Mardon Down Stone Circle

Database entries

PDW coverage: Dartmoor Site: Mardon Down Stone Circle & Cairns
OS Map: SX 76764 87203
OS Source: Google
HER: MDV8289
Megalithic Portal: 3376
PMD: Mardon Down Stone Circle
Alternate name: Mardon Down
Short Name: SC Mardon Down
Butler Vol 5: p.148 & Fig.90
Turner: G1
DPD page: 149
Exist: Yes
Record: Unique
Record Source: PDW
Cairn Class: No
Dimensions (m): 38.0
Lidar: SX 76764 87203
Nearby sites: SX 76764 87203

Notes

Mardon Down stone circle is the biggest by circumference on Dartmoor with a diameter of 38m. The site would have been impressive in its day and is one of the only ones sited on the top of high ground and has a fine view of the surrounding area. Today the circle is fairly dilapidated. Six stones remain upright and another 16 lie roughly in place. There are two massive megaliths one of which is on the north-western part of the circle. A short arc of seven stones remains in position on the south-east of the circle. The circle was first described by Dr Milles in 1772 who reported around 70 stones. Butler suggests it probably originally consisted of around 61 stones many of which are probably buried under the peat where they originally fell although some have no doubt been robbed out.

References

These are selected references with an emphasis on out of copyright sources linked as PDFs. For more detailed references try any linked HER or PMD record above.

• Butler, Jeremy, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities, vol.5: The Second Millennium B.C., (1997)
• Newman, Phil, A Stone Circle and Cairn Group on Mardon Down, Moretonhampstead, Devon An Earthwork Survey, Southwest Landscape Investigations (2017)
• Turner, J.R., Ring Cairns, stone circles and related monuments on Dartmoor, D.A.S.P. No.48 pp.27-86 (1990)