Piles Hill Double Stone Row and Cairns

This site is featured on the Ivybridge 1: East Erme - Butterdon Hill, Piles Hill, Glasscombe Corner & Corrington Ball walk. These photos were taken on Piles Hill (SX65356105 Butler Vol. 4. Map 54: 19). The Piles Hill Double Stone Row is located a very short distance beyond the cairns featured in the first two photos. The row is easy to miss as the stones are all lying flat near the railway trackway but they can be easily located due to their proximity to the cairns. It is worth quoting Butler on this site:

"The double stone row across the north end of Piles Hill would have been by far the most imposing of those that have survived on the moor, exceeded by few others in the country and comparable in scale with the great alignments at Carnac. If it had been recognised in the last century no doubt the Dartmoor Exploration Committee would have arranged for its restoration, as its present condition is far from impressive."

Of the 120 remaining stones only 12 remain earthfast (west of the trackway) and these are all tilted far to one side. The rest are lying flat mostly where they fell with the long axis aligned along the row. About 10 of the stones have broken into two or more pieces which does not appear to have been done by stone cutters - Butler suggests that lightning could have been the cause. The stones average 1.6 m in length but 26 of them are huge at over 2 m long. The row is aligned east to west, unlike the 4 major long rows in the area that are aligned north to south, namely; Butterdon Hill, Burford, Stalldown and Erme rows. The two rows are both thought to have originally had around 150 stones each. The row curves and alters course fairly sharply along its length. There are no discernable terminal cairns at either end of the rows.

These photos were taken on the 18^th April 2011.

See also: Guide to Dartmoor Stone Rows

Bibliography & references

Butler, J. Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Vol. 4. - The South-East (Devon Books, 1993)

Piles Hill Cairns

Piles Hill Double Stone Row