Stone alignment and cairns on Stalldown

Overview

Location

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, such as Stalldown, with its associated cairns, provide rare evidence of ceremonial or ritual practices on the Moor during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age.

Details

Stone alignments or stone rows consist of upright stones set in single line or in two or more parallel lines, up to a few 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 2,500 BC). This alignment runs for 500m in a roughly north-south direction from the top of Stalldown. It is closely associated with three lateral cairns, one of which is defined by a fine retaining kerb. Many of the stones have been restored in the past and may not be exactly as originally positioned. They are mostly 1 to 1.5m high with four over 2m at the northern end, where they are also more widely spaced. One cairn lies 28m to the west towards the northern end, the second lies 41m to the east a little further south and the retaining kerb of the third, lies on the alignment further south. The complex lies in area heavily cut for peat.

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:

10509

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Baring-Gould, S, 'Trans. Devonshire Assoc.' in Fourth Report of the Dartmoor Excavation Committee, (1897), 146-7
Davidson, C J, Seabrook, R A G, 'Proc. Devon Arch. Soc.' in Stone Rings on South East Dartmoor, , Vol. 31, (1973), 31
Emmett, D D, 'Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings' in Stone Rows: The Traditional View Reconsidered, , Vol. 37, (1979), 107,111
Grinsell, L V, 'Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings' in Dartmoor Barrows, , Vol. 36, (1978), 137
Robinson, R, Cosford, J, 'Proc Devon Arch Soc' in Dartmoor Multiple Stone Circles, , Vol. 44, (1986), 166-170
Other
Devon County SMR (SX 66 SW-034),
Devon County SMR (SX 66 SW-051),
Devon County SMR (SX 66 SW-052),
Devon County SMR (SX 66 SW-053),

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.