Beardown Man standing stone

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. Standing stones are single, sometimes large, upright stones which often occur in isolation from other monuments. Their date and significance are uncertain, but their distribution in western and northern Britain has been linked to the principal routes from the lowlands to the uplands and they have been interpreted as markers for a system of farming involving the movement of animals from lowland to upland pastures at certain seasons of the year. As such they provide an important insight into farming practices on the Moor in the past. The exact number extant in England is not known but is probably less than 250. The recorded examples on Dartmoor form an important subgroup of the total population, and in consequence most are considered to be of national importance.



The Beardown Man standing stone is one of only two certain examples of an isolated standing stone on Dartmoor.

Details

This monument includes a standing stone situated immediately to the west of Devil's Tor on a gentle west-facing slope overlooking the valley of the River Cowsic. The stone leans slightly towards the south-east and measures 3.4m high by 1m wide and 0.4m thick.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

22222

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Butler, J, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities, (1991)

Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SX57NE4, (1982)

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