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 60330 78092
HER: MDV14690
Megalithic Portal: 42853
PMD: Lydford Tor
Alternate name: Lydford Tor E. Platform Cairn Circle and Cist
ShortName: CT Beardown
Butler map: 29.17
Butler Vol 5: p.197 & Fig.140
DPD page: 109
Grinsell: LYD 41a
Turner: E27
Notes: "The cairn, 4.5 metres by 5.6 metres and 0.4 metres high has spread over the remains of a contiguous kerb 4.6 metres in diameter." ... "Three of the cist slabs lean inwards at the top, the fourth, east slab remains upright. The bottom of the cist contains several slabs. The coverstone is visible to the north west partially buried in the cairn." Lethbridge diagram p.107, photo top p.109. Butler Lydford Tor E Vol. 5. Map 29.17 (diagram Vol 5. p.197).
Nearby sites: SX 60330 78092
Distance: 1.98km
OS Map: SX 59616 79634
HER: MDV4200
Megalithic Portal: 4144
PMD: Beardown Man Standing Stone
ShortName: SS BeardownMan
Butler map: 29.15
Butler Vol 5: p.220
DPD page: 108
Notes: A Bronze Age standing stone measuring 3.4m high, 1m by 0.4m in section and in good condition. One of the few isolated menhirs on Dartmoor. See also, Legendary Dartmoor: Dartmoor's Beardown Man. Lethbridge diagram p.107, photo p.108.
Nearby sites: SX 59616 79634
Distance: 0.83km
OS Map: SX 58591 79076
HER: MDV4592
Megalithic Portal: 1846
The Stone Rows of GB: Conies Down
PMD: Conies Down Stone Row
ShortName: SR ConiesDown
Butler map: 30.11
DPD page: 107
Notes: "The Conies Down stone row is oriented a few degrees west of north-south and is 145m long. Originally a double alignment of stones, only three pairs of upright stones now survive. There are a total of 17 upright and 15 recumbent stones. The average gap between stones is 10m and between the pairs the gap is some 1.4m wide". Lethbridge diagram p.107.
Nearby sites: SX 58591 79076
Distance: 0.39km
OS Map: SX 60531 78683
HER: MDV5938
Megalithic Portal: 45775
PMD: Crow Tor
ShortName: CT Crow Tor
Butler map: 29.18
Butler Vol 5: p.196 & Fig.139
DPD page: 109
Grinsell: LYD 41
Turner: E39
Notes: "A kerbed cairn and cist. The cairn consists of a stony, turf-covered mound, and measures 4.5m in diameter and 0.45m in height. There are traces of a retaining kerb of leaning, granite slabs to the northeast and south. The cist is set slightly to the north of the centre of the cairn. It is trapezoidal in shape, and measures 0.65m and 0.95m in length, 0.8m in width, and 0.5m in depth. The cover-stone, which is 0.9m long, 0.5m wide and 0.2m thick, is displaced and lies just to the south east of the cist." Lethbridge diagram p.107, photo bottom p.109. Butler Vol. 2. Map 29.18 (p.63, photo on p.124, diagram Vol. 5. p.196).
Nearby sites: SX 60531 78683
Distance: 1.84km
OS Map: SX 58831 79380
HER: MDV4216
Megalithic Portal: 45815
PMD: Maiden Hill
Alternate name: Conies Down Summit Cist
ShortName: CT:MaidenHill
Butler map: 30.11
Butler Vol 5: p.158 & Fig.28
DPD page: 108
Grinsell: LYD 32
Notes: Maybe natural rather than a cist. "large turf-covered cairn which has been dug into from its southern edge. No stones are visible in the saucer-shape depression in the centre but a setting of three slabs near the northern edge may be the sides of a cist which contained a secondary burial inserted at a later date into the side of the mound" (Butler). Lethbridge diagram p.107, photo p.108. Butler Vol 2 30.11 p. 77. See very useful notes on Megalithic Portal.
Nearby sites: SX 58831 79380
Distance: 0.00km
Page last updated 18/02/24