White Moor 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.

Despite evidence of reuse as a boundary stone during the medieval and post medieval periods, the White Moor stone would appear to remain in situ and form part of an isolated group of ritual monuments including at least three cairns and a stone circle.

Details

This monument includes a standing stone situated 150m south east of Little Hound Tor stone circle and which lies on a gentle east facing slope overlooking Raybarrow Pool. The stone lies at the junction of three parishes and has been utilised as a boundary stone. The stone is a wide undressed flat granite slab measuring 1.7m high, 0.8m wide and about 0.45m thick on the north west side and 0.2m thick at the south east side. It is set facing SSW to NNE and leans to the north west. Inscriptions, relating to its use as a boundary stone, have been cut onto three separate faces. On the south west face the letters DC appear above the letters TP; the upper letters refer to the Duchy of Cornwall and indicates the use of this stone as a Dartmoor Forest boundary, whilst the lower letters probably refer to Throwleigh parish. On the narrow south east face, and on the broad north east face, the letter T appears. These letters may refer to Throwleigh and South Tawton parishes. This stone is considered to be either a standing stone associated with the nearby stone circle, and later adopted as a boundary stone, or it may be a stone taken from the nearby circle and moved to its present position to act as a boundary stone. The former explanation is the more likely since a rather awkward detour is made to include the stone within the boundary and the stone is substantially larger than the remaining examples within the stone circle.

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:

24135

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Butler, J, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities, (1991), 204
Worth, R H, Worth's Dartmoor, (1981), 266

Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SX68NW25, (1993)
National Archaeological Record, SX68NW6,

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