Details

The monument includes a stone alignment situated on the upper southern slope
of Higher White Tor, overlooking the valley of the Cherry Brook. The stone
alignment survives as two parallel rows of stones aligned approximately north
to south and measures 95.4m long. Twelve stones remain upright and a further
24 are recumbent. Four upright stones survive in the western row and the
remainder form part of the eastern row. The tallest stone within the
alignment is 0.75m high, whilst the average height is 0.3m.

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.

The stone alignment 260m south of Higher White Tor survives comparatively
well and is situated in a particularly prominent location at a considerable
altitude. 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), 65

Source: Historic England