Stone circle on Withypool Hill 670m ESE of Portford Bridge

Reasons for Designation

Stone circles are prehistoric monuments comprising one or more circles of upright or recumbent stones. The circle of stones may be surrounded by earthwork features such as enclosing banks and ditches. Single upright stones may be found within the circle or outside it and avenues of stones radiating out from the circle occur at some sites. Burial cairns may also be found close to and on occasion within the circle. Stone circles are found throughout England although they are concentrated in western areas, with particular clusters in upland areas such as Bodmin and Dartmoor in the south-west and the Lake District and the rest of Cumbria in the north-west. This distribution may be more a reflection of present survival rather than an original pattern. Where excavated they have been found to date from the Late Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age (c.2400-1000 BC). It is clear that they were designed and laid out carefully, frequently exhibiting very regularly spaced stones, the heights of which also appear to have been of some importance. We do not fully understand the uses for which these monuments were originally constructed but it is clear that they had considerable ritual importance for the societies that used them. In many instances excavation has indicated that they provided a focus for burials and the rituals that accompanied interment of the dead. Some circles appear to have had a calendrical function, helping mark the passage of time and seasons, this being indicated by the careful alignment of stones to mark important solar or lunar events such as sunrise or sunset at midsummer or midwinter. At other sites the spacing of individual circles throughout the landscape has led to a suggestion that each one provided some form of tribal gathering point for a specific social group. Large regular stone circles comprise an arrangement of between one and three rings of from 20 to 30 upright stones. The diameters of these circles range between 20 and 30 metres. They are presently known only in upland contexts, the majority being located in Devon and Cornwall or Cumbria. Of the 250 or so stone circles identified in England only 28 are examples of this type. As a rare monument type which provides an important insight into prehistoric ritual activity all surviving examples are worthy of preservation.

Despite a number of the stones having been displaced or removed, the prehistoric stone circle on Withypool Hill, 670m ESE of Portford Bridge, survives well with many of the stones surviving earthfast and upright in their original settings and a number of other stones, now displaced, marking their former settings. The area enclosed by the stone circle survives well without any obvious disturbance. Excavation of similar monuments has shown that potentially important archaeological deposits and environmental evidence relating to earlier phases of construction, and other internal features, are likely to be preserved beneath the ground surface. It is a good example of its class of monument and its importance is enhanced by its rarity as it is one of only two prehistoric stone circles known on Exmoor.

Details

The monument includes a stone circle of prehistoric date located on a south and west facing slope about 180m south west of the summit of Withypool Hill. It lies in high open moorland with views west towards Withypool Down, and south over Old Barrow Down. The stone circle is formed by a ring of upright rough stone blocks which originate from the Pickwell Down beds located to the south of Withypool and it is believed to have been constructed during the period from the Late Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. It is formed by around 25 upright and earthfast stones, and several which have fallen or are displaced, but remain in or close to their original position. The sites of former earthfast stones are visible as shallow depressions and gaps in the circle, particularly on the north and west sides. The circuit of stones survives most completely on the eastern side where there is a regular interval of just over 1m between each stone. The larger of the stones are to be found in this sector; four of these have an average size of 0.5m in height, 0.6m in width and are 0.2m thick. The average dimensions of the majority of the stones are 0.5m high, 0.4m wide and 0.2m thick. The overall diameter of the stone circle is 36m with an approximate circumference of 115m. Given the size of the circle, and the spacing between each stone, it has been estimated that the circle originally comprised 100 stones approximately.

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:

35720

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Gray, H St G, Proceedings Somerset Archaeological & Natural History Society in The Stone Circle on Withypool Hill, Exmoor, Vol. 52, (1906), 42-50

Other
SS 83 SW 1, National Monuments Record,

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