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Summary

Stone circle north-west of Swincombe intake comprising 8 stones forming a circle around 7.0 metres in diameter. The circle is incomplete and bisected by the newtake wall but may have surrounded a cairn

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1003189: Two cairns and a cist 300yds (270m) NW of Swincombe intake

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX67SW26
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443307
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX67SW/28
• Old SAM County Ref: 726B
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX67SW26

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CAIRN (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 1501 BC)
• STONE CIRCLE (Constructed, Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC (Between) to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Worth, R. H., 1911, 30th Report of the Barrow Committee, 95-6 (Article in Serial). SDV235782.

Stone circle. Stone circle touching the wall of the enclosure.
A stone circle with six identifiable erect or leaning stones. One forms the E post of the gateway, the west post, 7ft high, stands outside the circumference. It is because of its small diameter, without doubt a retaining circle; any internal features such as a central hollow or possible kistvean have been obliterated by the wall builders.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950/1980, SX67SW26 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV257981.

(30/08/1950) Stone circle 6.0 metres in diameter. There are nine stones within the approximate circumference of this feature which is bisected by a wall. The stones which are standing have appearance of having been ‘resurrected’ in an attempt to restore the circle. Condition is very fragmentary.
(15/01/1980) At SX 63037217, on a slight south slope at 359m. OD., are eight stones between 0.4m. and 1.0m. high forming a circle 7.3m. in diameter. Two of the stones are incorporated in a modern newtake wall which bisects the circle while several of the remainder are quite small and some are boulders rather than post type stones. The circle is not complete and while the interior is featureless it is possible that the stones represent the peristalith of a cist, buried or destroyed during the construction of the wall.
Surveyed at 1:10 000 on MSD and at 1:2500 for AO Records.

National Monuments Record, 1976, NMR SX6372, 2 (Aerial Photograph). SDV279433.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 153 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

Site visited on 19th July 1974. Cairn at Joan Ford's newtake, diameter 5.7 meters, height 0.3 meters. Cairn with retaining circle, crossed by newtake wall.

Hemery, E., 1983, High Dartmoor, 363 (Monograph). SDV249702.

Robinson, R., 1983, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1983 (Un-published). SDV345762.

(Site visited 13/5/1983) Field Monument Warden visit.

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

Visible and recorded.

Robinson, R., 1986, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1986 (Un-published). SDV345664.

(Site visited 30/7/1986) Field Monument Warden visit.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit, M. J. Fletcher (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

(01/02/1989) SX 63037217. The remains of this circle of stones lie just off the crest of a rounded high point on a S slope at 358m OD. The site, bisected by a drystone newtake wall (depicted on the 1802-03 OS 2" drawing) and observed by a thick reed bed, has extensive views to the S across the deep Swincombe Valley.
The original farm and dimensions are now difficult to ascertain. Six, possibly seven, upright or leaning slabs and boulders can be identified with certainty; other large recumbent slabs lie within or around the site. An arc of uprights, 8.5m across, indicates a possible diameter. The stones are varied; four on the N side of the newtake wall include an 0.3m high earthfast boulder, an 0.75m high 'post' and a large leaning slab 1.2m long, 1.0m wide and 0.5m high. On the S side are a 1.0m high post, now partially incorporated into the wall and an adjacent 0.6m high, 1.3m wide and 0.23m thick upright slab. A third stone may, as suggested by Hemery (1983), be incorporated in the E side of the gateway.
There is no evidence of a cairn although a perceptible rise is visible in the N half and in the newtake wall.

Turner, J. R., 1990, Ring Cairns, Stone Circles and Related Monuments on Dartmoor, 81, G22 (Article in Serial). SDV229817.

Stone circle at Joan Ford's newtake. 7.0 metres in diameter, 8 stones standing.

Butler, J., 1993, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Four - The South-East, 213-5, Map 63, Figure 63.1 (Monograph). SDV337765.

Joan Ford's Newtake cairn '2' at SX63037218 of 6.0 metres diameter by 0.3 metres high. The newtake wall rises sightly as it passes over what remains of the mound now 0.3 metres high at most. The cairn was built well inside a surrounding circle of large slabs about 6 metres across, visible on both sides of the wall. Six or seven stones remain in place, one of them a large triangular block erected on its narrower end and now leaning almost horizontally. Another has been incorporated in the wall and the present gatepost also belonged to the circle.

English Heritage, 2005-2008, Prehistoric Survey Information (Cartographic). SDV345521.

Cairn shown on survey.

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

'Stone circle' depicted on the modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8146 - Royal Commission Survey at Down Ridge and Swincombe
• EDV8628 - Tor Royal Farm Duchy Farms Survey
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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