Leeden Tor

Trip No.133  Entry No.13  Date Added: 9th Jul 2019
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Leeden Tor Stone Row: It was now the afternoon of 14th May. Having driven from Merrivale to the small car park nearest this site at SX 56725 71397, we had 10-15 minutes to spare before everyone arrived. In the meantime, Sandy led us up the hill to look at this stone row. By this time the wind was howling around us, with strong gusts that threatened to blow me over - thank goodness for my walking poles! I took a little satisfaction in watching the small group of soldiers out on exercise also being pummelled by the wind.

When the stones in the row and the cairn at its head were pointed out to me, I could see the alignment and also its relationship to the reave.

Whilst this stone row is near the car park, the tussocky grass made walking a little tricky.

Merrivale Second Menhir and Cairn

Trip No.133  Entry No.12  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale Second Menhir, pit and cairn: All these monuments were so close together, it was a bit mind-boggling. I made sure I wrote down the monuments and the photo numbers so I didn't mix them up when I processed the photos later (the wind was still gusting strongly so we didn't get my folder with pre-printed notes out in case they blew away).

As a group, we were fascinating with all the pits around here and spent some time exploring them and taking grid references. Dave P later contacted me to tell me these had been documented by Butler in his Volume 3 of "Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities".

Merrivale Menhir

Trip No.133  Entry No.11  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale Menhir: This tall stone made up for the small size of the stones of the stone circle, and I enjoyed visiting here. My goodness, with the three stone rows, the fallen menhirs, the cairn and the pits, it was certainly interesting here. I'd taken my notes for this site with me, but the wind was so strong I was unable to get them out and read them! Now having the Butler series of "Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities" has made it much easier to understand the layout and complexities of the site, as far as I'm able.

Merrivale 6

Trip No.133  Entry No.10  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale 6 stone row: Only one stone was visible of this row, and thankfully we had Sandy G to point out the location of the row and the only stone of this very short row visible - the western most stone. So many features around the Merrivale Menhir. I'm really glad we had our guide for the day, and also, at home, the Butler "Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities" (volume 3) to help interpret all the different stones, cairns and pits.

Merrivale 5

Trip No.133  Entry No.9  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale 5 stone row: I was getting really 'dazed and confused' about the different stone rows here and what I was photographing, so I asked Sandy, Dave and Andrew to each place a foot on or near each stone of this row!

Merrivale row 4

Trip No.133  Entry No.8  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale 4 stone row: Without Sandy G and Dave P’s guidance on this, I would probably have looked at these stones and not thought much about them, but in association with the other two short rows (5 and 6), the tall, impressive menhirs and the fallen stone and cairn nearby, it was a jumble to unpick, so I was very grateful for the explanations!

Merrivale circle

Trip No.133  Entry No.7  Date Added: 7th Jul 2019
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale Stone Circle: Will you forgive me for saying I wasn't hugely impressed by this stone circle. For some reason I was expecting the stones to be larger and for it to sit more dramatically in the landscape.

On walking to the circle from the western end of Row 2, we came across an impressively large, black coloured boulder buried in the grass, which does not appear to be marked by Butler. I estimated its grid reference to be SX 55304 74704, or just south of this.

The group walked round the circle and the menhir, looking at the pits in the ground, wondering if these could possibly be the remains of holes for other stones. Dave Parks said he had read somewhere that there was thought to have been a double stone circle here, but no proof had yet been found. He later came back to tell me that Butler has marked the pits on his diagrams of Merrivale, see pages 29-31 inclusive of Volume 3 of "Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities".

I do like Butler's description of the circle: "Their arrangement is markedly eccentric, perhaps deliberately so, with the majority of stones up to a metre off a true circle 19m across and with very variable intervals between" and his notes that the numbers of stones seem to vary across the ages: "several detailed nineteenth century accounts of the site show that the number of stones has actually increased, a most unusual phenomenon, from 9 in the early part of the century, 9 in 1828 (Smith), 10 (1827, Rowe, 1829 Kempe), and 9 (1859 Wilkinson), before reaching the present total of 11 in Worth’s 1895 plan. It seems at least 2 stones have been added, probably by some of the early investigators who were not always particular in recording their restorations, which in any case were often somewhat arbitrary".

Merrivale Centre S

Trip No.133  Entry No.6  Date Added: 7th Jul 2019
Site Type: Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale Centre S Cairn (cairn at the head of Merrivale 3/C stone row): Thank heavens for Sandy G's Stone Rows of Great Britain and Dave P's Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks websites to help sort out the photos for Merrivale 3and its cairn. This area certainly has a glut of stone rows and cairns, and the GPS device on my camera had failed. Whilst I carefully wrote down the numbers of the photographs and the sites they related to, and constantly asked Sandy G on the day which site I was looking at, there's nothing like being able to make a direct comparison almost two months later. Thanks, guys!

As the cairn has a separate site page, but I've recorded them both together, as per the Pastscape record (440357), I've given these two the same visit number.

Merrivale SW row 3

Trip No.133  Entry No.6  Date Added: 7th Jul 2019
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale Row 3/C: Without Sandy G being there to tell us, I would have struggled to identify this as a stone row in its own right, but with Sandy pointing out where it joining up at an angle with Merrivale 2/B and with the cairn at its head, it became more obvious. The cairn is recorded as a separate site page here, so I'm adding the same visit report number, as I've recorded them both together, as the Pastscape record (440357).

Merrivale Cists

Trip No.133  Entry No.5  Date Added: 6th Jul 2019
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: 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.

Merrivale Centre Row

Trip No.133  Entry No.4  Date Added: 5th Jul 2019
Site Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale 2/Merrivale Centre Row: As we progressed further south over the moorland, and not far from Merrivale 1 (the northern-most row) at that, the stone rows kept getting better and better.

The row features a triangular blocking stone at the eastern end and twin blocking stones at the western end. It runs for 262.5m from SX 5530 7475 to SX 5556 7478 - see Pastscape 44056. The stones seem to vary in size quite a lot, and generally larger than those of the northern row/row 1/row A.

Merrivale Centre N

Trip No.133  Entry No.3  Date Added: 4th Jul 2019
Site Type: Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale Centre Cairn with Cist: Half way down Merrivale North (Row A or Row 1), we hopped across to row 2 to take a look at the cairn in the middle of the row. Fascinating. Worried about the complexity of recording all these sites in my photo/walk journal, Angie Lake told me about the Butler "Atlas of Antiquities" series of 5 books, which has hugely increased my understanding of these sites. Thanks, Angie!

Merrivale North Row

Trip No.133  Entry No.2  Date Added: 3rd Jul 2019
Site Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale North Row (Merrivale 1): Between the prehistoric settlement and the first of our stone rows for the day, Sandy G had stopped to point out some of the stones of the Great Western Reave.

Continuing on, these stones could be seen from down slope at the Prehistoric Settlement, and proved a tantalising glimpse of what was in store for the rest of the morning. Sandy was amazing at explaining all the different features along the row, including part of which had recently been restored.

But my goodness, the wind was blowing, and blowing hard. At some points, it was a little tricky to stand upright – thank heavens for my walking poles!

Merrivale settlement

Trip No.133  Entry No.1  Date Added: 22nd Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Merrivale Prehistoric Settlement: This was our first stop of the day as part of a three day guided tour by Sandy G, who certainly knew his way around this site, and all the others in this Bronze Age complex.

We parked in the small car park at SX 55311 75018 and, having introduced ourselves to the rest of Sandy's small Expeditionary Force, we walked the short distance onto the moor to start at this site. With the nearer stone rows within site just at the top of the hill, expectations for an exciting rest of the day rose rapidly.

The only downside was the absolutely howling wind that blew throughout the day, sometimes makingit difficult to stand upright. However, it was a cheap way of exfoliating!

I found out when copying photos from the memory card of my camera to my computer that the external GPS device on my camera had stopped working, so I was unable to identify the precise locations of the hut circles I photographed.

West Wykes Farm Tau and Latin Crosses

Trip No.132  Entry No.16  Date Added: 9th Oct 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: West Wyke Tau and Latin Crosses: The lane to West Wyke farm and the houses here is marked private, so we parked at the viewpoint at SX 65298 93020 and walked the 600m or so up the lane - a very pleasant walk in the evening sunshine.

Despite taking the HE and Pastcape printouts with us, I didn't appreciate what I'd seen until sitting at the computer today (9th June 2019). Good job I photographed the pile of stones at the western side of the tree, as this was the Tau Cross! The smaller cross next to the entrance to the barns on the opposite side of the road is not recorded on HE or Pastscape, and I'd been really confused until re-reading the entries.

West Wyke Farm Cross

Trip No.132  Entry No.15  Date Added: 9th Oct 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: West Wyke Farm Cross: This cross is not recorded on Pastscape or Historic England, so we didn't expect to see it here. It looks relatively modern, like a small rounded-headed grave marker such as we saw in St Mary's in Belstone. It sits quietly by the entrance to the farm buildings, north of the track and West Wyke farmhouse.

Note: the track up to the farm and houses here is marked private road. We parked at the viewpoint at SX 65298 93020 and walked up the lane.

Holy Well (Belstone)

Trip No.132  Entry No.14  Date Added: 9th Jun 2019
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Belstone Spring Head: From the village green, we decided to walk to the well, following the lane past the church and turning right (ESE) onto the common ground/moorland.

Located almost immediately opposite a large pub, and just down slope, this was a lovely location which attracted families and dog walkers.

No water flowing at the time of our visit (the well chamber/basin was just muddy with nettles and ferns growing in it) but there were pools of water bubbling from the ground around it. Some of the ground was fairly boggy, but I managed to get close enough to look in the well chamber.

Belstone Ring Cross

Trip No.132  Entry No.13  Date Added: 9th Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Ring headed cross at St Mary The Virgin, Belstone: A lovely little village, with not only the ring headed cross in the church but the Coronation Stone and the old stocks on the village green.

The church has a lovely atmosphere, tucked away to the west of the little village shop cum pub. The church had a slim guide book which made interesting reading, and I went through it during our visit to make sure we didn’t miss anything special.

The ring-headed cross is against the south wall of the church, near where the nave and sanctuary join. It’s base had been covered with an Easter scene.

We wandered back to the village green and had tea and cake in the Old Schoolroom Tearooms. This was to be my first experience of “toilet twinning” – there were photos of toilets in other countries that the tearoom toilet had been twinned with – brilliant!)

Belstone Boundary Marker

Trip No.132  Entry No.12  Date Added: 9th Jun 2019
Site Type: Marker Stone Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Belstone Boundary Marker: Only 1km from the Sticklepath Boundary Stone, this supposedly pre-Conquest stone at the junction of the B3260 and a minor dead-end road which goes north east to a farm.

I got some strange stares from the cars as I photographed this stone, which is no longer on the parish boundary, presumably to accommodate road improvements. Had it not been for the busy road, this would have been in a gloriously peaceful countryside location, with lovely views northwards (the hedge to the south was too tall to see over).

I think the description in the Pastscape entry has been confused with the Sticklepath BS, near Lady Well, as this stone is triangular in shape and the only marking we could see was a partial bench mark on its front.

The acute angle of the minor road junction with the B3260 made the turn right out of the busy road a little tricky, but possible after waiting for a sufficiently large gap in the traffic.

Sticklepath Boundary Marker

Trip No.132  Entry No.11  Date Added: 8th Jun 2019
Site Type: Marker Stone Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Sticklepath Inscribed Boundary Stone: This stone is only within 20m of Lady Well, separated by a minor road junction. At the time of our visit, the ambience was spoilt by roadworks which had been set up next to, and almost up to it.

With the stone sitting on top of a retaining wall between the pavement and the main road running through Sticklepath, and a footpath running up slope to its WSW side, Andrew stepped onto the bank and photographed all sides of it for me at close quarters.

Despite peering closely at each side of the stone, we were unable to make out any clear carvings on it at all. The only thing that was clear was the hole for the ball finial which topped the stone at some time in its past.