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Summary

Drizzlecombe Stone Row '2 is the shortest of the three rows at Drizzlecombe with an overall length of 84.5 meters. This alignment at Drizzlecombe lies nearly parallel with the other two and includes a single row of 3 recumbent and 11 upright stones with an average height of 0.38 metres, although the blocking stone at the south-west end is much larger, stands up to 4.2 metres high and is the tallest example on Dartmoor.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1014145: Three stone alignments, 15 cairns, a cist, a partially enclosed stone hut circle settlement and a small clapper bridge at Drizzle Combe

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56NE42
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 438619
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/276
• Old SAM County Ref: 462
• Old SAM Ref: 24104
• Pastscape: 438619

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• STONE ALIGNMENT (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Crossing, W., 1912 (1965), Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor, 434-5 (Monograph). SDV320981.

Worth, R. H., 1940, The Dartmoor Menhirs, 194 (Article in Serial). SDV231163.

A single stone row extending for 296 feet. At its south west end is a standing stone and at its north east end is a 29 feet diameter barrow with a cairn circle. The standing stone, recumbent in 1889, has since been raised and stands 14ft high.

Worth, R. H., 1946, The Stone Rows of Dartmoor. Part 1, 293 plate 35 (Article in Serial). SDV251172.

Stone Row C of the Drizzlecombe group. A circled barrow is at the north-east end and a menhir at the south-west end. The row is single throughout and the stones are more widely spaced than in either of the other rows. Length of the row is 90m and direction of length north 44 degrees east. Row No.19.

Royal Air Force, 1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2494, 4218-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDV147533.

Cairn visible.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX56NE42, Stone row (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV272597.

(31/05/1950) Stone Row measuring 84.5m in length (centre of barrow at north-east end to menhir at south-west end), single row of stones throughout, average height 0.6m.

Emmett, D. D., 1979, Stone Rows: The Traditional View Reconsidered, 111 (Article in Serial). SDV251087.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1979, SX56NE42 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV272056.

(31/01/1979) This stone row, the shortest of the three rows at Drizzlecombe, has an overall length of 76.5m, or 84.5m if measured to the centre of the cairn at the north-east end. Its orientation is 43 degrees east of grid north. In addition to the large standing stone at the south-west end there are fourteen stones in a single row; three of these are recumbent. The maximum height of any stone is 0.8m. The standing stone measures 1.1m by 0.3m and is 4.3m high.
The cairn (MDV4047), the centre of which is offset from the line of the row by about 0.6m, has a diameter of 10.3mand a height of 1.0m There are ten stones of the retaining circle all at the base of the mound. There is a small depression in the top. Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD and at 1:500 for AO Records.

Balaam, N. D. + Smith, K. + Wainwright, G. J., 1982, The Shaugh Moor Project: Fourth Report - Environment, Context and Conclusion, 254 (Article in Serial). SDV145845.

Cocks, J. S. + Greeves, T. + Lady Sayer, 1983, A Dartmoor Century 1883-1983, 39 (Monograph). SDV351365.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Dartmoor) - Dartmoor Pre-NMP (Cartographic). SDV319854.

Not visible on the 1946 Royal Air Force 1940s vertical aerial photographs consulted in the project.

Quinnell, N. V., 1988, Plan of the Drizzlecombe Stone Rows and associated features, Row 19 (Plan - measured). SDV232055.

Fleming, A., 1988, The Dartmoor Reaves: Investigating Prehistoric Land Divisions, 97 105 figs 5 60 (Monograph). SDV229071.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 133415 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(12/03/1993) This stone alignment forms part of a cluster of Neolithic and Bronze Age ritual and settlement features including three stone alignments, at least 22 cairns, 5 enclosures and a large number of associated stone hut circles. The stone alignment is the southernmost of three examples lying in the triangle of land between Drizzle Combe and the River Plym and is situated on the lower slopes of a gentle south-west facing spur leading from Higher Hartor.
The easternmost stone alignment at Drizzlecombe lies nearly parallel with the other two (see SX56NE/277 + 80) and includes an 82.2m long, single row of 3 recumbent and 11 upright stones with an average height of 0.38m, although the blocking stone at the south-west end is much larger, stands up to 4.2m high and is the tallest example on Dartmoor. The spacing of the stones along the row varies between 3m and 4.5m.

Devon Archaeological Society, 1995, The Drizzlecombe Stone Rows (Leaflet). SDV272662.

Department of National Heritage, 1996, Consent letter (Correspondence). SDV232057.

(10/04/1996) Consent granted for works concerning erosion repairs.

Gerrard, S., 1997, Book of Dartmoor: Landscapes Through Time, 35 (Monograph). SDV337813.

As a complex, the Drizzlecombe stone rows are set apart from settlement evidence although cairns are sited across both. In other similar sites such as Merrivale these two monument types are mutually exclusive and it is posisble that the settlement and stone rows co-existed, before the settlement expanded and the cairns mingled with the ceremonial landscape. It should also be noted as a possibility that the stone rows may pre-date settlement entirely, and the settlement and cairn evidence was a distinctly separate phase of landscape occupation. Also unlike Merrivale where the stones are very symmetrical, the terminus stone or menhir of this row is a very unusual shape, and it is likely that it was deliberately chosen because of this fact.

Butler, J., 1997, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities - Vol 5 The Second Millennium B.C., 135-9, 201, Map 49, Figure 49.19 (Monograph). SDV320503.

Drizzlecombe Stone Row '2' of 83.2 metres long with the east end at SX59266705. As a complex, the Drizzlecombe stone rows are set apart from settlement evidence although cairns are sited across both. Each row originates on a cairn uphill and terminating with a tall standing stone at the lower end. This shortest row has larger slabs set further apart leading up to the tallest next to the cairn.

Fletcher, M. + Newman, P. + Probert, S., 1999, Drizzlecombe, Eylesbarrow, Ditsworthy and Hartor areas in the Plym Valley, West Devon (Report - Survey). SDV346268.

(22/08/1999) The stone row and the cairn are as described and depicted on a large scale plan by Quinnell (1988). In recent years a number of portable boulders have been inserted into some of the gaps in the stone row. A notable feature of the cairn is that the remnants of the kerb lie between 1.0m and 1.4m beyond the perimeter of the mound.

Probert, S. A. J. + Fletcher, M. J., 2002, Plym Valley survey (Report - Survey). SDV350782.

English Heritage, 2005-2008, Prehistoric Survey Information (Cartographic). SDV345521.

Alignment shown on survey.

Armstrong, K. + Cheetham, P., 2009, Archaeological Geophysical Survey in Peatland Environments: Case Study Survey at Drizzlecombe Stone Row Complex, Dartmoor, Devon: Preliminary Report (Report - Survey). SDV364048.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording forms, UP-DZ 20 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

Visited 05/02/2020. Overall condition good. Photo x3 taken.

Various, 2018-2020, PALs Condition Recording photographs, UP-DZ 20 (Photograph). SDV363073.

Photo 1: View of looking 0° showing animal scrape round base of menhir and reed outcrop on stone row. Photo 2: View looking 050° showing soil erosion along path beside stones near central part of row. Photo 3: View looking 210° showing animal scrape beside stone at NE end of row.

Historic England, 2021, National Heritage List for England, 1014145 (National Heritage List for England). SDV364016.

The easternmost stone alignment lies nearly parallel with the other two and includes an 82.2 metres long, single row of 3 recumbent and 11 upright stones with an average height of 0.38 metres, although the blocking stone at the south-western end is much larger, stands up to 4.2 metres high and is the tallest example on the Moor. Sometime prior to 1963 the northern face of this stone was defaced with Chinese graffiti, though this is now weathered and not obtrusive. The spacing of the stones along the row varies between 3 metres and 4.5 metres. A cairn denotes the upper end of the row and this survives as a 9 metres diameter mound standing up to 0.9 metres. A central hollow represents the site of robbing or partial early excavation. Surrounding the mound, is a ring of 12 upright stones set 1.5 metres from its periphery.

Historic England, 2021-2022, NRHE to HER website, Accessed 28/06/2021 (Website). SDV364039.

Stone row surveyed in 1988 and cairn surveyed in 1995 by N Quinnell for the new DAS visitor leaflet. Records of description, plan and table of measurements in the NMR archive. ( Inf: Norman Quinnell (SMR Record Form 10/9/95)
The easternmost stone alignment of the three at Drizzle Combe lies nearly parallel with the other 2. It comprises a single row of 3 recumbent and 11 upright stones. The blocking stone at the south western end stands up to 4.2 metres high and is the tallest example on the moor. Sometime prior to 1963, the northern face of this stone was defaced with Chinese graffiti. The cairn marking the upper end of the row measures 9 metre in diameter and stands up to 0.9 metres high. A ring of 12 upright stones surrounds the mound at a distance of 1.5 metres. (English Heritage Scheduling amendment, 09-MAR-2001)

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8155 - Plym Valley Survey: EH Project (Feb 2001 - Dec 2002)
• EDV4966 - Survey of Drizzlecombe, Eylesbarrow, Ditsworthy and Hartor. The Eylesbarrow archaeological landscape
• EDV8387 - Geophysical survey at Drizzlecombe Stone Row Complex
• EDV8227 - Ringmoor Training Area: Monument Baseline Condition Survey

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