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Summary

Hurston Ridge Stone Row consisting of two parallel lines of upright stones leading downslope for about 143 metres from a cairn. Stone alignments are often linked to burial monuments and are considered to have had an important ceremonial function.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1019577: Stone alignment, cairns, enclosed prehistoric settlement and a length of reave on Hurston Ridge

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68SE10
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 443788
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68SE/4
• Old SAM County Ref: 343
• Old SAM Ref: 28779

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Department of National Heritage, 09/04/1996, Hurston Ridge Stone Row (Correspondence). SDV277398.

Scheduled monument consent granted for works concerning erosion repairs and re-erection of stone.

Worth, R. N., 1894, The Stone Rows of Dartmoor. Part 3., 305 (Article in Serial). SDV234309.

Baring Gould, S., 1900, A Book of Dartmoor, 61 (Monograph). SDV277387.

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

'Stone Row' marked with a 'Menhir' at either end.

1914, Twenty Seventh Report of the Scientific Memoranda Committee, 70 (Article in Serial). SDV277389.

Site visit 21st May 1913. Restoration work undertaken. In the south row, three leaning stones have been re-erected and four fallen ones set up vertically. In the north row, three prostrate stones have been set up. Blocking stone was inserted in a pit 1.0 metres deep. In most cases the pits were enlarged when setting up the stones.

Brailsford, J. W., 1938, Bronze Age Stone Monuments of Dartmoor, 446, 450 (Article in Serial). SDV304210.

Worth, R. H., 1946, The Stone Rows of Dartmoor. Part 1, 305 (Article in Serial). SDV251172.

A double row, one of the best examples on Dartmoor. At the south end is a cairn. In the eastern line the first stone measures 1.47 metres at the base, 1.78 metres high. There is considerable variation in the size of stones. There are 50 pairs of stones, none missing. The distance between the line is wider than usual. There are three hut circles abreast of the row, the most distant being 274 metres from it. Row no.44. Hurston ridge. Double row. Two stones missing, 99 stones in place. Cairn and cist at south end. Menhir stars the eastern line. Blocking stone on west line.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1952, SX68SE10 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV277390.

(15/11/1952) The Ordnance Survey siting of the site is correct at SX67298249. The prostrate stones were re-erected on 21st May 1914 by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee who had also re-erected them on a previous occasion. The condition of the stone row is as described by Worth but the cist mentioned by Brailsford was not in evidence.

Worth, R. H., 1953, Dartmoor, 225 (Monograph). SDV231148.

Stone Row, Chagford Common. This is one of the best examples of a double stone now on Dartmoor. At the south end is a cairn 22 feet in diameter. The space between the rows widens intentionally as it approaches the cairn. The first stone from the south in the eastern row is the largest stone and stands 5 feet 10 inches high. At the north end there is a blocking stone 3 feet 10 inches high. From the centre of the cairn the row runs downhill in a north east direction for 473 feet. It contains 50 pairs of stones all intact. The mean distance between the rows is 5 feet 10 inches and the mean distance between the pairs along the row is 9 feet 1 inch.

Barber, J., 1965, 28th Report on Archaeology and Early History, 100-1 (Article in Serial). SDV91115.

A cinerary urn, in fragments except for the rim, was discovered in a ruined cairn at SX 673 825 in 1900. In 1962 the Somerset County Museum restored the urn to its original profile. The urn, 18 3/4 inches high, 16 inches in diameter at the rim and 8 inches in diameter at the base was revealed as an unusually large and handsome bipartite Overhanging rim or crowned urn of Middle Bronze Age type.

Grinsell, L. V., 1978, Dartmoor Barrows, 134 (Article in Serial). SDV273224.

Site visit 23rd July 1972. Cairn. Diameter 6.4 metres. Height 0.3 metres. Siting - hillslope.

National Monuments Record, 1979, SF1508, 974 (Aerial Photograph). SDV346563.

Emmett, D. D., 1979, Stone Rows: The Traditional View Reconsidered, 97, 111 (Article in Serial). SDV251087.

Row extensively restored prior to 1914, and may not be in original form

Fleming, A., 1983, The Prehistoric Landscape of Dartmoor. Part 2: North and East Dartmoor, 208 (Article in Serial). SDV227880.

Possibly originally constructed in a boundary zone.

The Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments of England Aerial Photograph Unit, 1985, The Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments of England Aerial Photograph Project (Interpretation). SDV340940.

Visible and recorded.

Gerrard, S., 1990-1994, Monument Protection Programme, MPP 152389 (Report - Survey). SDV350743.

Stone alignment on Hurston Ridge.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 32, 234, Figure 25.3, Map 25 (Monograph). SDV219155.

Hurston Ridge double stone row is 143.3 metres long with the southern end at a cairn at SX67258242 and with a blocking stone at the northern end. It survives as one of the best examples on Dartmoor. The average height of the stones is less than half a metre. The integrity of the stone rows seems to have been respected down the ages since it was erected in the early Bronze Age. Some of the stones were re-erected in their original sockets at the end of the 19th century. The 99 stones are arranged in 49 pairs with a final slab at the lower northern end.

Passmore, A. J., 1997, Boveycombehedd, Chagford, Devon: an archaeological investigation of a Diachronic landscape, 15, Figure 1 (Post-Graduate Thesis). SDV360382.

Hurston double Stone Row with a cairn at the southern end which produced a collared urn dating form 2000-1500 BC.

Newman, P., 2002, Headland Warren and the Birch Tor and Vitifer Mines, S. Probert (Report - Survey). SDV363213.

(07/11/2002) No visit detail recorded in NRHE record.

English Heritage, 2011, National Heritage List for England, 1019577 (National Heritage List for England). SDV347072.

Stone alignment, cairns, enclosed prehistoric settlement and a length of reave on Hurston Ridge.
The stone alignment includes two parallel lines of upright stones leading downslope for 143 metres from a round cairn. The lower end of the alignment is denoted by a blocking stone. Midway along the alignment a length of later enclosure walling crosses the row.
Stone alignments or stone rows consist of upright stones set in single file or in avenues of two or more parallel lines, up to several hundred metres in length. They are often physically linked to burial monuments, such as small cairns, cists and barrows, and are considered to have had an important ceremonial function. The Dartmoor alignments mostly date from the Late Neolithic period (c.2400-2000 BC). Some eighty examples, most of them on the outer Moor, provide over half the recorded national population. Due to their comparative rarity and longevity as a monument type, all surviving examples are considered nationally important, unless very badly damaged.
The relationship between the stone alignment, enclosure and reave on Hurston Ridge is especially important as it graphically illustrates the chronological range of this monument as well as providing more general information on the relative date of stone alignments. Within this monument it is clear that the stone alignment was built first, followed by the reave, then the enclosure and finally the hut stone hut circles. This is the only site on the Moor where major classes of prehistoric monument have such a clearly defined chronology. All of the components survive well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence for the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed

Ordnance Survey, 2013, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV350786.

'Stone Row' and 'Standing Stones' marked.

Quinnell, N. V., 22/03/1995, Hurston Ridge Stone Row (Personal Comment). SDV277397.

Runs SX67268242 to SX67388257.

Dick, A. M., 25/05/1992, Hurston Ridge Stone Row (Personal Comment). SDV354587.

Site visit 25th May 1992. Some poaching around individual stones, particularly at north and south ends at the point where the wall crosses the row.

National Monument Record, Unknown, SX6782, 1 (Aerial Photograph). SDV277395.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV7847 - CINERARY URN (Middle Bronze Age - 1500 BC to 1001 BC)

Associated Events

• EDV7505 - Boveycombehedd, Chagford: An Archaeological Investigation of a Diachronic Landscape
• EDV7139 - Headland Warren and the Birch Tor and Vitifer Mines Survey (Ref: A1/20/2001, A1/34/2002)

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