<< Feature Articles >> Megalithic stone row discovered on Dartmoor's remotest hill
Submitted by enkidu41 on Thursday, 28 October 2004 Page Views: 7307
DiscoveriesTom Greeves reports on his discovery, on 4 April 2004, of an unrecorded stone row of striking proportions, plus an adjoining barrow, in one of the remotest and highest locations of northern Dartmoor.In the past thirty years Dartmoor has been the subject of some of the most detailed archaeological exploration and survey in Britain, surpassed only perhaps by the treatment given to Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.
It is therefore all the more remarkable that a previously unrecorded stone row with very large stones has been noted for the first time on one of Dartmoor’s highest and remotest hills. Cut Hill (603m) is no ordinary hill, being one of only five Dartmoor points above 600m in altitude. To reach it requires a walk of about two hours from whatever direction.
The row, aligned approximately NE/SW, is situated on the top of the Hill (SX 59928275) within an area of extensive but partially eroding blanket peat. It consists of six large slabs of granite all lying flat in the same orientation (approximately ESE/WNW). Five of the slabs are visible within a 100m strip of ground where the peat has eroded by either natural or human agency, and appear to be on a prehistoric land surface about 1.4m lower than the present top surface of the peat. They are spaced between 19m and 29.5m apart, and so regular in line and proportion that they give the impression of railway sleepers. Each stone appears to be approximately 0.20m thick and, if upright, would have their thinnest profile visible when looking along the axis of the row.
The length of the row formed by the six stones is 123m. A seventh probable stone lies 34.5m further north-east, almost entirely buried by peat, and with only the tip of its surface visible. The most south-westerly stone has what appear to be small packing stones still in situ at its north-west end.
The discovery radically alters the perception of prehistoric presence on Dartmoor. Within a 3 km radius of the hill, virtually no prehistoric structures had previously been identified. The large cairn known as Quintin’s Man can be seen 2.6 km to the north-east; the standing stone known as Beardown Man is 3.2 km almost due south; the large settlement at Watern Oke is 3.3 km to the west; and a small settlement on the west bank of the West Dart River is some 2.6 km to the south-south-east.
Stone rows are a particular feature of Dartmoor. About eighty have now been recorded, but this one has several striking elements, apart from its location:
• It is at an altitude 100m higher than any previously known row on Dartmoor.
• The spacing between the stones is without parallel on Dartmoor.
• The stones are among the largest used for a Dartmoor row. The stones appear to have been very carefully chosen in terms of their shape.
A programme of more detailed research is being planned. The implications for what else might be buried beneath the blanket peat are massive. Its discovery will hopefully give a new impetus to prehistoric studies in the region.
Tom Greeves is a freelance cultural environmentalist. He trained as a prehistorian (Edinburgh University 1969-1973) and was formerly archaeologist to Dartmoor National Park Authority (1979-1985).
The full article may be read at the Prehistoric Society Newsletter’s website.
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