Double stone alignment with a terminal stone setting south of Great Trowlesworthy Tor

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 provide rare evidence of ceremonial or ritual practices on the Moor during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. This double alignment is additionally significant because it is associated with another alignment and occupation sites in the vicinity.

Details

Stone alignments or stone rows consist of upright stones set in a single line or in two or more parallel lines up to several hundred metres in length. They frequently lead to burial monuments such as small cairns, cists and barrows and are therefore thought to have had a ceremonial function. The seventy or so examples known on Dartmoor were probably constructed in the Late Neolithic period (around 2,500 BC). This double stone alignment runs north/south down the slope south of Great Trowlesworthy Tor towards Blacka Brook. It is crossed by Lee Moor China Clay Works Leat 53.5m from its southern end. The alignment is 128m in length and changes orientation close to its mid-point, turning slightly to the south-west in its southern part. The stones are up to 0.95m in height and are set in opposing pairs of which at least forty-eight remain, 0.96m apart on average and spaced at an average interval of 1.75m. At least one hundred and three stones remain in place, another three are fallen and others may lie under turf and heather. At its higher, northern end there is a circular stone setting 7m in diameter consisting of eight stones up to 1.3m in height. There is no trace of a cairn within the circle. There is another alignment c.100m to the west and occupation sites in the vicinity. The Lee Moor China Clay works Leat is not included in the scheduling.

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:

10664

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Worth, R H, Trans Devons Assoc in The Stone Rows of Dartmoor, Vol. 24, (1892), 401

Other
Devon County SMR SX56SE-019,

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