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<< Our Photo Pages >> Buttern E - Stone Circle in England in Devon

Submitted by Brian_Byng on Sunday, 25 January 2004  Page Views: 11356

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Buttern E Alternative Name: Buttern Hill
Country: England County: Devon Type: Stone Circle
Nearest Town: Chagford
Map Ref: SX6493988475  Landranger Map Number: 191
Latitude: 50.680216N  Longitude: 3.913046W
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
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
3 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.
2 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

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graemefield visited on 1st Jan 1997 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 1

TheCaptain have visited here

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by bec-zog : Buttern Hill circle @ SX6495,8845. Near Ensworthy & Moortown. Can be accessed via Scorshill site (Vote or comment on this photo)
Buttern Stone Circle, SX 6494 8848, on the western slopes of Buttern Hill, northeast Dartmoor.

Several of the stones of this circle have been worked by stone cutters and almost all are fallen. It is 25m dia. Five stones are standing of about 23 that are present. The tallest standing stone is 0.6 m high.

Records suggest that there was a small cairn within the circle to the S. Also there was a standing stone surrounded by a 20m dia stone circle "a short distance on the slope to the westward".

Associated with many hut circles and cairns on the E&W sides and top of the hill. Can be accessed via the Scorshill site.

Update August 2019: This stone circle is featured on the Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks (PDW) website - see their page for the Buttern Hill Stone Circle which tells us the remains of this Bronze Age Stone Circle is located "on level ground overlooking the valley of the North Teign River and Whitemoor Marsh".

The stone circle is also recorded as Pastscape Monument No. 443709 and scheduled as Historic England List ID 1018913 (Stone circle 400m south west of Buttern Hill). The Devon and Dartmoor HER also has a record for this site; see MDV4371 (Buttern Hill Stone Circle, Gidleigh).
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Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by theCaptain : Buttern Hill stone circle, 14 March 2010. (2 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by bec-zog : Buttern Hill circle @ SX6495,8845. Near Ensworthy & Moortown. Associated with many hut circles and cairns on the E&W sides and top of the hill. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by theCaptain : The best remaining stones are in the northeast section, where there are three consecutive standers, each not much more than a foot tall. (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Bladup : Buttern E Stone Circle, The three remaining still standing stones (Vote or comment on this photo)

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Bladup : Buttern E Stone Circle, Looking South

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Bladup : Buttern E Stone Circle, Looking South West

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Bladup : Buttern E Stone Circle, Looking West

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Bladup : Buttern E Stone Circle, Looking North East

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Bladup : Buttern E Stone Circle, Looking North West

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Bladup : Buttern E Stone Circle, I love this still standing stone at the Circle, I see a Seal/Bird/Mole's head, What about you?

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Bladup : Buttern E Stone Circle, It's my number one contender for a restoration, Most of the Stones are here and just need putting back up, Because here we know the stones were once standing (Unlike at Sittaford Tor Stone Circle, Another contender if they can prove the stones were once up, but i don't think they ever were at that site, it looks like they were all put into position but never raised), This p...

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Bladup : Buttern E Stone Circle, I saw that i'd never taken any photo's of here before even though i've been here a few times in the past, Here's looking East

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Postman : Leaving Buttern hill stone circle for the chambered cairn on the other side of the hill.

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Postman : The few remaining standers

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Postman : 07:15am 21st June

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Postman : Take a chill pill Eric, oh, you have.

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Postman : The ruined pleasure that is Buttern hill stone circle

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Postman : Eric's lying stone.

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Postman : Later in the morning of the summer solstice

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by Postman : Approaching the stone circle

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by AngieLake : Two photos I’ve just come across of a set of four taken on 30th September 2003, when I walked from Scorhill to Buttern Hill with the late Jack Morris Eyton (JackME). I’d recorded in my diary that “Settlement rocks lined up NW/SE with Buttern Hill and Kestor Rock”, and also that we walked “right to top of ‘B’ hill and back along ridge track” and found “2 or 3 channelled / notched...

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by AngieLake : Two photos taken on 30th September 2003 when I walked from Scorhill to Buttern Hill with Jack Morris Eyton (the late JackME). Having scoured the photos already posted here I'm thinking they are possibly on the south side of Buttern Hill, though the larger stone could be on the top of the hill. In the lower shot we are looking towards Kestor (above the darker trees of Batworthy.)

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by AngieLake : Buttern circle, as planned in Aug. 1931 by R. Hansford Worth, M.INST.C.E., F.G.S. I found this leaflet from his presentation to the Devonshire Assn. at Paignton, 21st June 1932. Titled 'The Prehistoric Monuments of Scorhill, Buttern Hill, and Shuggledown (Shoveldown). "[Reprinted from the Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art. 1932. - V... (1 comment)

Buttern E
Buttern E submitted by caradoc68 : SX 649 884, Buttern hill circle. This circle has probably not been restored as there are only three stones remaining standing. I counted 15 all in all, and two have fallen over on their side. it does look like the stones have been worked on by stone cutters. Just under 25 metres in diameter with originally 40 stones.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 256m ENE 73° Buttern Hill Possible Menhir* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SX6518688544)
 573m ENE 76° Buttern Hill Hut Circle* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX655886)
 602m SE 140° Buttern Hill settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX6531488003)
 649m W 280° Buttern W* Stone Circle (SX643886)
 734m E 82° Gidleigh Chambered Cairn* Chambered Cairn (SX65678856)
 1.0km ENE 60° Gidleigh North Chambered Tomb (SX6586688971)
 1.1km SE 134° Gidleigh Common Cairns Cairn (SX657877)
 1.2km SSE 153° Scorhill* Stone Circle (SX65468738)
 1.4km SSE 155° Scorhill Cairn and Rows* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SX65488721)
 1.5km SSE 157° The Tolmen Stone (Dartmoor)* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SX65508708)
 1.9km WNW 301° White Moor Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SX6335289476)
 1.9km WNW 301° White Moor Cairn* Cairn (SX6330289534)
 2.0km NNE 28° Higher Shilstone Hut Circle* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX659902)
 2.0km WNW 303° White Moor Down* Stone Circle (SX63288961)
 2.2km SE 137° The Round Pound* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX66398685)
 2.3km SSW 192° Shoveldown North West 5 Cairn (SX6438986247)
 2.4km SSE 157° Shovel Down stone circle* Stone Circle (SX65828620)
 2.4km NNE 18° Throwleigh Common prehistoric settlement and field system* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX65779078)
 2.5km SSE 155° Shovel Down row 2* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SX65958620)
 2.5km SSE 156° Shovel Down row 3* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SX65898616)
 2.5km SSE 154° Shovel Down row 1* Stone Row / Alignment (SX660862)
 2.6km SSE 156° Shovel Down Fourfold Circle* Stone Circle (SX65958603)
 2.7km SE 136° Modern Stone Circle near Kestor Rock* Modern Stone Circle etc (SX66748652)
 2.7km SE 142° Kestor Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SX66538633)
 2.7km SSE 156° Shovel Down* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SX65958599)
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"Buttern E" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
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Re: Buttern Hill stone circle by TheCaptain on Wednesday, 08 May 2013
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just looking at the Bing maps aerial view of this circle, and for some reason it shows up exceptionally clearly on there now, whereas it was almost invisible beforehand (compare to Google). Has somebody been out on the moor and sprayed weedkiller or something all around this stone circle ?
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Re: Buttern Hill stone circle by R. Hansford Worth, 1932 by AngieLake on Thursday, 09 August 2012
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In 1932, writing for the Devonshire Association about the prehistoric monuments of Scorhill, Buttern Hill and Shuggledown (Shoveldown), R. Hansford Worth had this to say about Buttern Hill Circle:

"At the foot of the western slope of Buttern Hill lies another circle, slightly smaller than that on Scorhill. Here five stones are still erect, nineteen have fallen, triggers give clear indication of the position formerly occupied by five stones now lost, and there are some doubtful, and small, stones. The tallest member now standing is but twenty-eight inches above ground, and of a curious shape, which seems to be purely natural in origin. The gatepost merchant has been here also, and some of the fallen stones owe their present shape to his interference, being now more columnar than before his attack. The nearest equivalent true circle would have a diameter of eighty-one feet.
In 1931 a great part of the turf within the circle was skimmed off for fuel, in accordance with an unfortunate habit which prevails in the Chagford district, where little true peat-cutting is now done. Although this habit disfigures the moor, and destroys pasture, it has one slight advantage. It reveals the worked flints that so often lie immediately under the turf; and this, and not the greater prevalence of implements, has probably led to the marked predominance in our museums of flints from the north and east of Dartmoor. So far nothing has been found as the result of this operation within Buttern Circle.
A Plan of Buttern Hill Circle is given overleaf, and a drawing of the tallest stone still standing is here inserted."
(The sketch - which I'm assuming is from the inner face - shows a stone that looks a little like an eagle, with its head turned to the viewer's right. A broader, shoulder-like base, tapering to a sort of right-turned hook.)
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Re: Buttern Hill stone circle by TheCaptain on Friday, 02 April 2010
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Buttern Hill Stone Circle, Buttern Hill, Dartmoor, Devon
Visited Sunday, 14th March 2010.
SX 64951 88484, Altitude 390m, Access 2, Ambience 4, Condition 2

On the top of Buttern Hill there are the remains of many old reaves and ancient settlement items, particularly all over the fairly flat top of the hill. There are several stones which look like standers, one or two of which I investigated, but I came to the conclusion that they were probably simply the remains of the ancient reaves or settlement structures.

I continued down the western side of the hill, towards the saddle between Buttern Hill and its western neighbour, aiming towards the narrowest part where the watershed divides from running south towards the Teign, or northwards into Whitemoor Marsh. Finding the stone circle was not easy, as there was nothing obvious at all to see from the hillside.

The circle lies in the saddle of the land, just on the western slopes of Buttern Hill, almost right at the watershed between north and south of this little valley. The circle was quite difficult to find, as nearly all of the stones are flat and fallen amongst the long grass. I counted only 16 stones of the circle, although there are supposedly 23 to be found. Many of the stones I did find were completely buried underneath the growth, and were only identified by poking my stick at them.

Most of the stones are about three feet long and flat to the ground, although there is one little section at the upper part of the circle where there are three consecutive standers, each not much more than a foot tall. One or two of the other stones still make a little effort at standing, but that is all. There are signs that some of the stones have in the past been broken by stonecutters, so perhaps most of the stones were once much larger. I paced out a diameter of about 25 metres.

I walked around the circumference of the circle a couple of times, in order to take pictures, and make a good trail on my gps track plot. Getting decent pictures was a difficult task, due to the long grass and small, fallen stones. I sat and ate pasty lunch on one of the larger stones, underneath which was hidden a letterbox, containing a plastic donkey, a beanbag animal, and other junk. It had a little diary notebook which I signed and commented in, but no stamp.

On the way down to the circle, while looking for signs of it, I had seen a couple of slightly erect stones a bit further to the north, on the far side of the valley. Were these the possible remains of Buttern Hill (W) circle? So I went for a look.
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