Bennet's Cross

Trip No.134  Entry No.1  Date Added: 22nd Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Bennet's Cross, Devon: Not on our schedule for the day, but as we drove right past this cross, we pulled over in the small car park just to the eastern side of the B3212to take a closer look at this cross and to take some photographs. A slight problem on the morning, as the car park, even before 9.30am was chock-a-block with a party of ‘twitchers’, so as our car was blocking some of theirs in, Andrew stayed with the car and I ran over to the cross.

The early morning sunshine was really bright, so parts of the cross were in deep shade. I did see the carved WB on the cross, but the shadows were really deep. The intention was to stop on the way back and photograph the cross in a different light, but we were so tired at the end of the day, I forgot.

St Leonard's Well (Sheepstor)

Trip No.134  Entry No.16  Date Added: 22nd Jun 2019
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: St Leonard's Holy Well, Sheepstor: I spotted this well as we were driving down to the car park near Whittenknowles and we stopped to photograph it on the way back.

The sunshine was really, really bright coming over the wall, so the few photos I took worked out best looking at the well from an angle. The well was completely dry, with the well structure full of ferns and weeds.

Our last stop of the day before going for an ice cold drink at Princetown.

Roman Cross (Sheepstor)

Trip No.134  Entry No.15  Date Added: 22nd Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Roman Cross, Sheepstor: After having been to Whittenknowles, Drizzlecomb & Yellowmead, we drove back through Sheepstor and I asked to be able to stop and photograph this cross, which I'd seen on the way, just outside St. Leonard’s Church in Sheepstor village.

The cross has been restored, and almost looks modern, but reading its relatively complicated history, it is fortunate to have survived (see the references in the main site page text).

The cross is in a lovely location, and I would have loved to have had time to pop into the church, but my aching feet and the need for a meal and a drink dictated otherwise!

Standing Stone Near Cairn at Head of Drizzlecombe Row 4

Trip No.134  Entry No.16  Date Added: 16th Jul 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe West Standing Stone: Whilst Sandy and the rest of the intrepid "Dartmoor Expedition" were searching lower down the slope for the enigmatic and mysterious Drizzlecome West Stone Row, I'd wandered up slope, stopping at this stone and looking at the nearby cairn. Failing to attract the attention of my fellow explorers, I wandered off to look at the large cairn near the southern and smaller of the two pounds. When I came back, I found Sandy in full 'Bronze Age Mode' with his ranging pole standing by this stone.

We photographed it and took a grid reference with our GPS. More research to be done on this stone - not apparently recorded in Butler or any of the other Dartmoor Archaeology books I now possess. Have asked the rest of the group to contribute to the information on this stone, if they are able. Sandy plans to return in September 2019, so more information to follow.

Whittenknowles Rocks

Trip No.134  Entry No.2  Date Added: 11th Jul 2019
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Whittenknowles Rocks Enclosed Settlement: We parked in the small car park at SX 57880 67316 next to a small stream and a ford. Walking across the road bridge, we dived off across a small stream and walked next to a small wood, entering the moorland and continuing in a southerly direction, following an old dry stone wall, then turning eastwards. Most of the walking was really easy, even though this was rough moorland.

We started to come across wall lines and groups of stones, and as I started to ‘get my eye in’, the hut circles and compounds became much clearer (see Butler’s plan, “Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities”, volume 3, page 126). The hut circles and enclosures were inter-dispersed with uncleared lines of rocks, which Sandy said were natural, and the occupants had just left them as they were.

Towards the southern side of the site, towards the long houses, we came across a small leat, where Sandy explained there had been ‘in the past, a natural disaster’ and all the soil had come down the slope, presumably leaving no soil for growing crops.

I couldn’t believe how far this site extends – some 4.7 hectares (11.61 acres).

I took photographs, blithely thinking the external GPS device on my camera was capturing the locations of the photographs. It wasn't until a couple of days later that I realised there was no lat/long information on the photographs, so I've had to guess, from Butler's plan, more or less where the photos were taken.

Drizzlecombe Brook

Trip No.134  Entry No.3  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Marker Stone Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe Brook 'Standing Stone': This stone was between the settlement an the tin works that Sandy showed us and I was hopeful of having spotted another monument on the moors not on today's list of sites to visit.

Not having a grid reference from the camera, we’ve tracked it down to one of six stones (one of which I photographed later, but which turns out to be the abandoned gate post!). Looking at the photograph and how near we are to the tin-works at the stream, this stone is at SX 58709 66946.

Judging by the photograph with the group, I estimate it to be just taller than Janet – 1.7m or just over.

Drizzlecombe row 1

Trip No.134  Entry No.4  Date Added: 2nd Aug 2019
Site Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe 1 Stone Row: Having been able to glimpse these stones rows as we walked across the moorland from Whittenknowles Rocks settlement, I couldn’t wait to see these rows at last. But, my goodness, what a richness and complexity of sites all in one small-ish area. I made careful notes throughout the day of which photographs belonged to which row, and hopefully these now all make sense.

Stone Row 1, similar in some ways to the Merrivale Rows, but then again not, had a much, much taller pillar stone. Located at the SW end of the row, this pillar stone can be seen on UK Grid reference finder: SX 59053 66858.

The stone row is unusual because it starts off as a single row (74.5m), then becomes a double row (for 47m), then back to a single row (28m to the cairn) – total length 149.5m.

I was surprised to see quite a few walkers stroll along this valley bottom, some along the row, others not. With the River Plym to our east, the water shimmered in the afternoon light. There were also a lot of cattle in the field, but all seemed used to people and just carried on grazing.

Drizzlecombe menhir 1

Trip No.134  Entry No.5  Date Added: 2nd Aug 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe Menhir 1: I counted this pillar stone as part of the stone row, although Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks and Pastscape record it separately. I have switched some of my photographs over to this site page. Beautiful stone, and lovely location.

Drizzlecombe menhir 2

Trip No.134  Entry No.7  Date Added: 2nd Aug 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe Menhir 2: I took this to be an integral part of Drizzlecombe Stone Row 2, so have moved a couple of my photos over to this site page.

Drizzlecombe Cist 6

Trip No.134  Entry No.6  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Giant's Basin Cist (Drizzlecombe Cist 6): This cist was pointed out to me by Dave Parks and Sandy G, but I only seem to have one photograph of it, although I remember standing over it and taking photos from different angles. Perhaps I've got muddled up with all the other wonderful stone settings and cairns in the area. A brilliant area to visit. So much to see, all in very close proximity.

Drizzlecombe menhir 3

Trip No.134  Entry No.10  Date Added: 2nd Aug 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe Menhir 3: Again, I took this to be an integral part of Drizzlecombe Stone Row 3, so I've swapped some of my photos to this site page. I've duplicated the trip/order number with row 3 to match my walk/photo journal.

Drizzlecombe row 2

Trip No.134  Entry No.7  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe 2: Having three stone rows, their cairns, cists and longstones all in a very close proximity was quite stunning. As we walked up and down this row with Sandy G and the rest of the Intrepid Dartmoor Expedition Group, I was barely able to take it all in - so much to see and understand.

When we started off at the longstone at the western end of the row, there was blue sky and whispy clouds; by the time we'd wandered up to the cairn at the eastern end of the row, a mist/clag had started to descend, so the views from/around the stone row weren't quite as good as earlier, but the atmosphere of this place was just amazing.

The longstone is a really peculiar shape. Butler, volume 3 of "Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities", page 138, says "According to Worth, it was probably dragged here from Higher Hartor Tor, about a kilometre away".

Drizzlecombe cairn 2

Trip No.134  Entry No.8  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Ring Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe Cairn 2: After a most satisfactory and pleasant morning, we sat at the edges of the cairns heading up rows 2 and 3 and had a quick lunch break. It really is an amazing spot, and so pleased to have visited, although correctly cataloguing my photos to the right site proved a little challenging at the end of the day.

Drizzlecombe cairn 3

Trip No.134  Entry No.9  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Ring Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe Cairn 3: cairn at the head of Drizzlecombe Stone Row 3. The stone row is just offset from the centre of the cairn. Butler, in his "Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities, page 138, says: "the third row descends from cairn 3 surrounded by an outer ring of slabs 8.6m across mostly in contact with its base ... probably only three stones are missing out of t10, the largest of those remaining standing about a metre high facing the row". Of the three cairns at the eastern end of the row, this cairn has the tallest stones protruding out of it, and the most character. See Butler's diagram of it on page 139 (fig. 49.19.3).

After looking at the eastern end of the row, we proceeded up the slope, looking for the Drizzlecombe Cist and the settlements at the top of the slope, meandering back along stone row 3 as we came back.

Drizzlecombe row 3

Trip No.134  Entry No.10  Date Added: 2nd Aug 2019
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe Stone Row 3: The last of the stone rows we visited today (although there was to be a minor, minor surprise at Yellowmead to end the afternoon). This surprising row, the same length as Row 1, and bends in the middle (it’s not straight).

We split the visit to this row into two; the first part was looking at the eastern end of the row and the cairn; the second was after we’d wandered up slope to look at the larger cist, the settlements and another large cairn. We then meandered back down Row 3. It was on the way back that I found a compass between the tussocks of grass, covered in heavy dew and I thought the moisture had got inside the mechanism and was ruined. I was going to leave it by the stones in case anyone collected it, but given where it was, we concluded no-one was likely to walk along this particular spot between the rows. I later found out that it was a military compass, probably dropped by one of the many soldiers who carry out exercises in this location.

The longstone at the eastern end of the row was intriguing. It appeared to be undressed granite, and bore some sort of resemblance to the marker stone seen earlier today, but is most definitely part of row 3. The large, but friendly, cattle in the field liked to lean against it, presumably because it absorbed the heat of the sun, or to scratch.

Drizzlecombe cairn 4

Trip No.134  Entry No.11  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe Cairn 4: I took photographs of all three cairns in a row, then one at a time. My notes indicate this is Drizzlecombe Cairn 4. This is the most northerly of the three cairns at the head of rows 2 and 3, but this cairn does not have a row descending from it.

Drizzlecombe cairn 13

Trip No.134  Entry No.12  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Cist Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe Cairn 13: Leaving the stone rows behind, we walked up slope and to the WNW. This is a beautiful example of a cairn with central cist. What is very noticeable about this cist is that the stones making up two of the sides projects outside the other two ends. Looking at the Butler diagram for these sites (Volume 3, page 135), cairn 13 is indeed in ine with cairns 2, 3 and 4, but about 150m further from the stone rows.

Drizzlecombe W row

Trip No.134  Entry No.13  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe West Stone Row: Whilst Sandy G had our group here, he asked us all to help him have a look for this elusive stone row, and we were happy to help, which mentioned in Burl but not in Butler (I haven’t been able to find the mention in Burl, yet).

The others in the group had a far keener eye than me for spotting the lines of stones in the grass, so I wandered up slope and stood on a cairn, observing. Not having my GPS with me, I think this is Butler Drizzlecombe Cairn 15 at SX 5925 6721.

Sandy had the rest of the group stand on stones which they thought might be part of the row, to see how they lined up.

He plans a return visit in September 2019, so I’ll need to watch for an update.

Drizzlecombe Cairn 18

Trip No.134  Entry No.14  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Drizzlecombe Cairn 18: An enormous cairn, which rivals the Giant's Basin in size, so why there is so little information about it, I'm not sure. I managed to clamber up to the top of the cairn and have a look inside, where there is a hollow where it has been excavated. Built almost on top of one of the settlements at the south-eastern side of Drizzlecombe, it looks over the River Plym to the south.

Drizzlecombe Settlement

Trip No.134  Entry No.15  Date Added: 17th Jul 2019
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: 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.