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 61535 62804
HER: MDV4276
Megalithic Portal: 45691
PMD: Dendles Waste
Alternate name: Dendles Waste S. Ring Setting Cairn and Cist
ShortName: CT Dendles 1
Butler map: 52.15
DPD page: 64
Grinsell: COR 14
Turner: D19
Barrow Report: 43
Notes: "The circle, consists of eight flat slabs, set on edge and has an internal diameter of approximately 3.4m. Some of the stones from the western quadrant of the circle are missing; a single earthfast stone is all that survives. The rectangular cist lies roughly centrally within the circle and is oriented E to W. It measures 1.2m long by 0.6m and 0.5m deep with slabs still in place both sides". Lethbridge diagram p.63, photo p.64. Butler Dendles Waste S. - Vol. 3. Map 52.15 (diagram p.194).
Nearby sites: SX 61535 62804
Distance: 1.35km
OS Map: SX 62446 62645
HER: MDV4269
Megalithic Portal: 45746
PMD: Harrowthorn Plantation
Alternate name: Coombe Brook N.E. Cist
ShortName: CT Harrowthorn
Butler map: 52.11
DPD page: 66
Grinsell: COR 15
Barrow Report: 58
Notes: "A cist lies 700 yards north of Harrowthorn Plantation and a few feet west of the track from Watercombe Moorgate to Ranny Brook. Only the two side stones and the eastern end stone remain. The structure is unusual in that the southern side stone is an earth fast boulder, an approximately vertical face of which forms a side of the cist." Lethbridge p.66. diagram p.65 Ranny Brook Cist 3. Butler Coombe Brook N.E. - Vol. 3. Map 52.11. Located 200m due east up hill of the Coome Brook enclosure.
Nearby sites: SX 62446 62645
Distance: 1.66km
OS Map: SX 605 627
HER: MDV4362
Megalithic Portal: 45579
ShortName: ES:HighHouse
DPD page: 63
Notes: "Scattered settlement of at least 12 circular huts, some of them being very large. Possibly Romano-British as opposed to the Bronze Age/Iron Age settlements nearby. Later rectangular house on south edge of area". Lethbridge p.63-64 Hut Circle with largest door jambs (over 4 foot tall) on Dartmoor.
Nearby sites: SX 605 627
Distance: 1.44km
OS Map: SX 59827 62268
HER: MDV2402
Megalithic Portal: 45617
PMD: Penn Beacon 2
Alternate name: Penn Beacon S.2 Platform Cairn Circle
ShortName: PC:Penn Beac 2
Butler map: 52.14.2
Grinsell: COR 4
Turner: E7
Notes: A tumulus with a retaining circle, in poor condition. Diameter 12m, height 0.5m. "A cairn, about forty feet in diameter, from which almost all the stones have been removed and the central cist destroyed. It was surrounded by a circle of upright stones from one to three feet high, and to the west a row of two pairs of stones."
Nearby sites: SX 59827 62268
Distance: 1.64km
OS Map: SX 59924 62928
HER: MDV2404
Megalithic Portal: 45853
Alternate name: Penn Beacon Summit Cairn
ShortName: CN PennBeacon
Butler map: 52.14
Butler Vol 5: p.157 & Fig.96
Grinsell: COR 2
Barrow Report: 14
Notes: "A round cairn, 22 metres in diameter and 1.7 metres high, lies on the summit of Penn Beacon, at 430 metres above O.D. It is of small boulders and has been much disturbed, with a central hollow, 8 metres in diameter and 0.8 metres deep, and a modern marker cairn, 1 metre high, on the south side". Lethbridge p.62-3 suggests possible ruins of chambered cairn (diagram p.59).
Nearby sites: SX 59924 62928
Distance: 1.98km
OS Map: SX 59947 62553
HER: MDV2400
Megalithic Portal: 2076
The Stone Rows of GB: Penn Beacon South
PMD: Penn Beacon Stone Row
Alternate name: Penn Beacon S Stone Row
ShortName: SR Penn Beac S
Butler map: 52.14
DPD page: 62
Notes: "A single stone row, sixty-six feet long, the largest stone being about 2 1/2 feet high. This row is no more than a remnant". Lethbridge p.62 Penn stone row - diagram p.59.
Nearby sites: SX 59947 62553
Distance: 1.70km
OS Map: SX 6023 6153
HER: MDV132245
Megalithic Portal: 3445
Alternate name: Rook Tor 2 Cairn Circle
ShortName: CC:Rook Tor 2
Butler map: 52.8
Notes: Butler refers to a possible cairn at SX 6023 6153 a semi-circle of slabs amongst the rocks of Rook Tor are obviously artificially set - remains suggest the site of a cairn, entirely demolished but for the retaining circle. (Butler Vol. 3. p.182).
Turner lists a Rook Tor site (G21) 1km away at SX 6127 6148: 10 stones standing, one a boulder. Are there two seprate features or does one auth have the wrong grid reference? See also: Rook Tor 1
Nearby sites: SX 6023 6153
Distance: 1.04km
OS Map: SX 6127 6148
HER: MDV49463
Megalithic Portal: 3445
ShortName: CC:Rook Tor 1
Turner: G21
Notes: Turner G21: 10 stones standing, one a boulder (Turner). The closest possible NMR entry that could fit refers to natural boulders. Butler refers to a possible cairn at SX60236153 a semi-circle of slabs amongst the rocks of Rook Tor are obviously artificially set - remains suggest the site of a cairn, entirely demolished but for the retaining circle. (Butler Vol. 3. p.182). Are there two features separated by 1 km or is there an error in one of these grid references? See also: Rook Tor 2
Nearby sites: SX 6127 6148
Distance: 0.00km
OS Map: SX 59763 62760
HER: MDV2401
ShortName: ST:Penn BeacSW
Notes: Enclosure with hut circles on Cholwich Town contour reave.
Nearby sites: SX 59763 62760
Distance: 1.98km
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Stalldown Stone Row
OS Map: SX 62833 62327
HER: MDV13234
Megalithic Portal: 45791
PMD: Stall Moor W.
Alternate name: Stalldown W.11 Platform Cairn Circle and Cist
ShortName: CT Stalldown W
Butler map: 54.18.11
DPD page: 67
Grinsell: COR 11c
Turner: E30
Notes: "This small round cairn, diameter 5.7 to 6.4m, height 0.5m, is built of small boulders ... It contains a cist, the south side stone, 1.2m long, both end stones, 0.4m long ...On the south side of the cairn 3 large stones, 0.8m to 1.0m long and set on edge are the probable remains of a kerb". Lethbridge pp.65-67. diagram p.65 Cist 4, photo p.67. Butler Stalldown W. (Cairn 11) - Vol. 4. Map 54.18.11 (p.61-2 diagram p.62).
Nearby sites: SX 62833 62327
Distance: 1.78km
Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks: Dartmoor Site: Stalldown Stone Row
OS Map: SX 63176 61737
Megalithic Portal: 531
PMD: Staldon Stone Row
ShortName: CC StallTermin
Butler Vol 5: p.20 & Fig.2
Notes: Unconfirmed terminal cairn. Not listed on HER or NMR
Nearby sites: SX 63176 61737
Distance: 1.92km
Page last updated 18/02/24