Hameldown N.E. Stone Row

Database entries

OS Map: SX 71481 80095
OS Source: SRGB
HER: MDV18865
Megalithic Portal: 6333472
The Stone Rows of GB: Hameldown
PMD: Berry Pound Stone Row
Alternate name: Hamel Down
Short Name: SR Hamel NE
Butler map: 20.3
Exist: Yes
Record: Unique
Record Source: PDW
Hut Class: No
Dimensions (m): 217
Lidar: SX 71481 80095
Guide Map: 29
Nearest Bus Stop (Minor): Swallerton Gate (3.4 km) [Route: 271]
Nearest Bus Stop (Major): Postbridge Bellever (6.6 km) [Route: 98]
Nearby sites: SX 71481 80095

Notes

Described in Butler Volume 1 Map 20.3. To the south of Berry Pound is a small longhouse. "Within the abandoned field 250m south of the longhouse are the probable remains of a single row first recorded in 1983. Five or six stones remain in line up to 206m apart, the rest having been removed or buried when the field was ploughed."



The author visited the site with Steve Szypko on 01/04/2026. The plan is based on Garmin waypoints taken. We used Gerrard's plan (see SRGB link) as a guide. With the stones numbered from the western cairn we could not find the fourth stone in Gerrard's plan. It is either gone or more likely now beneath the surface of the peat. In the montage of photos included is a possible stone (?) although that is very close to the reave - that is the second point in the plan slightly off the line of the row. There are 6 photos in the montage with one incorporating two of the stones, the "pair", as follows:

Stone 1 SX 71498 80100
Stone ? SX 71517 80108 (possible stone but could be from the reave)
Stone 2 SX 71548 80114 (pair)
Stone 3 SX 71554 80115 (pair)
Stone 4 SX 71599 80125 (approx. from Gerrard plan) - we could not find, so no photo and not on our plan.
Stone 5 SX 71623 80130
Stone 6 SX 71666 80143
Stone 7 SX 71699 80151

The following photo of the pair of stones (3 and 2) was taken by the author on 19-08-2017. The row is likely to be overgrown with bracken in the summer. The main photo above shows the same pair of stones and in the distance stone 1 can be seen.



There is an OS benchmark on the first stone which can just about be made out in this photo.



We looked for the cairn marked on Gerrard's plan at SX 71481 80095 but were unconvinced that the earthworks were not just a result of the meeting of sections of reave. However, it is clear from the HER entry that the account of the cairn associated with the row originates with Andrew Fleming (1982). Given Fleming was an expert on reaves maybe we were mistaken!

The other feature of interest is the nearby medieval longhouse located at SX 71438 80356 (MDV8819). The photo here is looking downhill and shows this is typically heavily overgrown. The partition wall can just be made out under the bracken die back.

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.1: The East, (1991)
• Fleming, Andrew, The Prehistoric Landscape of Dartmoor Part 2: North and East Dartmoor , Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , pp. 195 - 241 (1983)