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Latitude: 50.6802 / 50°40'48"N
Longitude: -3.913 / 3°54'46"W
OS Eastings: 264938.688218
OS Northings: 88475.489687
OS Grid: SX649884
Mapcode National: GBR Q7.CGMB
Mapcode Global: FRA 27P8.WXH
Entry Name: Stone circle 400m south west of Buttern Hill
Scheduled Date: 26 November 1928
Last Amended: 21 January 1999
Source: Historic England
Source ID: 1018913
English Heritage Legacy ID: 28712
County: Devon
Civil Parish: Gidleigh
Traditional County: Devon
Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Devon
Church of England Parish: Gidleigh Holy Trinity
Church of England Diocese: Exeter
The monument includes a stone circle situated on level ground overlooking the
valley of the North Teign River and Whitemoor Marsh. The stone circle measures
24.8m in diameter and is denoted by five upright granite slabs standing up to
0.76m high. A further 19 recumbent stones lie where they have fallen.
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
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 provide 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 circles, or circular
arrangements of upright stones, were set into the ground and acted as
ceremonial and funerary monuments during the later Neolithic and Bronze Age
periods (c.2400-700 BC). On Dartmoor they are often found in association with
stone alignments and burial monuments such as cairns and cists. The circles
may be single or enclose further circles; they may occur as isolated examples
or in groups. The 26 examples on Dartmoor form one of the most dense
concentrations of monuments of this type in the country. Due to their relative
rarity (with a national population of only some 200 examples) and longevity as
a monument type, all stone circles are considered to be nationally important.
The stone circle 400m south west of Buttern Hill survives comparatively well
and has never been restored or excavated.
Source: Historic England
Books and journals
Butler, J, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities, (1991), 194
Source: Historic England
Other nearby scheduled monuments