Featured: Current Archaeology Book of the Year 2019!

Current Archaeology Book of the Year 2019!

Stonehenge Tea Towels - Worldwide delivery

 Stonehenge Tea Towels - Worldwide delivery

Who's Online

There are currently, 142 guests and 1 members online.

You are a guest. To join in, please register for free by clicking here

Sponsors

<< Our Photo Pages >> Merrivale Cists - Burial Chamber or Dolmen in England in Devon

Submitted by thecaptain on Saturday, 06 November 2004  Page Views: 8655

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Merrivale Cists Alternative Name: Merrivale Cist 7; Butler (V3 44.8.7); Dixon 98; Grinsell Walkhampton 5
Country: England County: Devon Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Nearest Town: Princetown  Nearest Village: Merrivale
Map Ref: SX5549074762
Latitude: 50.554705N  Longitude: 4.041357W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

Internal Links:
External Links:

I have visited· I would like to visit

KieKa would like to visit

lauraaurora visited on 6th Aug 2022 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 4

lucasn visited on 27th Jun 2019 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 4

Anne T visited on 14th May 2019 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Merrivale Cist: I've seen quite a few cists, largely in Northumberland, and none this large. Impressive. I tried to persuade Janet to get into the cist to model it, but she politely declined (it would have made a nice refuge for the wind). At this point, Angie got her dowsing rods out and was meandering around the cist and the stones. Very interesting to watch.

markj99 visited on 28th Nov 2017 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 3 The cist located S of the double stone rows has a very large split capstone. The cist was filled with water on my visit.

SandyG visited on 18th Oct 2014 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 4

graemefield visited on 1st Jan 2008 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 3

woodini254 visited on 15th Mar 1994 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 4

TimPrevett AngieLake TheWhiteRider hamish TheCaptain cazzyjane have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.29 Ambience: 4.43 Access: 3.71

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by ernar : Burial Cist with a fragmented capstone. The main Merrivale Stone row can be seen behind it. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Burial Chamber, part of the Merrivale complex, on western Dartmoor, Devon.

Just to the south of the Merrivale central avenue is a large Burial Cist with a broken capstone. The capstone has been split by stoneworkers a couple of centuries ago, with the middle part of it taken away for some other use, leaving us a view into the stone lined cist below.

There are many other burial cists in the Merrivale complex. This particular cist is recorded as Pastcape Monument No. 440050 and as part of Historic England List ID 1013429.

Butler, in Volume 3 of "Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities", page 30, writes: "The cairn once covering the cist C7, at 2.2m long one of the largest on the moor, is now reduced to a slight bank around its western side … The cist was already exposed and no doubt emptied by the time of Bray’s visit in 1802 but otherwise seems to have been intact until 1870, when the huge cover slab was split across the centre to make a pair of gateposts, ‘by the occupants of the neighbouring public house’ according to Baring-Gould, and another was cut from the western side slab."

Update November 2019: This cist is also featured on the Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks (PDW) website - see their entries for the Merrivale Cist and the Merrivale Complex. This site is also recorded as MDV3738 (Cist and cairn south of stone alignment, Merrivale) on the Devon and Dartmoor HER.
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.


Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by TimPrevett : Early morning 03/06/09 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by Antonine : 2008 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by Antonine (Vote or comment on this photo)

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by Bladup : Merrivale Cist (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by Bladup (Vote or comment on this photo)

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by Bladup

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by Bladup

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by Anne T : Hope AngieLake doesn't mind me posting this photo of her dowsing around the cist and row 2. Watching her dowse was an absolutely fascinating process, and she has since sent us a copy of her dowsing diagram which is really interesting. (1 comment)

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by Anne T : A view inside the cist. Had it been a little larger inside, it would have made a nice refuge from the 40mph plus winds that were gusting across the moors! Much larger than any of the cists I've seen in other parts of the UK so far. Impressive.

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by Anne T : A view of the cist from the north west, showing the slight mound left of the cairn which once covered it (now reduced to a slight mound according to both Pastscape and Butler).

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by Anne T : The Merrivale Cist with Merrivale 2/B row running from centre-left to centre/middle-top of the photo behind it.

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by AngieLake : Sandy G led our visit to Merrivale on 14th May, 2019. He arranged the weather last June (winks), but forgot to mention the wind strength, which was very strong!

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by AngieLake : On Sunday 11th December we could have had a bath in this cist, it was full of water!

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by Flickr : Kistvaen near the Merrivale Stone Rows - Dartmoor Kistvaen near the stone rows at Merrivale on Dartmoor more Infos about the legendary Dartmoor : www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/merri_centre.htm A kistvaen or cistvaen is a tomb or burial chamber formed from flat stone slabs in a box-like shape. If set completely underground, it may be covered by a tumulus.[1] The word is derived from the Wel...

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by Postman : Cist and Kings Tor

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by Postman : The big cist, and soooo much more.

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by Postman : Within.

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by SandyG : View from above and south west (18th October 2014).

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by Bladup : One of the Merrivale Cists.

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by TimPrevett : Inside the cist, advanced twilight in the mist, 14/05/09.

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by TimPrevett : Early morning 03/06/09

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by AngieLake : Another view of the large cist south of the southerly row at Merrivale. This time another of the large stones along the southerly row is visible rear left. These larger stones occur at intervals along the rows. In the distance is Great Mis Tor to NE.

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by AngieLake : The large cist at Merrivale, south of the southerly long row. Note the larger stone in the background. These occur at intervals along both of the main rows. About 6.00pm on 10th Oct.2007. (2 comments)

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by TheCaptain : The large cist at Merrivale seen in the dying light of an August day. Great Staple Tor still has some golden sunlight on its upper parts in the background.

Merrivale Cists
Merrivale Cists submitted by TheWhiteRider : Interior of cist.

These are just the first 25 photos of Merrivale Cists. If you log in with a free user account you will be able to see our entire collection.

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Click here to see more info for this site

Nearby sites

Click here to view sites on an interactive OS map

Key: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed

Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)

To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.


Turn off the page maps and other distractions

Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 13m NW 307° Merrivale* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SX55487477)
 49m WNW 303° Merrivale North Row* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SX55457479)
 60m W 276° Merrivale Centre N* Cairn (SX55437477)
 69m NE 45° Merrivale NE circle* Stone Circle (SX55547481)
 72m ENE 74° Merrivale Centre Row* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SX55567478)
 74m SSW 211° Merrivale Stone Slabs 1 and 2* Stone Row / Alignment (SX55457470)
 90m W 274° Merrivale Centre S* Cairn (SX55407477)
 96m W 268° Merrivale SW row 3* Stone Row / Alignment (SX5539474761)
 182m WNW 294° Merrivale N circle* Stone Circle (SX5532674841)
 190m W 265° Merrivale NW* Stone Circle (SX55307475)
 192m SW 225° Merrivale circle* Stone Circle (SX55357463)
 199m WSW 250° Cairn south of Stone Row B (Merrivale)* Cairn (SX553747)
 209m SSW 213° Merrivale Second Menhir and Cairn* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SX55377459)
 215m SW 215° Merrivale Menhir* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SX55367459)
 221m SW 218° Merrivale 5* Stone Row / Alignment (SX5534974592)
 221m SW 216° Merrivale row 4* Stone Row / Alignment (SX5535674586)
 225m SW 219° Merrivale 6* Stone Row / Alignment (SX5534474590)
 225m NNE 14° Merrivale settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX5555174979)
 909m ESE 108° Yellowmeade Farm* Cairn (SX56357446)
 984m SSE 166° King's Tor* Rock Outcrop (SX557738)
 1.3km WSW 252° Vixen Tor* Cist (SX5424074392)
 1.8km NE 49° Mis Tor Farm Cairn (SX56927594)
 2.1km WSW 255° Windy Post Cross* Ancient Cross (SX53437428)
 2.2km W 264° Barn Hill Cairn (SX53337458)
 2.2km NW 326° Roos Tor Rocks* Rock Outcrop (SX543766)
View more nearby sites and additional images

<< Drizzlecombe cairn 13

Merrivale SW row 3 >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

Prehistoric Settlements

Prehistoric Settlements

Sponsors

Auto-Translation (Google)

Translate from English into:

"Merrivale Cists" | Login/Create an Account | 0 News and Comments
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>

We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.