| Summary : A double stone row, the southernmost of the three at Drizzlecombe, has an overall length of 139.5 m, or 150.0 m if measured to the centre of the cairn which terminates the row at the north east end. The row comprises ninety stones, twenty-eight in one row and sixty-two in the other of which six stones are recumbent. The doubling commences about half-way along and runs towards the cairn which has a diameter of 6.7 metres and a height of 0.8 metres. A number of edge set stones around the circumference of the mound represent a kerb and there is a small depression in the top of the cairn. The standing stone at the southwest end measures 1.8 metres by 0.4 metres and is 3.2 metres high. The whole complex of Drizzlecombe is somewhat unusual as the settlement and ceremonial landscapes are both covered with cairns. Cairns would normally be associated with the settlement area only. It is probably that the cairns and settlement post-date the stone rows, however it is also possible that the settlement co-existing with the stone rows and merely expanded into their area at a later date. |
More information : (SX 591669) Cairn (NR) Standing Stone (NR) (Stone row depicted but not described). (1)
A stone row extending 488 ft. In part the row is double; in part single. At its south west end is a standing stone and at its north east end is an 18 ft diameter barrow. The standing stone, recumbent in 1889, has since been raised and stands 10 ft 6 ins high (3). (2-3)
This double stone row, the southernmost of the three at Drizzlecombe, has an overall length of 139.5 m, or 150.0 m if measured to the centre of the cairn which terminates the row at the north east end. The row comprises ninety stones, twenty-eight in one row and sixty-two in the other (see plan) of which six stones are recumbent. The doubling commences about half-way along and runs towards the cairn which has a diameter of 6.3 m and a height of 0.6 m. Three of four stones on the circumference form part of a possible cairn circle and there is a small depression in the top of the cairn. The alignment of the row is 50o east of grid north. The standing stone at the southwest end measures 1.8 m by 0.4 m and is 3.2 m high.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on PFD and at 1:2500 for AO Records. (4)
Stone row surveyed in 1988 and cairn surveyed by 1995 by N.Quinnell for the new DAS visitor leaflet. Records of description, plan and table of measurements in the NMR archive. (5)
The stone row and the cairn are as described on a large scale plan by Quinnell (5). In recent years a number of portable boulders have been inserted into some of the gaps in the stone row. (6)
Double stone row and cairn. Scheduling amended. (7)
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. (8-9)
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