<< Our Photo Pages >> Drizzlecombe Settlement - Ancient Village or Settlement in England in Devon
Submitted by thecaptain on Sunday, 07 November 2004 Page Views: 4354
Multi-periodSite Name: Drizzlecombe SettlementCountry: England County: Devon Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Tavistock Nearest Village: Lee Moor
Map Ref: SX59306723
Latitude: 50.487940N Longitude: 3.984765W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Anne T visited on 15th May 2019 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 4 Access: 3 Drizzlecombe Settlements: After the stone rows, we move up-slope to try and find row 4. Whilst the rest of the group helped Sandy G identify possible stones in this row, I wandered over to Butler's Cairn 18, photographing what looked like some hut circles embedded in the turf. Arriving at Cairn 18, I walked to the top of to look at the enclosed settlement to its south/south western side, which I found fascinating.
Dave Parks was also meandering around the cairn, so he and I wandered back towards the group, with me taking photos of the long, low banks running across the pasture.
Higher up the hill was yet another settlement(s) which I barely took in. This area is so complex and interesting, yet I confess to 'brain overload' by this time of the afternoon, especially as there was so much more yet to come!
I've since managed to get hold of a pdf copy of Jennifer Robertson's unpublished thesis "Archaeology of the Upper Plym Valley" (all 592 pages), which I'll dip into soon, to try and understand more about this area.
RedKite1985 visited on 5th Jun 1996 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 3
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 2.5 Ambience: 4 Access: 3
Just uphill from the cairns at the head of the Drizzlecombe stone rows can be found the remains of several ancient settlements, consisting of four enclosures, with several hut circles and cairns.
Surrounded by the settlements are remains of several cairns, including the once massive Cairn 18 [note: this cairn now has its own site page - see nearby sites below] which once would have rivalled the Giant's Basin for size, but unfortunately over the millenia has become much destroyed. It is positioned at a place where the stone rows (including the unbuilt row 4) seem to focus, and it is possible that this giant cairn was once the main attraction of the Drizzlecombe complex.
Update July 2019: This complex and interesting area is recorded as Pastscape Monument No. 438761 (centred around SX 5938 6707, an enclosed hut group), Pastscape Monument No. 438752 (centred around SX 5930 6723, an enclosed hut group), Pastscape Monument No. 1356155 (boundary bank); and Pastscape Monument No. 438571 (hut circles outside the enclosures).
These settlements also form part of the scheduling information for Historic England List ID 1014145 (Three stone alignments, 15 cairns, a cist, a partially enclosed stone hut circle settlement and a small clapper bridge at Drizzle Combe).
There are further Pastscape entries for enclosures and settlements to the south and east of Drizzlecombe Cairn 18; to find them do a location search using the grid reference given above, using a search radius of 250m to find them all.
This site also features on Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks - see their entry for Drizzlecombe Enclosed Settlement. Butler, in his "Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities", volume 3, page 128 and 129, includes a description and a plan of all these sites and how they inter-relate.
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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
90m ESE 121° Drizzlecombe Cairn 18* Cairn (SX5937667182)
143m SSW 204° Drizzlecombe cairn 4* Stone Circle (SX5923867101)
148m NNE 27° Drizzlecombe W row* Stone Row / Alignment (SX5937067360)
150m W 260° Drizzlecombe cairn 13* Cist (SX5915167208)
150m NNE 28° Cairn At Head of Drizzlecombe Row 4* Cairn (SX5937467361)
157m SSW 196° Drizzlecombe cairn 3* Ring Cairn (SX5925367080)
159m NE 49° Drizzlecombe Cairn 23* Cairn (SX5942367331)
160m NNE 24° Standing Stone Near Cairn at Head of Drizzlecombe Row 4* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SX5937067374)
169m S 190° Drizzlecombe cairn 2* Ring Cairn (SX5926567065)
169m SSW 198° Drizzlecombe row 3* Stone Row / Alignment (SX5924367071)
181m SSW 192° Drizzlecombe row 2* Stone Row / Alignment (SX5925867054)
196m WSW 240° Drizzlecombe cairn 14* Cairn (SX5912767137)
228m SSW 202° Drizzlecombe* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SX59216702)
247m SSW 200° Drizzlecombe menhir 2* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SX59216700)
256m NNW 342° Drizzlecombe cist 21* Cist (SX5922867476)
294m SSW 212° Drizzlecombe menhir 3* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SX5913566986)
299m SSW 205° Drizzlecombe cairn 1.* Cairn (SX5916866962)
299m SSW 201° Drizzlecombe Cist 6* Cairn (SX5918366955)
301m SSW 197° Drizzlecombe Giant's Basin* Cairn (SX5920266945)
313m SSW 205° Drizzlecombe row 1* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SX5916166949)
424m SW 225° Drizzlecombe stone 4* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SX58996694)
442m SSW 212° Drizzlecombe menhir 1* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SX5905766860)
500m SSE 162° Giant's Hill West* Cist (SX59446675)
530m S 177° Giant's hill cairn* Cairn (SX59316670)
568m SSW 207° Drizzlecombe cist 22* Cist (SX59036673)
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