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Summary

This is the most south-easterly of the group of rows at Drizzlecombe (Worth's row 19); 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. This alignment at Drizzlecombe lies nearly parallel with the other two 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.

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
• 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 to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

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

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.

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.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 135-6 (Monograph). SDV137656.

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.

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.

Various, 2018-2019, PALs Condition Recording forms, UP-DZ 20 (Worksheet). SDV362781.

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

Various, 2018-2019, 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.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8155 - Plym Valley Survey
• EDV4966 - Survey of Drizzlecombe, Eylesbarrow, Ditsworthy and Hartor

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