th Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee.
Nearby sites: SX 73858 89023
Distance: 1.81km
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Resource: Table of Devon Iron Age Forts
OS Map: SX 74683 90025
HER: MDV8439
Megalithic Portal: 29170
Alternate name: Prestonbury Castle Fort
ShortName: FT:Prestonbury
Notes: "Iron Age hillfort, inner works complete, but possibly outer works never finished. Prestonbury Castle is situated three miles north-west of Moretonhampstead high above the north bank of the R Teign. The bank of the inner enclosure measures 418 feet by 410 feet and is 7 1/2 feet high with entrances to the east and west. The middle enclosure bank has a simple entrance on its east side. The outer bank, only partially extant, is strengthened by a rock-cut ditch 20 feet broad. This bank divides into two at the crest of the southern slope. The bank has an inturned entrance facing northeas"
Nearby sites: SX 74683 90025
Distance: 1.41km
Page last updated 18/02/24