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Summary

One of two alignments south of Laughter Tor; this row lies to the south-east of Laughter Man standing stone. This eastern alignment is orientated from north-west to south-east and includes a 164 metres long, double alignment of at least 23 upright stones, with an average height of 0.23 metres. The spacing of the stones is irregular and the distance between the rows is 1.7 metres. A small cairn with a tall standing stone built into its centre stands at the north-west end of this stone alignment.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1021047: Two double stone alignments, cairn and standing stone 700m south west of Laughter Hole Farm

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67NE28
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442476
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67NE/27
• Old SAM County Ref: 802
• Old SAM Ref: 34459
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX67NE28

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• STONE ALIGNMENT (Constructed, Neolithic - 4000 BC (Between) to 2201 BC (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

'Stone Rows' shown on early 20th century map with a 'Menhir' at the west end.

Worth, R. H., 1940, The Dartmoor Menhirs, 197 pl.4 (Article in Serial). SDV231163.

South of Lough Tor (Laughter Tor) stands the menhir known as "the Laughtor Man". This menhir formerly marked the termination of a double stone row. It is 8ft 7ins high, 2.5 ft at its greatest width and 18ins wide at the base, tapering to 9 ins at the tip.

Worth, R. H., 1946, The Stone Rows of Dartmoor. Part 1, 310, Row No. 50 (Article in Serial). SDV251172.

(Estimated 1945) 23 stones remain varying in distance apart from 1 to 2m. The average height of the stones is 300 to 600mm. At the north-western end is a standing stone. At the south-eastern end two of the stones are comparatively large; suggesting a possible barrow.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1952, SX67NE28, SX67NE28 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV230021.

(18/07/1952) Stone Row, menhir Laughter. Condition rather bad. The 3 south-eastern extremity stones are still standing but the remainder are only just visible above ground.

Worth, R. H., 1953, Dartmoor, 229 (Monograph). SDV231148.

A double row of stones, consisting of 23 stones, extends for 657 feet varying in distance apart from 4 to 6 feet. The average height of the stones is 1 to 2 feet. At the north west end is a standing stone, 8 feet 8 inches high. At the south east end two of the stones are comparatively large; suggesting a possible barrow. The standing stone was re-erected in 1893.

Ancient Monuments, 1970, Schedule Note (Schedule Document). SDV230012.

(06/05/1970) Stone row south of Laughter Tor. A much robbed double row of stones. Remains of 2 stone rows to south-east of standing stone. Only 21 upright remain.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1976, SX67SE94 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV230153.

(22/09/1976) Immediately south of the standing stone (MDV6001) a stone row was found, exposed by burning. It consists of 13 visible small stones "and some 9 can be located by probing".
NB: see Quinnell's 1995 note below.

National Monument Record, 1977, SX6575, 1/365-385 (Aerial Photograph). SDV247974.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 151 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

(17/07/1976) No trace of cairn claimed by Worth at lower (south-east) end.

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

Hemery, E., 1983, High Dartmoor, 488 (Monograph). SDV249702.

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

A very small part of this row is visible and only one row on NMR 1977 aerial photograph.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit, I. S. Sainsbury (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

[442476] (27/10/1988) SX 6521 7538. (A) A standing stone (re-erected in 1893 and again in 1911), at about 395m OD on gentle, rough grass and heather covered, south-facing slopes, some 350m SSW of Laughter Tor.
Now oriented E-W and standing some 2.7m high, it is 0.65m wide and 0.45m thick at ground level. (see GP's). According to Worth (1953) "when fallen this was 12ft (3.65m) long." It appears to be placed centrally within a flat topped grass covered mound 0.3m maximum height and about 8m in diameter but it is not possible to ascertain if this is an original feature. The ground at the base of the stone is worn away revealing an assortment of small packing stones.
About 18m SE of the standing stone a double row of stones extends down the slope from SX 6524 7537 some 205m to SX 6537 7531. Oriented NW-SE and 1.4m apart at the NW end widening to 2m at the SE end it consists of twenty-one good stones, mainly upright and probably in-situ, and a further nine stones, possibly original, but now displaced (see Fig 1). The majority of the stones are aligned with the rows.
There are eight stones at the NW end and thirteen at the SE end, probably due to robbing of the central section. The stones vary in height from 0.1m to a maximum of 1.3m and are from 0.15m to 1.2m wide and 0.1m to 0.3m thick. The larger stones tend to be at the SE end. (Worth says that this suggests there may have been a barrow at this SE end but no evidence for this is visible on the ground).
From Worth's photograph (Plate 56B) the rows were much better seen when he described them as being 657ft (200m) long. The rows are now some 144m long but may have originally been up to 203m in length.
(DAS Proceedings, 1965, Vol 12's comment refers to the stone row SX 67 NE 94).
NB: note that the labelling on the GIS layers based on the Royal Commission Duchy Survey have muddled the numbers for this and the shorter curving alignment to the west; this row is given the number 915069, even though the description is given in record 442476 [Richards, A. F., 23/06/2022].

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 157098 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

(09/05/2002) Double stone alignment 690m south-west of Laughter Hole Farm. The last two uprights within the row are within a circular hollow measuring 3.6m in diameter and 0.3m deep, within which there is erosion caused by animal poaching. Gorse, grass bilberry and rushes

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 58-59, 234, Map 29, Figure 28.4 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Laughter Tor double stone row with the upper west end at SX65217539 with 23 stones and a standing stone and cairn at the west end. The row is split into two sections with the central portion almost entirely missing. Grooves and pits mark the site of many of the missing stones. The rows are 1.7 metres apart and extend to 164 metres.

Quinnell, N. V., 1995, Notes in Sites and Monument Record: stone rows (Personal Comment). SDV138550.

(22/03/1995) Laughter Man. The Ordnance Survey has wrongly conflated two rows under the number SX67NE28 (see also SMR/HER: SX67NE/26/1; MDV6002).

Ancient Monuments, 2003, Schedule amendment (Schedule Document). SDV230030.

(30/09/2003) SX 65287535. Bronze Age standing stone 2.65 metres high, 0.7 metres wide and 0.52 metres thick, set into a small cairn. About 18 metres to the south east is a double stone row orientated north west to south east and consisting of at least 23 upright stones and a further 9 displaced ones averaging about 1.7 metres apart. The standing stone was re-erected in 1893 and again in 1911 and the cairn was excavated in 1903. Scheduled.

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

Stone shown on survey.

English Heritage, 2011, National Heritage List for England, 1021047 (National Heritage List for England). SDV347072.

The monument includes two double stone alignments, a cairn and standing stone situated on a south facing slope of Laughter Tor overlooking the valley of the East Dart River. The eastern alignment is orientated from north-west to south east and includes a 164 meters long, double alignment of at least 23 upright stones, with an average height of 0.23 meters. The spacing of the stones is irregular and the distance between the rows is 1.7 meters. A small cairn with a tall standing stone built into its centre stands at the north-west end of this stone alignment. The cairn measures 5.5 meters in diameter and 0.2 meters high, whilst the standing stone is 2.65 meters high, 0.7 meters wide by 0.52 meters thick. The standing stone was re-erected in 1893 and again in 1911. The cairn was excavated in 1903 by Robert Burnard who found considerable quantities of charcoal.
The second stone alignment (PRN 6002) lies to the south of the standing stone and is also orientated approximately north-west to south-east and includes a 10 meter long double row of at least ten upright stones with an average height of 0.05 meters. The spacing of the stones is irregular and the distance between the rows is 1.0 meter. (Amended 2003) Other details: SAM ID: 34459.

Ordnance Survey, 2022, Mastermap 2022 (Cartographic). SDV364674.

'Stone Rows' shown on modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8634 - Brimpts Farm, Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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