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Summary

Cholwichtown stone row shown on historic maps was once aligned along the south-west spur of Penn Beacon but the China Clay Works has destroyed the site

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56SE33
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56SE/27

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• STONE ALIGNMENT (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 1501 BC (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, SX56SE33, SX56SE33 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV139400.

Cholwichtown stone row.

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'Stone Avenue' shown on 19th century map with 'Stone Circle' at northern end.

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

'Stone Row' shown on early 20th century map with 'Stone Circle' at northern end.

Worth, R. H., 1946, The Stone Rows of Dartmoor. Part 1, 290, Row number 10 (Article in Serial). SDV251172.

The row is single, about 210 metres long, direction 22 degrees north. Imperfect in places, a well marked row, with some stones larger than ordinary.

Fox, A., 1963, Twenty-Seventh Report On Archaeology and Early History, 78 (Article in Serial). SDV124457.

Cholwich town stone row. 44 stones in a straight line, none higher than 0.914 metres. With a small stone circle at the northern limit. Unevenly spaced through robbing and crossed by occasional leats and pipe lines. Moorland. It was excavated in 1961 by Simmons and Eogan because the land was required by the adjacent china clay works for tipping. The entire row was cleared, and some 3.014 metres either side of it and the sockets of many missing stones were found.

Simmons, I. G., 1964, Pollen Diagrams from Dartmoor, 25 (Article in Serial). SDV362896.

Soil pollen analysis shows monument was built in a clearing of oak forest, in which cereals had been grown. No dating evidence. The row was originally 235 yards long. 53 uprights survive together with 38 sockets. Orthostats have long axis following the line of the row. Average depth into subsoil 30 centimetres. Best stones lead to focal point at circle. No finds or datable material.

Simmons, I. G., 1969, Environment and Early Man on Dartmoor, 203 (Article in Serial). SDV154938.

Fox, A., 1973, South West England 3,500BC - AD600 (Revised Edition), 70 (Monograph). SDV16216.

Davidson, C. + Seabrook, R., 1973, Stone Rings on south-east Dartmoor, 29. 33, Figures 16 & 19 (Article in Serial). SDV345864.

Site assessed the site for its astronomical potential and publish measured plan.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 136 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

Emmett, D. D., 1979, Stone Rows: The Traditional View Reconsidered, 107, 111 (Article in Serial). SDV251087.

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

Not recorded on aerial photograph.

Griffiths, F. M., 1991, Cholwichtown stone row descheduled (Personal Comment). SDV139402.

Scheduling and descheduling information under monument Devon 426.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, 109-110, Map 48, Figure 48.7 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Cholwichtown single stone row was completely excavated before its destruction in 1961. Pollen analysis showed that the stones were put up in a woodland glade and the presence of cereal pollen indicated that an unrecorded settlement existed nearby. The row originated on a ring of stones at the higher end. Excavation showed the original length was 217 metres with 91 stones of which 38 were lost. The remaining stones averaged 1.0 metres high with the tallest reaching 2.0 metres. Much of the damage seems to have occurred about 1848 when the monument was 'despoiled'. A tall standing stone of 3.7 metres had been removed before that date but no socket hole was located. Spaces between the stones varied from a metre to several metres and the excavation revealed the builders had no intention of setting the stones at equal intervals. A taller slab defined the lower end of the row. The ring at the northern end was about 4.9 metres across with no sign of a cairn but with a large circular pit 2.2 metres across by nearly a metre deep filled with loose earth and stones, the upcast spread outwards as far as the bases of the stones indicating a later robbery having erased all traces of both cairn and burial deposit

Quinnell, N. V., 1995, Cholwichtown stone row destroyed (Personal Comment). SDV139403.

Letter of 22nd March 1995. Site now destroyed.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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