Details

The monument includes a stone alignment of three standing, four recumbent
stones arranged in three parallel rows and the archaeologically sensitive area
between and around the stones. It is located on the south east side of
Lanacombe in an area of naturally outcropping rock. The site is set out on a
rectangular grid, with one corner stone missing, orientated NNW/SSE and
extending over 0.02ha. The standing stones are between 120mm and 300mm high,
170mm to 240mm wide and 140mm to 180mm 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 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
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 alignments 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. The recorded examples on Exmoor form an
important subgroup of the total population and are considered to be of
national importance.

The Lanacombe 5 stone alignment survives well and will retain archaeological
and environmental evidence relating to the construction and use of the
monument. Its importance is enhanced by being part of a linear group of five
similar sites.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
M St G Walker, (1993)

Source: Historic England