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Summary

Cairn with retaining circle at north end of Harford Stone Row. The cairn is historically recorded as containing a cist

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1002493: Stone row, cairn and enclosures near Hook Lane, Erme Valley

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX66NW48
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 441705
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66NW/51/1
• Old SAM County Ref: 319

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CAIRN (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))
• CIST (Constructed, Bronze Age - 2200 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Spence Bate, C., 1870-1871, On the Prehistoric Antiquities of Dartmoor, 502 (Article in Serial). SDV277110.

Crossing, W., 1912 (1965), Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor, 397 (Monograph). SDV320981.

Worth, R. H., 1919, 38th barrow report, 79 (Article in Serial). SDV153925.

Worth, R. H., 1943, The Prehistoric Pounds of Dartmoor, 288 (Article in Serial). SDV320337.

Royal Air Force, 1946, CPE/UK 1890, 4277-8 (Aerial Photograph). SDV140289.

Photograph taken on 10th December 1946.

Worth, R. H., 1946, The Stone Rows of Dartmoor. Part 1, 288 (Article in Serial). SDV251172.

Davidson, C. + Seabrook, R., 1973, Stone Rings on south-east Dartmoor, 28, Figure 7 (Article in Serial). SDV345864.

Brown Heath. Circle surveyed and measured plan published. Just to the east of the circle is a very large prostrate stone, its original position is uncertain. Possible damage by cattle pounds.
The ring is almost certainly a (Thorn) Type A flattened circle.
Just to the east there is a very large prostrate stone, though its original position is uncertain.

Burl, A., 1977, Stone Circles of the British Isles, 344 (Monograph). SDV260575.

Hankin, C. F., 1977-1980, Harford Parish Checklist (Worksheet). SDV149931.

Site visited on 21st July 1976. In 1976 the circle consisted of nine large stones, the largest being the most northerly. Four other stones, some only fragments, showed the line of the circle. The remains of the cairn within the circle was circa 0.5 metres in height, and was hollow centred. There was no indication of a cist.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 139, Harford 3 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

Site visited on 23rd June 1976. Cairn with retaining circle in the locality of Brown Heath at SX64106532. Diameter of circle is recorded as 9.4 meters and height 0.6 metres. It is recorded in conjunction with a cairn with a diameter of 6 metres and a height of 0.6 metres. The cairn encloses a cist. Circle is said to be “well clear of cairn”.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1978, SX66NW48 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV151213.

(14/01/1978) SX 64116531 Cairn Circle and Cist. The cairn is encircled by a peristalith of 13 stones with a maximum diameter of 1.0m. Two of the stones are recumbent. The cairn is 0.8m. high and is not central within the circle. The cist, again eccentric, has been robbed.
All surveyed at 1:10 000 PFD.

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

Not visible on aerial photographs.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 54, 78, Figure 22/f11 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Encircled cairn. Ring of orthostats 9.4 metres diameter, around a cairn 6 metres diameter and 0.6 metres high. Aligned west of centre of single stone row.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 77-9, Map 55, Figure 55.8 & 55.8.1 (Monograph). SDV337765.

'Hook Lake terminal cairn' at SX 64106531 is at the north end of the stone row and has an outer circle of free standing slabs well clear of the base of the mound which covers several concentric inner rings. Its eleven remaining stones in an irregular ring about 9.2 metres across are unevenly spaced. Their average height is 0.84 metres with the tallest at 1.5 metres standing at the north point opposite the end of the rows. The mound of 5.8 metres diameter by 0.8 metres high is eccentrically placed towards the rows with two stones on the southern edge apparently belonging to the second ring. A single slab in the central pit of the mound is the last of a cist recorded here in 1871.

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

Feature shown on survey,

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

A prehistoric cairn with a retaining circle which forms the northern terminal of a stone row on the east flank of the River Erme, north of Hook Lake. A fragmentary mound offset within the circle is all that remains of the cairn which has a hollowed centre but no surviving evidence of a cist. Nine slabs of the kerb are either standing or leaning and several recumbent stones on the northern arc may be fallen examples. The monument was heavily disguised by the rushes at the time of inspection in May 2018.

Historic England, 2020, National Heritage List for England, 1002493 (National Heritage List for England). SDV363414.

The cairn at the upper end of the alignment measures 9.2 metres in diameter, stands up to 0.8 metres high and is surrounded by a circle of stones standing up to 1.6 metres high. A number of edge set slab within the mound suggest the survival of further concentric stone rings. A cist recorded in 1871 is no longer visible and may survive as a buried feature.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8082 - Survey of the Upper Erme Valley
• EDV8115 - Measured survey of the Hook Lake Stone alignments

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