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

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 row

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 2

Log Text: Three slabs stand in a row on the slopes to the northwest of the Swincombe waterworks lake. This is an uncertain site, and it is not like any other prehistoric stone row on Dartmoor. I wondered whether it was part of some ancient settlement or industrial works, of which there are many in this area.

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

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!

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

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.

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

Log Text: None

Sherberton Row

Date Added: 2nd Oct 2020
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 11th Apr 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Very little remains of this stone row, just to the north of the Sherberton stone circle. A few little stumps of stone can be found, but not enough to determine either end, or even whether it is a single or double row. I counted 11 stones. WP61 at north end.

Bowerman's Nose

Date Added: 28th Sep 2020
Site Type: Rock Outcrop Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 26th Feb 2019. My rating: Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Drive down from Hound Tor passing Bowerman's Nose, but the sun has now gone, so decide not to go out to the fabulous looking rock column. One for another time. The drive down this little road is splendid, part of it being gated (I'd forgotten the joys of gated roads!), part through a stream bed , some over open common and some through woodland.

Hound Tor Ring Cairn

Date Added: 28th Sep 2020
Site Type: Ring Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 26th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: From the top of Hound Tor, I make my way south to look for the cairn and cist, but it is easy to find with obvious pathways leading to it. It is a splendid thing, about two thirds of a circle of contiguous surrounding stones with remains of a large cist box in the centre. I sit here for a fair while watching the sunlight fading on the Hound Tor rocks before heading back to the car.

Hound Tor Enclosure

Date Added: 28th Sep 2020
Site Type: Causewayed Enclosure Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 26th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Being such a beautiful day, I walk up to the top of Hound Tor before the sun goes down. Beautiful up here in the low sunlight. With views all around. I even climb up to the top of the bare granite rock tor, grazing my fingers on the rough stone in the process. I am a bit wary of being up here alone, and my legs are giving a bit of trouble getting down, but it was worth it. Didn't see much of an enclosure here, but wasn't looking for one to be honest.

Cranbrook Castle

Date Added: 28th Sep 2020
Site Type: Hillfort Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 26th Feb 2019

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 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

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.

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

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.

Mardon Down N

Date Added: 28th Sep 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 26th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Approaching from the hilltop ridge path down to the northern circle, and the standing pillars of it make a splendid sight against the distant fields and forests. I am not sure what to make of it, is it a stone circle, a cairn with a surrouding circle of stones, or perhaps even a large roundhouse with large pillars incorporated ? There seems to be a double faced ring of edge set slabs, with half a dozen upright pillars incorporated. Now I am home and reading my Butler, it seems he is not sure what to make of it either, stating "it is unparalelled among the numerous cairns on the moorland massif only a short distance to the west, emphasizing the very localised nature of some cairn designs." Whatever it is, its a nice thing to visit, and i sit here listening to the skylarks and buzzards for a while before heading back down to a sandwich at the car and decide what to do next.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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 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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Headless Cross (Moretonhampstead)

Date Added: 28th Sep 2020
Site Type: Modern Stone Circle etc Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 26th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Beautiful sunny week in February, the hottest on record with 21 degrees recorded at Kew. So I decided a day on Dartmoor was required, and that I should visit Mardon Down to see the stone circle and other monuments in the vicinity, plus visit a couple of pubs. Two hours to drive down, and I was out on the moors before 12:00, having parked in a car parking area opposite what is marked as the Headless Cross. Turns out that the stone here now is a fairly modern replacement for the original stone, which was broken by either a car accident or an act of vandalism, depending on what story you see. It also seems to state that this never was a cross in the traditional sense, but probably a menhir (known as the Maximajor Stone), which acted as a guide stone in more recent times, much like many of the moorland crosses.