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Summary

Stone circle or cairn at the southern end of Stall Moor stone alignment

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1003287: Stall Moor circle and long stone row

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX66SW94
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 442445
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66SW/62/1
• Old SAM County Ref: 403

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ROUND BARROW (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))
• STONE CIRCLE (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Kelly, T., 1866, Celtic remains on Dartmoor, 46 (Article in Serial). SDV154696.

Other details: Part 5.

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

'Stone Circle (remains of)' shown on 19th century map.

Worth, R. H., 1941, Retaining Circles Associated with Stone Rows, Dartmoor, 227-9 (Article in Serial). SDV251083.

Stone retaining circle (diameter 15 metres, stone height maximum estimated 1.5 meters) consisting of 20 uprights. The interior appears raised; may be due to peat cutting outside. Encloses barrow.
The stone circle at the southern end is as planned by Worth. The Greenhill cairn is 8.0 meters in diameter and 0.4 meters high with a shallow central depression. It is turf-covered with no particular features other than small protruding stones. There is no visible evidence of a cist.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950, SX66NW20 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV157170.

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

A stone row, the longest on Dartmoor, and as far as is known, the longest in the world, extends from a retaining circle on Stall Moor northwards to a barrow on Greenhill, a distance of approximately 3.4 kilometres.
The stone circle, diameter 15.4 meters, consists of 26 stones, ten in the eastern half and sixteen in the western half. Within the circle is a low barrow and a shallow trench surrounds the whole. The tumulus on Green Hill most likely contains the remains of a cist. There is a broken stone on the surface which has either been a small menhir or a cist cover.
The stone row is partly covered in blanket peat showing that it was built before the Sub-Atlantic deterioration of the climate after 900 BC.

Davidson, C. + Seabrook, R., 1973, Stone Rings on south-east Dartmoor, 25 (Article in Serial). SDV345864.

Erme row. Circle surveyed and measured plan published. Possible double circle. This is possibly the stone circle on Stall Moor, on the west bank of the Erme, which Kelly refers to. Other details: Figure 4.

National Monuments Record, 1976, NMR SX6364, 2 (Aerial Photograph). SDV155390.

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

(Visited June 1976) Round barrow with retaining circle at south end of longest Dartmoor stone row (see SX 66 NW 20). Diameter 16m, height of mound 0.3m. See plan.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 57, 81 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Stone circle. Diameter measures 15.3 meters. 25 stones, 2 fallen. Aligned right of centre at lower end of stone row. Other details: G16.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 74-6, Map 55, Figure 55.7 & 55.7.1 (Monograph). SDV337765.

Cairn '1' at SX63516444 of 15.8 metres diameter by 0.3 metres high has an impressive ring of stones surrounding an insignificant mound which has been dug into opposite the stone row where one of the pillars has been displaced. The tallest pillar of 1.5 metres stands to the north-north-west.

Hazell, E., 2002, The Decoding of Stall Moor Circle and Row (Un-published). SDV154791.

GeoInformation Group Ltd, 2010, 1:625 2010 Colour (12.5cm resolution) (Aerial Photograph). SDV346026.

Stone circle and row visible on the 2010 aerial photography of Stall Moor.

Ordnance Survey, 2011, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV346129.

'Stone Circle' depicted on the modern mapping.

Newman, P., 2018, Erme Valley Survey data (GIS and Excel spreadsheet) (Cartographic). SDV361913.

Newman, P., 2018, The Upper Erme Valley, Dartmoor National Park, Devon: An Archaeological Survey, Appendix 1 (Report - Survey). SDV362921.

A stone circle, or possible cairn circle, on Stall Moor which serves as the southern terminal of the Stall Down to Green Hill Stone Row (MDV4309). The circle is sited on a rounded shelf of land overlooking the steeper valley of the River Erme, which is 280 metres to the east. The circle has a diameter of approximately 15.5 metres. Twenty-four stones are present of which 17 are more or less upright, the tallest of which is 1.4 metres, while the remainder are either fallen or leaning. The area has been subject to much peat cutting in this area including around and within the stone circle. Given the level of disturbance, there is now no real evidence to suggest this circle once surrounded a cairn.

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

(23/07/2019) The Dancers circle measures 15.5m west to east, 14.7m north to south. It is surrounded by coarse grass interspersed with some finer grasses and heath, similar vegetation noted within the circle. The dome of the central cairn stands approximately 0.5m higher than the land surface into which the orthostats are set. Largely now overgrown; only a few small stones of the cairn can be seen through the surface growth. The stony makeup of the mound affords better drainage so here finer and shorter grasses are to be found. The stones of the monument remain standing as when first seen by the recorder some 25 years previously and despite the grass now being at its full height all remain visible.
The stones of the first 100m of the associated stone row similarly, for the most part, remain visible although many of these are significantly smaller than the stones of the circle and are now becoming subsumed under growth of vegetation and, in places moss/peat. See in particular photos three and four.

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

Photographed 23/07/2019.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8082 - Survey of the Upper Erme Valley

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