Details

The monument includes a stone alignment and cairn situated on a gentle
south facing slope overlooking the valley of the Stannon Brook. The cairn
denotes the northern end of the alignment, measures 7.8m in diameter and
stands up to 0.35m high. The edge of the mound is denoted by a rubble ridge
which is most pronounced on the south western side.
The stone alignment, which is of the double type leads south from the cairn
for 167m and includes at least 46 stones of which 5 are now recumbent. The
average height of all the stones is 0.16m and the distance between the two
rows of stones varies between 0.9m and 1.5m.

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

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 alignments or stone rows
consist of upright stones set in single file or in avenues of two or more
parallel lines, up to several hundred metres in length. They are often
physically linked to burial monuments, such as small cairns, cists and
barrows, and are considered to have had an important ceremonial function. The
Dartmoor alignments mostly date from the Late Neolithic period (c.2400-2000
BC). Some eighty examples, most of them on the outer Moor, provide over half
the recorded national population. Due to their comparative rarity and
longevity as a monument type, all surviving examples are considered nationally
important, unless very badly damaged.

Despite partial excavation of the cairn, the stone alignment and cairn 470m
east of Stannon Brook source survive comparatively well, the former
representing a typical example of a double alignment. Archaeological and
environmental information relating to the monument and the landscape in which
it was erected will survive.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Butler, J, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities, (1991), 167

Source: Historic England