Lakehead Hill S.W. Stone Row

Database entries

PDW coverage: Dartmoor Site: Lakehead Hill
OS Map: SX 6436 7722
OS Source: Worth
Butler OS: SX64187730
HER: MDV5844
HER 2026 URL: MDV5844
Megalithic Portal: 45595
PMD: Lakehead Hill 6 Stone Row
Alternate name: Lakehead Hill S.W.
Short Name: SR:Lakehead SW
Butler map: 27.19.14
Exist: Maybe
Record: Unique
Record Source: PDW
Hut Class: No
Lidar: SX 6436 7722
Guide Map: 28
Nearest Bus Stop: Postbridge Bellever (1.6 km) [Route: 98]
Nearby sites: SX 6436 7722

Notes

HER: Alleged Stone row recorded in 1946 but covered by a forestry plantation in 1979. At that time, 3 stones were visible, but it was uncertain whether they were part of the stone row. It may have been destroyed or covered by humus.

This record has been significantly changed and updated thanks to correspondence from Emma Cunis who observed 3 stones nearby on 04/09/2026.

The main entries in the literature on this subject before the plantation in 1979 are from R N Worth (1895) and R H Worth (1946) and Butler (1991) summarises the situation following being supposedly over-planted in 1979.

R.N. Worth (1895): On top of the hill is a line of stones running W.N.W. and E.S.E. for 100 ft. ; stones small, at even intervals. How much further not examined. End stone at right angles. This row is very doubtful. We suspect it formed an old boundary, as there are faint indications of another line at right angles to it, and because the stones have not the customary pits and "triggers." Anyhow, it is a doubtful line.

R.H. Worth (1946): A single row, 400 feet in length. Direction of length N. 220 W. Is at present to all appearance isolated, there being no cairn or barrow in the line of its direction. Position of row, s. end, Devon, 6 inch O.S., xcix, s.e., lon. 3 55' 2", lat. 50 34' 44". Approximate elevation of ground at south end 1300 feet O.D., falls slightly toward the north.

Butler (1991): Worth records a stone row on the south-west side of Lakehead Hill, 14, but this area has been overplanted and nothing now can be seen of it. The row was about 123 metres long orientated to the north-west and without any associated cairn. The number of rows on the hill before the plantation is uncertain as the records are confusing but all seem to have been single and some seem at least descend from a cairn and cist at the higher end.

Emma observed an alignment of 3 stones relatively close to the entry for this reported stone row and enquired about the origins of the record. This entry originated with Butler (27.19.14). The grid reference given by Butler (SX 6418 7730) was used on this record and corresponded to all other accounts in the literature. Supposedly the row was destroyed / over planted in 1979 which begs the question as to the origin of this grid reference given it relates to a site thought to no longer exit. Perhaps the NGR is supposition?

The current author noticed the 1946 grid reference given by R H Worth (see above) and on conversion that corresponds to SX 6436 7722 [now used for this record]. That puts the location of the southern end of this reported row around 200 metres to the south east and brings it out of the area over planted with trees and into the open [S Row in image below]. The account gives the length and orientation of the row which allows the position of the north of the row (N Row) to be determined from the 1946 record (see graphic below) giving the 1946 recorded location of the row as the purple line on the graphic. The location of dense and impassable conifers is shown by the horizontal hatching.



Plan showing survey done by author 11/09/2026 combined with Worth and butler locations.

The accuracy of 1946 grid references are debatable but given RH Worth's role this would have been the official OS map grid reference of the day and as accurate as it got at the time. It is not clear why it changed. The literature from after the 1979 plantation uses the Butler grid reference - whether that was the actual position, perhaps of the northern end of this feature or the guestimated position of where it was once recorded, perhaps with a mistake made is unclear. Either way it is deep within a heavily over planted and destroyed area which has been the narrative ever since, namely, it was destroyed.

The 3 stones in alignment found by Emma run alongside the Lych Way path in dark green on the graphic from my Garmin software. They are the first 3 on the eastern side. The orientation of the claimed "lost" stone row is almost perpendicular to this.

On 11/09/2026 the author set out to investigate this. The 3 stones in an alignment are confirmed with an additional 3 stones to the west making 6 stones and possibly a seventh slightly off alignment.

At this point there is an alignment of stones and fragmentary banking heading off parallel to the orientation of the row claimed in 1946. It is the fragmentary remains of a reave. There are also a number of loose small stones at the southern end that I have not recorded as it is impossible to tell where they came from.

References

These are selected references with an emphasis on out of copyright sources linked as PDFs. For more detailed references try any linked HER or PMD record above.

• Butler, Jeremy, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities, vol.2: The North, (1991)
• Emmett, D.D., Stone rows: the traditional view reconsidered, D.A.S.P. No.37 pp.94-114 (1979)
• Worth, R. Hansford, The Stone Rows of Dartmoor Part 1, T.D.A. Vol.78 pp.285-316 (1946)
• Worth, R.N., The Stone Rows of Dartmoor - Part 4, T.D.A. Vol.27 pp.437-442 (1895)