Cripdon Down Reported Stone Row

Database entries

OS Map: SX 73362 80749
OS Source: Garmin
HER: MDV130912
PMD: Cripdon Down
Alternate name: Cripdon Down
Short Name: SR:Cripdon
Exist: Maybe
Record: Unique
Record Source: HER
Hut Class: No
Cist Class: Maybe
Lidar: SX 73362 80749
Guide Map: 30
Nearest Bus Stop (Minor): Manaton Bus Shelter (2.2 km) [Route: 271,671]
Nearest Bus Stop (Major): Lustleigh Eastwrey Barton Hotel (5.2 km) [Route: 178,171(20/07/26 to 19/09/26)]
Nearby sites: SX 73362 80749

Notes

HER: Hemery (1983) records a stone row here, estimated at SX 735 808. Stone row, Cripdon Down. North-west of the hut circles depicted on the Ordnance Survey map (SX 78 SW 17) and west of the Cripdon Down summit pile is a single stone row, 120 yards long passing over the crest of the Down. At the northern end is a very large fallen slab (destroyed cist?). The lower, southern end has stones of a greater size than the majority, one 7 feet long could have former a blocking stone. The stones are evenly spaced and not generally large.

The author looked for this feature with Steve Szypko on 06/05/2026. The estimated grid reference SX 735 808 on the HER is to the north of the Cripdon Down summit pile. We assumed the grid reference was wrong and looked to the west and very quickly found a row of stones. It is to be found in an area overgrown with gorse which had recently been burnt back.



There are around 29 stones between SX 73362 80749 and SX 73376 80694 which are on a fairly straight line. There are another 5 between SX 73376 80681 and SX 73376 80666 which are marked in red on the plan.

Some of the stones look like plausible stones of a stone row, see photo montage above (boot in some pics for scale - the stones are reasonably large). Other stones look more typical of stones deposited to form the basis of a reave. The way the additional stones in red on the plan curve off the straight line is suggestive of this feature being a reave or the foundation for a reave. There is no indication of any terminal cairns or structures. If the feature is a reave it has mostly been reduced to the stones with no banking remaining along it's length.

We concluded this is a possible stone row but much more likely a reave.