Grimspound & Challacombe triple stone row .. Dartmoor pt 1

Hamel Down Tor

We walked straight out from Widecombe Cottage, heading north through Widecombe on The Moor before taking a left turn off the Ponsworthy Road shortly after leaving the village. At the end of the road, we reached the footpath to, and subsequently the boundary of the higher moor of Hamel Down.

The route across Hamel Down is a section of the Two Moors Way which follows the humpback ridge, and takes you past a wealth of archaeological features as it heads solidly towards Grimspound and Hookney Tor beyond.

Our first distraction from the panoramic views, came in the form of a ruined barrow, almost overlooked if it hadn't had a few low stones set about it's perimeter. The cist within however was very obvious, and made us wonder why the feature did not appear on the OS map we carried?

"unmarked" barrow and cist

"unmarked" cist

Later, in the week I was to find a reference to the unmarked cist and barrow, in W.D. Lethbridge's "Discover Prehistoric Dartmoor A Walker's Guide To The Moorlands Ancient Monuments" (2015) which I purchased from the National Trust shop in Widecombe on the Moor. This excellent book also put us onto the stunning sequence of stone rows and monuments at Shovel Down! Of the unmarked cist on Hamel Down, Lethbridge surmises that it must have originally had two capstones, where only one is present now.

Continuing, we arrived at Hamel Down Beacon, closely followed by Two Barrows, Single Barrow and Broad Barrow. Newman (2011) tells us these barrows form part of a cairn alignment comprising 13 separate cairns upon Hamel Down; referring to this alignment as demonstrating that the “Cairn chronology and locations suggest – [they were] established over generations, Combining tradition of [a] communities association with a place, links with spiritual presence of ancestors, funerary arrangements, territory and place”.

Hamel Down Beacon

Two Barrows

Single Barrow

Newman (2011) citing the 1892 excavation of Two Barrows suggests the cairn as probably having a phased sequence of separate constructions over an extended period of time, being a mound containing both a stone ring and central cairn. Of Broad Barrow he describes it as one of the largest cairns on Dartmoor being over 50m in diameter.

Broad Barrow

En route to Broad Barrow we were intrigued by a series of timber posts which stretched in a line across the down. We wondered if they might be way markers or snow poles? Or some kind of boundary marker. The post we inspected was very rotted through and chock full of interesting lichen and mosses. As it turns out the posts are the remnants of WWII anti-glider defences, the moors having been identified as a possible landing stage for German airborne invasion (Newman 2011).

WWII anti-glider post

Taking a westerly diversion from the path, the remains of a mediaeval wayside cross marks the boundary of a 19th Century estate belonging to the Duke of Somerset (Historic England 2017). The cross is decrepit comprising of only the upright and a single arm, the head and other arm being broken. The Historic England listing for this monument reports that damaged wayside crosses “bear marks of damage and destruction because they underwent the wrath of iconoclasts during periods of religious turmoil, and in this sense the damaged cross bears witness to such turbulent times, the evidence of which is clearly apparent” (Historic England 2017).

Mediaeval Cross (Remains of)

Returning to the Two Moors Way we proceeded to Hamel Down Tor, and then shortly after arrived at Grimspound.

Hamel Down Tor

Grimspound - towards Hookney Tor

Bibliography

Historic England (2017) [Online] Hamel Down Cross https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1004576

Lethbridge, W.D. (2015) Discover Prehistoric Dartmoor A Walker's Guide To The Moorland's Ancient Monuments Halsgrove, Somerset

Newman, P. (2011) The Field Archaeology of Dartmoor English Heritage, Swindon

Merrivale Reprise

On our first visit to this Bronze Age ceremonial centre, we were ably defeated by driving rain and wind, which drained the energy from both ourselves, and the iPhone camera - costing us a hasty retreat, with a vow to return in better conditions.

For a full account of the rain-soaked visit, please refer to:

http://awalkamongstthestones.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/merrivale-ceremonial-complex-dartmoor.html

Thankfully on the return visit we were blessed with blue skies and sunshine, giving us the opportunity to walk the double stone rows with dry ground beneath our feet; and explore the adjacent stone circle and its close-to standing stone.

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Double stone row A

Julian Cope (1998) refers to Merrivale as the Plague Market in his gazetteer of megalithic Britain - so named because the plague victims of the 1600's banished to the moors - would be brought food at this place, by the healthy citizens. I have also found reference to this in the account by Legendary Dartmoor (2017) [Online] of the Bronze Age remains being referred to as Potato Market Or Plague Market citing William Crossing's Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor 1990 as historical reference.

Double stone row B

Cist

Merrivale stone circle

Merrivale Standing stone

Bibliography:

Cope, J. 1998 The Modern Antiquarian Thorsons, London

Legendary Dartmoor 2017 [Online] Merrivale Legendary Dartmoor

Wistman's Wood, and Higher White Tor double stone row

Wistman's Wood, and a second return to this hauntingly beautiful upland oak woodland laying on the south western slopes of Longaford Tor, above the West Dart River.

Wistman’s Wood is one of three high altitude oak woodlands on Dartmoor. The site is a National National Reserve, and an important site because of the mosses and lichens which grow on its trees and granite boulders. The oldest trees recorded are about 400 years old. The reserve is also the location of a large Bronze Age settlement, with over 100 buildings being recorded (Natural England 2014).

Above the wood, to the north east, and lying between Longaford Tor and Higher White Tor is the remains of a double stone row some 94.5m long. The rows run parallel in an approximate north/south alignment, and consist of 12 upright and 24 recumbant stones. As with other similar monuments on Dartmoor the stone rows are usually dated to the late Neolithic Ca. 2400 - 2000BC (English Heritage 2014). Although excavations of a recently discovered stone row at Cut Hill, provided radio-carbon dates for the peat found lying beneath its fallen stones, which suggested that the Cut Hill stone row at least may have been in place Ca. 3700 - 3400BC (Newman 2011).

The four views above of the double stone row, comprise three looking south, and a single view looking north towards Higher White Tor.

Bibliography

English Heritage 2014 [Online], Scheduled Monument 1020239: stone alignment 260m south of Higher White Tor, to be found at:

http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1020239

Natural England 2014 [Online], Devon's National Nature Reserves. To be found at:

http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/devons-national-nature-reserves/devons-national-nature-reserves

Newman, P. 2011, The Field Archaeology of Dartmoor, English Heritage, Swindon

The Ten Commandments Stones, Buckland Beacon, Dartmoor

Rather than simply re-tell the story of these stones, their history is ably summarised online at:

http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/ten_command.htm

Buckland Beacon

The Ten Commandments Stones

wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)