Butterdon Hill stone alignment and cairn

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 aligments provide rare evidence of ceremonial or ritual practices on the Moor during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. The Butterdon Hill alignment is particularly significant as it is the second longest on Dartmoor and its full length is defined by a terminal cairn at the southern end to a terminal stone at the northern end. It is also associated with several other cairns and ceremonial monuments on Butterdon Hill.

Details

Stone alignments or stone rows consist of upright stones set in a single line or 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 2500 BC). The Butterdon Hill single stone alignment runs for over 2km along the ridge between Butterdon Hill and Piles Hill and is the second longest stone alignment on Dartmoor. The stones are up to a metre in height and are spaced at intervals of 1m to 1.5m. There is a cairn 10.5m in diameter and 0.3m in height, with a retaining kerb at the southern end of the alignment and a recumbent stone, 2.56m in length, known as the Longstone, which is considered to have been the northern terminal. One stone in the row c.300m south of this northern terminal has a cross incised on its west face and is known as Hobajon's Cross. The line has been adopted as the Harford Moor/ Ugborough Moor Common Land boundary and includes introduced modern boundary stones.

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:

10558

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Davidson, C J, Seabrook, R A G, Proc. Devon Arch. Soc. in Stone Rings on South East Dartmoor, Vol. 31, (1973), 25
Emmett, D D, Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings in Stone Rows: The Traditional View Reconsidered, Vol. 39, (1979), 111
Worth, R H, Trans Devonshire Assoc in Dartmoor 1788-1808, Vol. 73, (1941), 203
Worth, R H, Trans Devonshire Assoc in Stone Rows of Dartmoor, Part 1, Vol. 78, (1946), 287

Other
Devon County SMR SX66SE-013,
Devon County SMR SX66NE-006 and 038,
Devon County SMR SX65NE-013.01,
Devon County SMR SX66SE-002,

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Print the official list entry