Details

The monument includes four standing stones, the broken stump of a standing
stone and the archaeologically sensitive area between and around those
features. The site is located on the gentle NNE facing slopes at the north
east end of Trout Hill 550m south west of the foot bridge over Badgworthy
Water. The site is arranged in two intersecting rows. The east-west alignment
is 12.2m long. Its westernmost stone serves also as the central stone of the
north east to south west alignment which is 21.2m long. The standing stones
are between 500mm to 700mm high, 200mm to 340mm wide and 100mm to 160mm thick.

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.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Exmoor is the most easterly of the three main upland areas in the south
western peninsula of England. In contrast to the other two areas, Dartmoor and
Bodmin Moor, there has been no history of antiquarian research and little
excavation of its monuments. However, survey work has confirmed a comparable
richness of archaeological remains with evidence of human exploitation and
occupation from the Mesolithic period to the present day. The well-preserved
and often visible relationships between settlement sites, major land
boundaries, trackways and ceremonial and funerary monuments give insight into
successive changes in the pattern of land-use through time.
Stone settings consist of a group of standing stones set out in an irregular
or random pattern. There are a number of such sites on Exmoor where they
appear to be a regional variation of the more common stone alignments. Stone
settings are often sited close to prehistoric burial monuments, such as small
cairns and cists, and to ritual monuments, such as stone circles, and are
therefore considered to have had an important ceremonial function. Stone
settings were being constructed and used from the Late Neolithic period to the
Middle Bronze Age (c.2500-1000 BC) and provide rare evidence of ceremonial and
ritual practices during these periods. Due to their rarity and longevity as a
monument type all surviving examples are considered to be of national
importance.

The Trout Hill 1 stone setting survives well and will retain archaeological
and environmental evidence relating to the construction and use of the
monument. Its importance is increased by being part of a linear group of
three other similar sites extending for 600m.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Quinnell, N V, Dunn, C J, Lithic Monuments within the Exmoor National Park: A New Survey, (1992), 43
Chanter, , Worth, , 'Rep Trans Dev Assoc' in The Rude Stone Monuments Of Exmoor And Its Borders, Part I., , Vol. 37, (1905), 375-397

Source: Historic England