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Summary

Fernworthy stone circle comprises 27 stones, standing up to 1.1 metres high, forming a 20 metre diameter circle. Excavation by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee revealed that the original ground surface was covered by a layer of wood charcoal. Part of a prehistoric ceremonial complex that also includes two stone alignments to the south of the circle and another to the north together with five barrows. The monument is situated on a gentle east facing slope overlooking the valley of the South Teign River.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1017984: A stone circle, known as Fernworthy Circle, three stone alignments and five cairns 425m and 525m north west of Sandeman Bridge

Other References/Statuses

• MPP Archaeological Item Dataset: 144123
• National Monuments Record: SX68SE56
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443854
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/2
• Old SAM County Ref: 593A
• Old SAM Ref: 28672
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX68SE56

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

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

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

Baring Gould, S., 1898, Fifth Report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee, 107-110 (Article in Serial). SDV337066.

Almost a true circle; 27 stones standing. A gap in south circumference due to removal of a stone or stones. The interior was examined by driving a trench through it, cut through the peat. No meat earth. Floor of calm strewn with pieces of wood charcoal. Fires seem to have been lit all over the floor of the circle; probably the site of funeral feasts or a crematorium. Other details: Plate 3-5.

Burnard, R., 1906, Early Man, 357 (Article in Monograph). SDV322231.

At Fernworthy there is a group consisting of a "sacred" circle, two cairns, stone rows and a kistvaen. Three cairns have been disturbed. One contained a kistvaen previously rifled, but it still contained masses of fragmentary burnt bones unidentifiable but characteristic of human remains. One cairn yielded a tiny flint chip. The purpose of this group appears sepulchral. One cairn not disturbed was explored in 1897. Originally surrounded by standing stones 3 still in position, 2-3m from existing foot of slope of barrow. This cairn was built of surface stones, and the central pit also filled with stones. About 1.37 meters from the surface of the pit was a small piece of oxidised bronze with fragments of fibrous wood attached; probably remains of a small knife or spearhead. Nearby were pottery and a bone button.

Allcroft, A. H., 1922, Unknown, 173-342 (Article in Serial). SDV344949.

Brailsford, J. W., 1938, Bronze Age Stone Monuments of Dartmoor, 448 (Article in Serial). SDV304210.

Worth, R. H., 1946, The Stone Rows of Dartmoor. Part 1, 303-4, Plate 38 (Article in Serial). SDV251172.

North of double stone row with cairn, 22 metres from the centre of the cairn to the centre of a stone circle. Nearly complete, 26 stones standing. Examined 1898, nothing found except charcoal lying on the surface of the calm. No trace of any burial.

Worth, R. H., 1953, Dartmoor, 222, Fig. 78 (Monograph). SDV231148.

Fernworthy stone circle is 64 1/2 feet in internal diameter and is very nearly complete, with 26 stones standing and only four missing. The circle was examined in 1898 but no finds were made except charcoal on the surface of the 'growan'. No trace of any burials.

Spooner, G. M. + Birkett Dixon, C. E., 1955, Note on the Antiquities situated in the Forestry Commission ground at Fernworthy and Bellever. Appendix 1 (Report - non-specific). SDV351955.

Fox, A., 1973, South West England 3,500BC - AD600 (Revised Edition), 77 (Monograph). SDV16216.

Excavation has thrown little light on the people who built the stone circles or what they did there. At Fernworthy, the whole of the interior was found to be covered with charcoal, presumably scattered during a ceremony.

Turner, J. R., 1976, Ancient Monuments on Forestry Commission Land. Fernworthy and Bellever (Report - non-specific). SDV351823.

Fernworthy Plantation. Froggymeade 3D
Site visit 1976. Stone circle to the north of a cairn (2D). 19.5 metres diameter with 27 stones. The largest is 1.5 by 0.4 metres, standing 1.1 metres above the ground. The area has been cleared as one open space.
Included in 1955 Spooner and Dixon report (B) Region North of the South Teign (Froggymeade, Toms Hilll and Hemstone), Site No. 3.

Dartmoor National Park Authority + Forestry Commission + Dartmoor Preservation Association, 1976, Conservation of Ancient Monuments. The Report of a Working Party (Report - non-specific). SDV248248.

Stone circle included in the 1955 Spooner-Dixon report (b) region South Teign site number 3 / site number 3d in Fernworthy (sketch map in field report).

Turner, J., 1978, Report of Work Carried Out by the Forestry Commission since January 1976 (Report - non-specific). SDV351816.

Froggymead (D). No work has been carried out on this group of sites since February 1976. The clearance zone of this group should be marked out with posts as one open space so that there would be no need for any site number posts inside the clearance zone, making the site more photographic. Vegetation on these sites are very (?), in fact site 7D (cairn) looks in excellent condition.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1978, SX68SE56 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV275632.

Stone circle 19.5 metres in diameter. 27 stones, the largest being 1.1 metres high.
SX 64108320. This cairn is situated in a shallow natural depresion on a gentle S-facing slope at 475m OD. The area has been extensively disturbed by peat cutting activity. It is a turf-covered stony mound 5m in diameter and a maximum 0.5m high. There is no evidence of a kerb or excavation pit.

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

Not visible on the Royal Air Force 1946 aerial photographs due to tree cover..

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

Stone circle 19.5 metres in diameter. 27 stones standing. Between two double stone rows.

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 144123 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

Stone circle forming part of ritual complex at SX65468408. Some animal poaching around s stones. Slight hollows and banks within the circle are probably the result of Dartmoor Exploration Committee Excavation. Two loose stones in south sector have been added to complete the circle.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 162-5, 232-233, Map 35, Figure 35.7 & 35.7 A (Monograph). SDV219155.

Fernworthy stone circle at SX654841 of 20 metres diameter with 27 stones with an average height of 0.57 metres and 2.1 metres apart. Plan and photograph of Fernworthy stone circle shown on Page 233. The stone circle was excavated by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1897 and the plan shows that much damage had already been caused prior to afforestation by the Fernworthy Farm newtakes whose outer enclosure wall can be seen below the trees on the other side of the track. Excavation revealed that the orignal ground surface was everywhere covered by a layer of wood charcoal, evidence that the circle had once been the scene of numerous fires. The monuments at Fernworthy are grouped around this stone circle which was probably the earliest structure at the site, perhaps 4000 years ago. Apart from the two stones missing on the south side, it has remained intact.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1993-1998, Dartmoor Royal Forest Project, H. Chapman (Report - Survey). SDV346608.

(01/06/1995) Centred at SX65488412 in a clearing in Fernworthy Forest is a stone circle currently containing 29 stones (excluding trigger stones). It has an internal diameter of 19.3 meters north-south by 18.6 meters east-west and is circular for all but an inward-turning kink in the northern edge.
The stones average between 0.6 meters and 0.5 meters tall, although they are generally larger in the south side, being up to 1.1 meters tall. Two stones not depicted by Butler or Worth visible in the southern edge nearly flush with the ground.
Around the stones in the south-east, south-west and north-west areas of the circle are substantial erosion hollows with channels leading away under the adjacent trees. Inside the circle are a number of amorphous hollows, mounds and scarps which are probably associated with the excavation work of 1897 which found little except for charcoal over the surface of the bedrock.

Dartmoor National Park Authority, 1996, Condition Survey of Identified Archaeology within Woodland Areas 1996 (Un-published). SDV351820.

Fernworthy. Froggymeade Group 3D. Site visit 27th September 1996. Stone circle. Unmarked.

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

'Fernworthy Circle Stone Circle' depicted on the modern mapping.

English Heritage, 2011, National Heritage List for England, 1017984 (National Heritage List for England). SDV347072.

The monument, which falls into two areas, includes a stone circle, three stone alignments and five cairns situated on a gentle east facing slope overlooking the valley of the South Teign River. The stone circle, known as Fernworthy Circle,includes 27 stones, standing up to 1.1 meters high, forming a 20 meter diameter circle. Excavation by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee revealed that the original ground surface was covered by a layer of wood charcoal. Two stone alignments lie to the south of the stone circle. The eastern alignment is also of double row type, measures 20.5 meters long and its upper end is denoted by a small cairn containing a cist. The third alignment lies north of the stone circle and survives as a double line of stones extending towards a small cairn. The final cairn within the monument lies south east of the stone circle.

Newman, P., 2013, Fernworthy Forest Sites Survey (Un-published). SDV351708.

Newman, P., 2013, The Archaeology of Fernworthy Forest, Dartmoor, Devon, 5-11, 61-2, Figs. 3-4, 8-11, 55 (Report - Survey). SDV351784.

Part of a ceremonial complex that also includes three stones rows and four barrows. Froggymead or Fernworthy stone circle was first described in some detail by Samuel Rowe in 1830. It was illustrated by Spence Bate in 1871 and the first measured survey was undertaken by Lukis in 1879. Less than 20 years later it was subject to a survey and excavation by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee. A trench was cut through the circle revealing that its floor had been scattered with charcoal from fires. Earlier 20th century photos show the circle in a moorland setting prior to tree planting.
The circle comprises 27 upright granite stones with an internal diameter of 19.2-19.6 metres. Two additional stones lying flush with the ground in what was originally recorded by Rowe to be a gap with hollows where stones stood are probably recent additions. The circle is among the more regular of Dartmoor's stone circles and it is suggested that the Dartmoor Exploration Committee may have moved some of the stones to what they considered to be a more correct appearance which explains why several stones shown in Lukis' plan of 1879 appear displaced and why another shown has fallen is now upright.
The stones vary in shape but fall into two broad categories; slabs set edgewise and posts narrower than they are broad. The tallest stone is 0.95 metres high and the shortest is 0.3 metres high. A low, linear earthwork within the circle may be the result of erosion or the remains of disturbance by the excavations in 1899. Erosions hollows have now formed around some of the stones which often hold water and the north-west side of the circle is very wet.
The planting of conifers means that the stone circle has lost the outward vista it once possessed. However, there is some evidence to suggest that such monuments were originally placed in especially prepared woodland clearings but the tall, dense conifers provide an equally false context.
Froggymead is one of only 14 stone circles surviving on Dartmoor in an upstanding state. It is one of only two circles on Dartmoor that can be described as forming a central component of a ceremonial complex (the other is Merrivale).

National Monument Record, 2014, Pastscape, 443854 (Website). SDV355682.

Bronze Age stone circle in a clearing in Fernworthy Forest. The circle is 19.3m in diameter, although a slight kink in the North side reduces the diameter at that point to 18.6m. 29 stones are visible. NMR No. SX68SE56. Record last updated: N/A

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 2015-2017, 2015-2017 Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV361462.

Visible on aerial photograph.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6203 - Archaeological Survey of Fernworthy Forest
• EDV6216 - Condition Surveys of Ancient Monuments on Forestry Commission Land
• EDV7389 - Fernworthy Forest condition survey 1996
• EDV7410 - Fernworthy Forest condition survey 1992
• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project

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