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.
OS Map: SX 73416 75519
HER: MDV7437
Megalithic Portal: 32071
PMD: Blackslade Down
ShortName: CT Blackslade
Butler map: 9.8
Butler Vol 5: p.47 & Fig.26
DPD page: 129
Grinsell: WID 14
Barrow Report: 53 56
Notes: Butler Vol. 1. Map 9.8 (photo on p.61, diagram Vol. 5. p.47). Lethbridge diagram p.129 and photo bottom p.129.
Nearby sites: SX 73416 75519
Distance: 0.97km
OS Map: SX 73282 77812
HER: MDV127194
ShortName: PO:BonehillDn
Notes: "The pool on Bonehill Down measures 12 by 6m. One of over 40 such 'sacred' pools identified on Dartmoor that are thought to have potentially been designed during the prehistoric period."
Nearby sites: SX 73282 77812
Distance: 1.37km
OS Map: SX 737 758
HER: MDV7415
Megalithic Portal: 4623
ShortName: ST:FoalesArris
Nearby sites: SX 737 758
Distance: 0.68km
OS Map: SX 74664 75581
HER: MDV7539
Megalithic Portal: 17833
PMD: Rippon Tor Summit
Alternate name: Rippon Tor 1 Stone Ring Cairn Circle
ShortName: RC Rippon Tor
Butler map: 5.5.1
Grinsell: ILS 1
Notes: "Cairn built around tor. Diameter 25 metres, height 4.0 metres." "Ring cairn, internal diameter 4.5 metres, with bank 1.0 metre wide and 0.4 metres high. In the centre is a boulder 3.0 metres wide, 2.0 metres thick, 2.5 metres high." NMR D
Nearby sites: SX 74664 75581
Distance: 1.41km
OS Map: SX 75135 76534
HER: MDV127219
ShortName: PO:SaddleTorA
Notes: "A pool measuring 20m. One of over 40 such 'sacred' pools identified on Dartmoor that are thought to have potentially been designed during the prehistoric period. One of a group of three pools north-east of saddle Tor."
Nearby sites: SX 75135 76534
Distance: 1.56km
OS Map: SX 75172 76553
HER: MDV127220
ShortName: PO:SaddleTorB
Notes: "A pool measuring 16.5 by 14.5m. One of over 40 such 'sacred' pools identified on Dartmoor that are thought to have potentially been designed during the prehistoric period. One of a group of three pools north-east of saddle Tor."
Nearby sites: SX 75172 76553
Distance: 1.60km
OS Map: SX 75273 76526
HER: MDV127222
ShortName: PO:SaddleTorC
Notes: "A pool measuring 14 by 10m. One of over 40 such 'sacred' pools identified on Dartmoor that are thought to have potentially been designed during the prehistoric period. One of a group of three pools north-east of saddle Tor."
Nearby sites: SX 75273 76526
Distance: 1.70km
OS Map: SX 74127 76237
HER: MDV7396
Megalithic Portal: 3454
PMD: Seven Lord's Lands
Alternate name: Sevon Lords Lands Encircled Cairn
ShortName: EC 7LordsLands
Butler map: 9.10
Butler Vol 5: p.51 & Fig.29
Grinsell: WID 13
Turner: F1
Barrow Report: 53
Notes: A cairn from 0.8m. to 1.2m. high, with a minor central excavation 0.5m. deep. The kerb retaining circle extends round the west and north quadrants.
Nearby sites: SX 74127 76237
Distance: 0.60km
OS Map: SX 73574 76472
HER: MDV7455
Megalithic Portal: 32049
Alternate name: Top Tor 1 Cairn
ShortName: CN:Top Tor
Butler map: 9.7.1
Grinsell: WID 11
Notes: NMR C. "Cairns on Top Tor. Two inconspicuous cairns lie about 80 metres apart beside the track which follows the crest of the ridge on the north side of Top Tor. The cairn to the south is smaller at circa 7.5 metres diameter by 0.2 metres high and has a circle of ten slabs showing above the turf around the edge. This cairn has been reported to have a stone row running downhill to the north but the few earthfast slabs in this direction are no more numerous than elsewhere on the hillside and this seems unconvincing. Nearly 100 metres east of the southern cairn is an arc of three standing and two flat slabs representing about a quarter of a circle. The interior is quite flat except for a shallow trench but possibly the stones originally surrounded a cairn which has been completely removed. Other details: Map 9, Site 7."
Nearby sites: SX 73574 76472
Distance: 0.00km
OS Map: SX 732 758
HER: MDV7438
Megalithic Portal: 31984
ShortName: ST:TunhillRock
Nearby sites: SX 732 758
Distance: 0.77km
OS Map: SX 73353 75214
HER: MDV7537
Megalithic Portal: 32069
ShortName: CN:Wittaburrow
Butler map: 9.9.1
Grinsell: WID 15
Notes: "A large stony round cairn, south of Wittaburrow. The mound has a 25 metre diameter at base, but the structure has been much altered, probably robbed, and is now quite low in places. A ‘bite-shaped’ section is missing from the main mound on the south-eastern side where a smaller cairn, which is unlikely to be an original feature, stands within the original spread of the monument. Two large hollows have been dug into the main mound which, overall, survives in a very uneven state."
Nearby sites: SX 73353 75214
Distance: 1.28km
Page last updated 18/02/24