Stone alignment and terminal cairn with a retaining kerb on Ringmoor Down

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 provides 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. Although affected by some robbing, the Ringmoor Down alignment remains an important example.

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 70 or so examples known on Dartmoor were probably constructed in the Late Neolithic period (around 2,500BC). The Ringmoor Down alignment has a double row of stones 337m in length orientated north-east/south-west, with a cairn and retaining kerb at the south-western end and an orthostat 1.10m in height at the northern end. It runs close to the 290m contour and has twenty- seven standing stones ranging from 0.15m to 1.25m in height. Robbing has reduced the number of stones, but opposing pairs are on average 1.4m apart. The cairn is 7m in diameter and 0.4m in height and is surrounded by a retaining kerb 12.9m in diameter. The retaining kerb was restored by Baring-Gould in 1909. Prior to this, one stone remained standing and four were fallen, while sockets for a further six were recorded. There are now ten standing stones, the original one is 0.7m in height, the restored and imported stones stand up to 0.9m in height.

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:

10596

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
SX56NE-008 & 008.1,

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