Summary
A double stone alignment with terminal cairn on Trendlebere Down, 560m south east of Beckaford Farm.
Reasons for Designation
Dartmoor is the largest expanse of open moorland in southern Britain and, because of exceptional conditions of preservation, it is also one of the most complete examples of an upland relict landscape in the whole country. The great wealth and diversity of archaeological remains provide direct evidence for human exploitation of the Moor from the early prehistoric period onwards. The well-preserved and often visible relationship between settlement sites, major land boundaries, trackways, ceremonial and funerary monuments as well as later industrial remains, gives significant insights into successive changes in the pattern of land use through time. Stone alignments or stone rows consist of upright stones set in single file or in avenues of two or more parallel lines, up to several hundred metres in length. They are often physically linked to burial monuments, such as small cairns, cists and barrows, and are considered to have had an important ceremonial function. The Dartmoor alignments mostly date from the Late Neolithic period (c.2400-2000 BC). Some eighty examples, most of them on the outer Moor, provide over half the recorded national population.
Despite significant robbing and early excavation the double stone alignment with terminal cairn on Trendlebere Down, 560m south east of Beckaford Farm, is still recognisable and given the deep nature of the surrounding deposits partially survives as a buried feature. It is a very rare monument type and it will contain important archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, use, ritual significance, longevity and landscape context.
History
See Details.
Details
This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 4 November 2015. The record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.
The monument includes a double stone alignment with terminal cairn situated on Trendlebere Down, to the north east of Black Hill overlooking the Becka Brook. The stone alignment survives as a partially upstanding double row of stones with a terminal cairn to the south. The alignment measures up to 119m long and includes 18 stones, seven of which have fallen. The largest stone measures up to 1.55m long, but is one of the fallen stones. The others are low and many are partially buried by the surrounding peat deposits. To the south a terminal cairn survives as a low crescent shaped mound measuring up to 20m long by 7m wide and 0.7m high. This has been subject to extensive early excavation or robbing.
