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 75300 88600

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 75300 88600

Blackpool (Mardon) Ancient Pool

Blackpool (Mardon) Ancient Pool

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Mardon Down Stone Circle & Cairns
OS Map: SX 76757 87350
HER: MDV19004
ShortName: PO Blackpool
Notes: "Marked as an enclosure on historic mapping, this is actually a seasonal pond. Surveyed in 2017, its outline shape is unevenly rounded on the western end. Its appearance, with small scarped edges, suggest it was hand dug and large boulders around the edge have been left in situ. The hollow measures 22 metres by 17 metres but is only 0.5 metres deep. An alignment of small stones in the base of the hollow may be a more recent addition. There is no indication as to where material removed from the hollow was dumped. Cannot be confirmed for certain as a dewpond and no evidence was found for this ever having been the site of a ring cairn, as previously suggested. Recorded as Black Pool in 1912. Included in Greeves' list (2019) of 'sacred pools', with potentially prehistoric origins."
Nearby sites: SX 76757 87350
Distance: 1.92km

Butterdon Hill (nr. Moretonhampstead) Standing Stone

Butterdon Hill (nr. Moretonhampstead) Standing Stone

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Walk: The Neolithic tombs of Cuckoo Ball & Corringdon Ball
OS Map: SX 74784 88403
HER: MDV8278
Megalithic Portal: 33950
PMD: Butterdon Down Standing Stone
Alternate name: Butterdon Down Standing Stone
ShortName: SS Butterdon
Notes: Standing stone - prob. prehistoric. An upright stone, stands at the west edge of Butterdon Down, Moretonhampstead, beside the public footpath, 600 yards from Cranbrook Farm. It is between six and seven feet high and of slightly curved slab shape. Ref: Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries 31 1970 pp. 225-26.
Nearby sites: SX 74784 88403
Distance: 0.55km

Cranbrook Castle  Fort

Cranbrook Castle Fort

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: 1.50km

Giant's Grave Cairn

Giant's Grave Cairn

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Mardon Down Stone Circle & Cairns
OS Map: SX 76768 87459
HER: MDV8309
Megalithic Portal: 22314
Alternate name: Mardon Down Giant's Grave 4 Cairn
ShortName: CN GiantsGrave
Butler Vol 5: p.147 & Fig.89
DPD page: 149
Grinsell: MOR 3
Notes: Remains of a cairn which was largely destroyed in the early 19th century when material from it was removed for road building. Now a turf-covered mound 20.5 metres diameter and 0.6 metres high.
Nearby sites: SX 76768 87459
Distance: 1.86km

Mardon Down Stone Ring Cairn Circle

Mardon Down Stone Ring Cairn Circle

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Mardon Down Stone Circle & Cairns
OS Map: SX 76729 87264
HER: MDV19003
Megalithic Portal: 22313
PMD: Mardon Down Cairn 1
Alternate name: Mardon Down Ring Cairn 2 Stone Ring Cairn Circle
ShortName: RC Mardon 2
DPD page: 149
Turner: A36
Notes: "Stone ring with central cairn. Outer ring measures 12.0 metres in diameter with bank 1.5 metres wide and 0.3 metres high. Central cairn 5.0 metres in diameter and 0.4 metres high with disturbance on its western side. Outer ring has 2.5 metre wide entrance on the east."
Nearby sites: SX 76729 87264
Distance: 1.96km

Mardon Down Embanked Cairn Circle

Mardon Down Embanked Cairn Circle

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Mardon Down Stone Circle & Cairns
OS Map: SX 76744 87691
HER: MDV8308
Megalithic Portal: 3375
Alternate name: Mardon Down Pillared Circle 5 Embanked Cairn Circle
ShortName: CC Mardon 5
Butler Vol 5: p.150 & Fig.92
DPD page: 149
Grinsell: MOR 1
Turner: B6
Notes: Impressive cairn circle with a well preserved ring of large pillars surrounded by an outer kerb ring of smaller slabs on their edges. The cairn is 11m. in diameter and 0.5m. high, with a well preserved cairn circle comprising a 9.0m. diameter circle of spaced uprights averaging 0.8m. high, with kerbing between. Unlike the stone circle it is marked on the OS Okehampton and North Dartmoor Landranger map (Sheet 191). It is easy to confuse this cairn with the less well preserved stone circle which is a few hundred metres to the south. Turner B6.
Nearby sites: SX 76744 87691
Distance: 1.71km

Mardon Down (E) Stone Ring Cairn Circle

Mardon Down (E) Stone Ring Cairn Circle

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Mardon Down Stone Circle & Cairns
OS Map: SX 76894 87602
HER: MDV12771
Megalithic Portal: 45824
ShortName: RC Mardon East
Butler Vol 5: p.147 & Fig.89
DPD page: 149
Turner: A10
Notes: "Circular earthwork, possibly a ring cairn, the north-west corner of which has been destroyed where it abuts a footpath. Internal diameter 13.3 metres with a bank 2.5 metres wide and 0.6 metres high."
Nearby sites: SX 76894 87602
Distance: 1.88km

Mardon Down S.E. of Giants Grave Cairn Circle

Mardon Down S.E. of Giants Grave Cairn Circle

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Mardon Down Stone Circle & Cairns
OS Map: SX 76774 87432
HER: MDV8310
Megalithic Portal: 22315
Alternate name: Mardon Down Cairn 3 Cairn Circle
ShortName: CC Mardon 3
Butler Vol 5: p.147 & Fig.89
Grinsell: MOR 4
Notes: NMR C. Cairn 32.0 metres south-east of Giant's Grave. 11.0 metres diameter, 0.7 metres high with traces of a retaining circle on the south-west side.
Nearby sites: SX 76774 87432
Distance: 1.88km

Maximajor Stone Standing Stone

Maximajor Stone Standing Stone

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Mardon Down Stone Circle & Cairns
OS Map: SX 77076 87818
HER: MDV8281
Megalithic Portal: 22324
PMD: Headless Cross Standing Stone
ShortName: SS Maximajor
Notes: Situated on Mardon Moor, the Headless Cross, or Maximajor Stone, despite its name, was never a cross. It was a megalith although apparently the current stone is a replacement for the original which was damaged beyond repair by a car. See also: Legendary Dartmoor: The Maximajor Stone
Nearby sites: SX 77076 87818
Distance: 1.94km

Prestonbury Castle Fort Fort

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: 1.55km

Wooston Castle Fort Fort

Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Walk: The Neolithic tombs of Cuckoo Ball & Corringdon Ball
OS Map: SX 76486 89673
HER: MDV8292
Megalithic Portal: 7767
Alternate name: Wooston Castle Fort
ShortName: FT:Wooston
Notes: "Wooston Castle comprises a defensive enclosure approached through a series of outworks which extend for up to 200 metres from east to west. From south to north the whole complex covers some 500 metres, at the northern extremity the defences lie within 50 metres of a precipitous drop to the River Teign."
Nearby sites: SX 76486 89673
Distance: 1.60km

Page last updated 18/02/24