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Down Ridge
Date Added: 2nd Oct 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 11th Apr 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3
Down Ridge submitted by TheCaptain on 15th Apr 2019. Approaching from the northwest
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Log Text: I am not really sure what to make of this, the remains of which are on sloping ground on the northeastern flank of Down Ridge above Hexworthy, just above the enclosed areas below. There is not a huge amount left, and much of that is at the uphill side, large slabs set on their long sides, several of which are adjacent to each other sort of making a solid wall. There are also a couple of standing stones forming part of the same arc, indicating a diameter of about 25 metres. On the lower side of the circle are several fallen slabs, which seem to have been moved about and not in their original positions. It's all a bit sad really, I would like to have seen this in better condition. The views over to the north and east over the river Dart are fabulous.
Joan Ford Newtake E
Date Added: 2nd Oct 2020
Site Type: Cairn
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 11th Apr 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 2
Joan Ford Newtake E submitted by TheCaptain on 16th Apr 2019. The cairn has a well defined circular structure, with the wall built over the northern side, but leaving the large central cist clear. The cairn has a clear 8 metre diameter kerb of stones around the outside.
Here looking west.
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Log Text: From here it was unclear whether I should procede along the northern wall on the inside, or the outside in order to find the Joan Ford Newtake E cairn and cist. I went down the outside, and found the remains of the cairn after about a hundred yards, but on the inside of the wall. I got a boot full of boggy water in my attempt to get to the wall and take pictures, and there was no way I was going to get over the wall and barbed wire fence from here, so it was back to the gateway and along the wall again, this time on the inside. The cairn is a well defined circular structure, with the wall built over the northern side, but leaving the large central cist clear. The cairn has a clear 8 metre diameter kerb of stones around the outside, and all four sides of the cist remain, as well as the displaced capstone. I stopped to have my sandwich for lunch. Since leaving Sherberton Farm, I had not seen anybody all day until an RAF Hawk flew right above me at about 50 feet with a wing waggle!
Sherberton circle
Date Added: 2nd Oct 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 11th Apr 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3
Sherberton circle submitted by TheCaptain on 18th Apr 2019. The gateway at the southwestern corner of the field. Some significant stones which were once probably part of the circle.
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Log Text: None
Yar Tor SE
Date Added: 2nd Oct 2020
Site Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 11th Apr 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3
Yar Tor SE submitted by TheCaptain on 6th May 2019. The Yar Tor triple stone row is much clearer to see than I remember it being decades ago, when I can barely remember finding much at all.
Almost certainly what has become known as the Yar Tor SE rows is a section of the main triple row which has become separated from the main part of the rows.
Looking all aound at the top end, by the moneypit cairn, I could find nothing of another set of rows, but I didn't spend too long looking and the gorse here was vicious!
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Log Text: The Yar Tor triple stone row is much clearer to see than I remember it being decades ago, when I can barely remember finding much at all. Almost certainly what has become known as the Yar Tor SE rows is a section of the main triple row which has become separated from the main part of the rows. Looking all aound at the top end, by the moneypit cairn, I could find nothing of another set of rows, but I didn't spend too long looking and the gorse here was vicious!
Yar Tor NW
Date Added: 2nd Oct 2020
Site Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 11th Apr 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3
Yar Tor NW submitted by TheCaptain on 6th May 2019. The Yar Tor triple stone row is much clearer to see than I remember it being decades ago, when I can barely remember finding much at all. This has been helped by a lot of clearance of gorse etc.
This is a view near the upper end, where the stones start to be visible again, seperated from the top section which may or may not be the rows referred to as Yar Tor SE.
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Log Text: The Yar Tor triple stone row is much clearer to see than I remember it being decades ago, when I can barely remember finding much at all. This has been helped by a lot of clearance of gorse etc. I followed the ruined triple row downhill to the north, and was pretty sure I could make out remnants of it right up to the field wall at SX67977427, further than I have seen mentioned anywhere else.
Joan Ford Newtake W
Date Added: 2nd Oct 2020
Site Type: Cairn
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 11th Apr 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 2
Joan Ford Newtake W submitted by Bladup on 19th Jan 2016. Joan Ford Newtake W, A little circle with a wall going though it and incorporating two stones. No trace of an internal cist.
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Log Text: Having decided to walk further than the short loop, and to visit the Joan Forn Newtake and cross at the Swincome waterworks, I proceeded out across the moor in a west and southwest direction. Leaving the hardened trackway, I headed up to the hilltop on the way to the enclosure, and noted what were probably cairns, or perhaps hut circles. From there over to the corner of the enclosure wall with its gated entrance, at which I noted some reasonably sized stones, but stupidly didn't realise these were the remains of the Joan Ford Newtake W cairn circle, and didn't take pictures.
Dunnabridge Pound
Date Added: 2nd Oct 2020
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 11th Apr 2019. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5
Dunnabridge Pound submitted by h_fenton on 27th Apr 2010. Dunnabridge Pound from the air.
Kite Aerial Photograph
7 April 2010 @ 9am
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Log Text: The Judges Chair in deep shadow, so no good for photos, but a nice little sit down
Money Pit cairn
Date Added: 2nd Oct 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 11th Apr 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4
Money Pit cairn submitted by Bladup on 17th Jan 2015. Money Pit cairn.
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Log Text: Looking lovely in the late afternoon sun
Yar Tor Summit
Date Added: 2nd Oct 2020
Site Type: Cairn
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 11th Apr 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3
Yar Tor Summit submitted by AngieLake on 8th Mar 2005. Yar Tor Summit Cairn sits at 416m, overlooking a beautiful area of mid-Dartmoor. This view is of the approach from the south.
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Log Text: Such a lovely day, I decided to go up to the top of Yar Tor to take in the views, despite my legs aching a bit by now. The top of the southern part of the tor has a clear ancient cairn built on top, but this has been made into a spiral shape, I believe during wartime when it was used as a lookout shelter. While stood at the top of Yar Tor, a couple of Wokka-Wokkas flew up the Dart valley below me before heading up the valley towards Princetown and over the moor. Strange to see them from above!
Ouldsbroom Cross
Date Added: 2nd Oct 2020
Site Type: Ancient Cross
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 11th Apr 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5
Ouldsbroom Cross submitted by cazzyjane on 29th Nov 2014. Ouldsbroom Cross in the evening sun.
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Log Text: None
Al Hili Archaeological park
Date Added: 29th Oct 2019
Site Type: Museum
Country: United Arab Emirates
Visited: Yes on 31st Mar 2019
Al Hili Archaeological park submitted by TheCaptain on 31st Mar 2019. The great tomb of Hili is 12m diameter which has been rebuilt. The inhabitants of South-East of Arabia once lived in dried earth brick houses in the sun and buried their dead in collective graves built in stone. The tombs belong to the umm al-nar culture, from-2 600 /-2 000.
Pic from Portail des Mégalithes de la Francophonie and www.abudhabidesertsafari.ae/hili-archaeological-garden-abu-dhabi
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Log Text: None
Butterdon Down Cairns
Date Added: 28th Sep 2020
Site Type: Barrow Cemetery
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 4th Mar 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3
Butterdon Down Cairns submitted by TheCaptain on 4th Mar 2019. On the top of Butterdon Hill are remains of several cairns.
Looking southeast with Mardon Down on the horizon.
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Log Text: Being such a beautiful day, I walk up to the top of Butterdon Hill, much of which is covered in Gorse, and it’s a bit of a struggle to get to the actual top the way I have approached it. Once on top, it is obvious that there are remains of several cairns up here, and many more of the ancient boundary type constructions, some of which also have large side set slabs within them. The views from up here are fabulous, and its like being up here on a summer day rather than in February. The sky is all a bit hazy, and its obvious there are several fires burning, I suspect from burning of the gorse and bracken.
Cranbrook Castle
Date Added: 28th Sep 2020
Site Type: Hillfort
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 26th Feb 2019
Cranbrook Castle submitted by TheCaptain on 28th Feb 2019. Cranbrook Castle as seen from Butterdon Down
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Log Text: Cranbrook Castle hillfort can be seen to the northwest of Butterdon Down. I decide that with it only being February, and with it getting dark by 5:00pm, I will not visit, but go for a pint in the Union Inn at Moretomhampstead before heading out to Houndtor.
Butterdon Down West
Date Added: 28th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 26th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 3
Butterdon Down West submitted by TheCaptain on 28th Feb 2019. Heading around the hillside until I find the stone, my first view of it being nothing like I was expecting, a tall thin curved shape presenting itself to me.
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Log Text: Crikey, an easy to reach Dartmoor standing stone which has no pictures on the Portal, so I'd better go visit it. It's not the easiest place to park at Butterdon, but I find somewhere not blocking anything, and it’s a beautiful spot. Walk westwards up the lovely, almost tunnel like bridleway before getting onto the open downland, and head around the hillside until I find the stone, my first view of it being nothing like I was expecting, a tall thin curved shape presenting itself to me. The stone is taller than me, being just over 2 metres tall, and a nice granite slab, crystals sparkling in the bright sunlight, and a good crop of lichen hair on top.
About 40 metres south from the stone is a fairly large triangular slab standing on edge. A closer look at this, and I am not convinced it is an old standing stone, perhaps more of a large slab once making up part of a reave or boundary, as it looks to be in a fairly straight line of some kind with many more large stones present. Further walking around on this hillide, and it is seen that there are lots of these stones over the place, and fairly obviously many of them being in straight rows with each other.
The Giant's Grave Mardon Down
Date Added: 28th Sep 2020
Site Type: Cairn
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 26th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3
The Giant's Grave Mardon Down submitted by TheCaptain on 6th Mar 2019. At the top of Mardon Down is a fairly large cleared area, but the Giant's Grave cairn is very disappointing, being not much more than a large bumpy area of ground of about 20m diameter. It certainly doesn't live up to its name.
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Log Text: At the top of the hill, and there is a fairly large cleared green area, but the Giant's Grave cairn is very disappointing, being not much more than a large bumpy area of ground, of about 20m diameter. It certainly doesn't live up to its name.
Mardon Down Cairn 3
Date Added: 28th Sep 2020
Site Type: Cairn
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 26th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3
Mardon Down Cairn 3 submitted by TheCaptain on 6th Mar 2019. Just south of the Giant's Grave is a smaller, but much clearer cairn, about 10m diameter and still with some semblance of a retaining circle of stones.
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Log Text: Just south of the Giant's Grave is a smaller, but much more clear to see cairn, about 10m diameter and still with some semblance of a retaining circle of stones.
Mardon Down Cairn 1
Date Added: 28th Sep 2020
Site Type: Cairn
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 26th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3
Mardon Down Cairn 1 submitted by TheCaptain on 5th Apr 2019. Just south of the circle is what at first looks like a pile of large stones, but upon investigation is the remains of a cairn with much of the remains of a circle of surrounding stones, with four large blocks at its southern side, and a large slab just on the outside, probably once the capstone to an internal cist.
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Log Text: Just south of the circle is what at first looks like a pile of large stones, but upon investigation is the remains of a cairn with much of the remains of a circle of surrounding stones, and with four large blocks at its southern side, and a large slab just on the outside, probably once the capstone to an internal cist. This is a nice monument. I continue on southwards to get a look at the wonderful views from the edge of the hill all the way round from the east through the deep valleys to the south and out to the west with the heights of the main bulk of Dartmoor. There are a lot of fires out there today, I suspect from burning off of the gorse and bracken.
Marden Down East
Date Added: 28th Sep 2020
Site Type: Ring Cairn
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 26th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4
Marden Down East submitted by TheCaptain on 4th Mar 2019. Heading up to the top of Mardon Hill from the Headless Cross, and about halfway up there is a recently cleared area by the path, with the clear remains of a ring cairn, which I was not expecting to see from my quick look in Butler before heading off for the day.
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Log Text: Heading southwest up to the top of Mardon Hill, and about halfway up there is a recently cleared area by the path, with the clear remains of a ring cairn which I was not expecting to see from my quick look in Butler before heading off for the day, which basically states that there are probably other cairns on the down, but the whole hill is overgrown with gorse and bracken making everything hard to find! This pattern held for the rest of my visit, as the local commoners have taken it upon themselves to hunt down and clear the large amount of archaeology there is to be found here, from cairns and the stone circle, through reaves, right through to mortar pits, trenches and even railway making exercises carried out by the American soldiers based here before the D-Day invasions.
Mardon Down Ring Cairn
Date Added: 28th Sep 2020
Site Type: Ring Cairn
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 26th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3
Mardon Down Ring Cairn submitted by TheCaptain on 6th Mar 2019. In places there are some semblances of structure.
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Log Text: A bit further south along the ridgetop pathway is a large open green area to the west, with the fairly clear remains of a large 20m diameter ring cairn, looking much like a saucer. Much of this cairn has been ruined, but in places there are some semblances of structure. On the eastern side of the pathway here is another recently cleared area which looks to have a cairn located within it, a circular pile of stones with a deep hole in the middle, surrounded by a bank of earth and stones, which all looks too recent and certainly not prehistoric, unless it has perhaps been recently excavated and left without backfilling. I wondered whether it was perhaps a shooting hide, but learned later that it was a mortar pit, made by troops based here in the build up to D Day during the second world war.
Mardon Down S
Date Added: 28th Sep 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 26th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3
Mardon Down S submitted by TheCaptain on 25th Mar 2019. View across Mardone Down stone circle. I was slightly surprised to find it so cleared of all the gorse, and easy to find.
Who could believe this was February on Dartmoor !
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Log Text: Further south along the ridgetop path, and I arrive at a large wide open green area, where I can see the remains of the stone circle extending around the exterior. The first part I get to has another of what looks like a little cairn right on the circumference of the circle, but again the hole in the centre looking too deep and recent. I initially wonder whether I can see the remains of a sort of cist capstone at one place, but which later I wonder whether it is one of the remaining circle stones fallen and buried here. The circle is the largest on Dartmoor at 38 metres diameter and clear to see, but in a very ruinous state, with only 2 or 3 stones still standing of what was probably once between 60 and 70. There is still a nice arc of stones on the southeast side, with one still standing and a large fallen block. Opposite to this on the northwest side is another good arc, with one very interesting shaped large slab still standing, and a couple more a bit further round. I dont get great feelings here, probably as its all pretty much wrecked, and too easy to find. Perhaps it would have been more atmospheric it it was all still hidden and lurking within the gorse. This gorse was still surruounding the whole circle, preventing seeing any of the fabulous views available from elsewhere on the hill.