Prehistoric Art on the Moor? Alleged Cup-Marked Boulder at Holming Beam

The cup-marked boulder. But is it prehistoric?

If true, this would be an artifact of great significance. The stone was identified in 1980 by T. A. Greeves as an example of a 'cup-marked boulder', a type of prehistoric art that is widespread across Western Europe. The stone has what appears to be 14 cup-shaped hollows carved into it.

Two other examples have been tentatively identified on Dartmoor: one at Brisworthy and another at Dunstone. This third example can be seen on the long road leading to the car park at Holming Beam, SX594752.

But is it what it appears to be? Other explanations have included an early-20th century tinners' mortar stone and a stone associated with the nearby prison at Princetown. The stone is now incorporated into a dry-stone wall. At some point it had the number '18' painted on it and the stone was then reused and inverted when it was placed into the Holming Beam wall. 18 became 81.

H. Riley, in 1994, wrote that: "This granite block, built into the stone wall which forms the eastern boundary of Long Plantation, appears to be a mortar stone. The granite block measures 0.7 meters wide by 0.5 meters high; its thickness cannot be measured. There are approximately 12 circular depressions on its eastern face. These measure between 0.075 and 0.1 meter in diameter and up to 0.05 meters in depth. There are two rows of three depressions; the others are arranged at random. The mortar stone itself appears to be part of a relatively recent wall repair and is upside-down to its previous position. Its original location is unknown. The figure 18 is painted on its eastern face, suggesting a previous use by the military or the prison authorities".

I would like nothing more than the carving on the stone to be proven to be of a prehistoric origin. But exceptional claims require exceptional evidence and it seems, in this case, as though the jury is still out.

The mystery stone of the road to Holming Beam.

The Beardown Man Standing Stone

Beardown Man c.1750 BC.

Dartmoor has justly been described as one of the world's greatest open-air archaeological museums and none of its many exhibits are more impressive than the standing stone known as Beardown Man [SX596796].

The menhir is made up of a single slab of granite and currently stands at around 3.5m [11ft]. However, according to Jeremy Butler, the peat here has grown by a least a metre since the menhir was erected during the Bronze Age. This would give an original height of the standing stone of about 4.5m [14.7ft]. The tallest standing stone left on the moor today is a 4.2m example at Drizzlecombe, Beardown Man being the second tallest.

The remarkable shard-like appearance of the standing stone as seen from the west.

The stone is sited at an altitude of 550m near Devil's Tor on the edge of the great peat bog that makes up so much of the northern moor. It is one of just three standing stones on Dartmoor that don't appear to be associated with any other prehistoric ritual features e.g. stone rows, cairns or circles. The remains of several small Bronze Age settlements lie nearby in the valley of the Cowsic river to the west but the settlements might post-date the standing stone by centuries.

Beardown Man with Devil's Tor, right.

The term 'man' is associated with a number of tall stones on the moor and is derived from 'maen', the Celtic word for 'stone' ['men-hir' has a similar etymology, meaning 'long stone']. Crossing was told at the end of the 19th century that, for the moormen who lived and worked on the moor, the stone represented the Devil.

It's the only prehistoric artifact on the moor that, for me, has a genuinely eerie presence. Many of the ancient sites have a powerful atmosphere redolent of people long gone whose lives and beliefs seem impossibly distant. But Beardown Man feels different. Like in an M.R. James ghost story, you can imagine visiting it on a winter's afternoon and inadvertently bringing some thing back home with you. It's a tremendous object, even now in the 21st century long after its original purpose has been lost.

Beardown Man from the east with rain falling over Great Mis Tor.

Was it a meeting place? A burial place? An object around which commemorations and rituals took place? Was it a boundary marker? Is its location on the edge of the vastness of the northern moor significant? Was it to tell people to go no further? Butler concludes that, like the other two solitary standing stones, it was probably "a memorial of some kind". I doubt we'll ever know. Around 3500-years ago, at least, the people who lived on Dartmoor in what we now call the Bronze Age dragged this enormous pillar of rock into a vertical position and here it still stands.

Beardown Man just visible on the horizon from Conies Down Tor.

Access: relatively easy from the car park at Holming Beam. Park up, descend into the Cowsic river valley to the east, crossing the wooden footbridge, then follow the peaty path towards Beardown Tors and then northwards to Lydford Tor. Then it's a relatively straight walk northwards, using the big stiles set in the wall of the Beardown newtake, to Devil's Tor and Beardown Man. Going straight there and back is about 6.5 km.

Sources:
'Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor', William Crossing, 1912
'Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities. Vol. II: The North', Jeremy Butler, 1991
'Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities. Vol. V: The Second Millennium B.C.', Jeremy Butler, 1997

Walking From Two Bridges to Beardown Man via Wistman's Wood and Crow Tor

Parking is at the small quarry car park opposite the Two Bridges hotel, then through the gate and follow the sign to Wistman's Wood.

Follow the graveled road for about 600m...

...that ends at an isolated house. The footpath continues to the left of the trees, the way clearly marked.

The footpath soon emerges onto the high moor, passing groves of fragrant gorse, with the West Dart river meandering to the left. The first of the three stands of oak that comprise Wistman's Wood is about a 1km distant overlooked by the tors of Longaford and Littaford.

Wistman's Wood, one of the relics of prehistoric Dartmoor. The trees growing here today are around 400-500 years-old but the wood itself probably dates to c.7000 BC.

The trees grow within an almost impenetrable field of moss-covered boulders that have certainly helped protect them from people and other animals. According to local legend, Wistman's Wood functioned as the kennel for the Devil's hell-hounds.

The most northerly section of Wistman's Wood with Crow Tor visible on the horizon right of centre. The wood extends for around 700m along the eastern bank of the West Dart river. It is also the site of several Bronze Age settlements and the remains of numerous hut circles.

About 500m beyond the last stand of oaks is the headweir for the West Dart branch of the Devonport Leat, shown here looking south, Wistman's Wood visible in the distance. The masonry dates to the leat's construction in the 1790s. The leat itself is behind the sluice gate to the right. 

The Devonport Leat, right, as seen from the headweir.  The tors of Littaford and Longaford are on the left.

Crow Tor, shown on the horizon to the right, is about 900m from the headweir on the other side of the Longaford newtake stone wall.

To reach the tor involves crossing the West Dart river at a suitable point. Fortunately the river is strewn with large boulders making it relatively easy to ford unless it's in full spate. Using one of the stiles set in the Longaford newtake wall, a short ascent brings the walker to the compact mass of Crow Tor.

Fine views from Crow Tor south towards the West Dart valley and Two Bridges.

Crow Tor, looking south.

Devil's Tor, just visible on the horizon to the right of the ranging pole, lies within the Merrivale Firing Range. Firing times are available online. 

Devil's Tor is about 1.2km from Crow's Tor. The walk involves crossing a shallow valley down which runs the Methern Brook. The remains of former tin-works are in the area...

...but the terrain is tussocky and wet. 

A short climb leads to Devil's Tor, one of the smallest tors on the moor.

And just to the north of Devil's Tor is the great Bronze Age menhir of Beardown Man c.1750 BC. It stands almost alone on the edge of the great peat bog that covers so much of the northern moor.

Beardown Man from Devil's Tor, looking east, with Great Mis Tor in the distance.

The Hingston Hill Bronze Age Stone Row and Cairn

The great menhir that stands at the western end of the stone row

This is one of my favourite places on Dartmoor: the spectacular Bronze Age remains on Hingston Hill. They must rank as one of the UK's finest prehistoric monuments.

The site is ideally approached from the east via a Bronze Age enclosure and large cairn. From there it's possible to see the stone row stretching out along the ridge of the hill where it culminates in a huge menhir and stone circle. According to archaeologist, Jeremy Butler, the site "probably looks much as it did when the stones were first erected in Bronze Age times". The exact date of construction is unknown but a date of c.1750BC, relatively early in the Bronze Age, seems most likely.

The western end of the row with stone ring beyond

 The row was restored in 1894. According to Sabine Baring-Gould, many of the stones had been overturned by men wielding crow-bars in c.1880! The large menhir at the western end of the row weighs around three tonnes. The row consists of 157 stones in total out of an original number of 174. Butler makes the point that the area is fairly free of surface stone and those used in the ring and row were probably brought from elsewhere on the moor, a laborious endeavour given the size of some of the stones.

Stone ring and cairn, looking north

The stone ring and cairn are situated at the western end of the monument. The ring is about 12m in diameter and is made up of 27 irregularly spaced stones. These surrounded a burial cairn which lay in the centre of the ring. Unfortunately the cairn has been largely robbed away leaving just a raised area and a couple of stones that might be the remains of a kistvaen that was recorded as being present on the site in the early 20th century.

Again, anyone wanting further information can do much worse than consult the account given in Vol. III of Butler's series 'Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities'. Several more cairns and kists lie in the vicinity and the entire area is well-worth exploring.

Access: via parking at Norsworthy Bridge at the eastern end of Burrator Reservoir. The stone row lies about half a kilometre east of Down Tor [the name Hingston Hill doesn't appear on the OS Explorer map].

The Merrivale Antiquities

The Bronze Age ceremonial centre at Merrivale remains one of Dartmoor's more well-known prehistoric sites, partly perhaps because of its proximity to the main road between Tavistock and Postbridge and partly because of the variety of its relatively well-preserved antiquities.

The great menhir at Merrivale, still standing after around 3500 years

The extensive site consists of at least four stone rows, two of which are double rows, over 17 burial cairns and/or kistvaens, the remains of at least one stone circle, a standing stone or menhir over 3m in height and several hut circles that are the remnants of Bronze Age roundhouses.

According to Crossing, the area containing the antiquities was formerly known colloquially as the Potato Market or the Plague Market. He relates a tradition claming that it was here that moorfolk left provisions for collection by the citizens of Tavistock "when the plague ravaged that town".

The stone circle at Merrivale

As ever with prehistoric artifacts, the Merrivale antiquities remain an enigma and will probably always do so. It seems likely that they were constructed over a prolonged period of time, possibly between c.2000BC, the end of the Neolithic, and the end of the Bronze Age c.800BC. Which came first? The menhir? The stone rows? The cairns? The settlement itself? Clearly the site was of great significance to the local population but what was the connection, if any, between the rows, the circles and cairns and the standing stone? What did it mean to the people and what rituals were performed here.

Crossing makes a good point when he remarks on the lowly nature of the stones used in the stone rows both at Merrivale in particular and on Dartmoor generally. The ground is often littered with huge blocks of granite so why use such meagre examples? Clearly a small number of people could've constructed the stone rows at Merrivale in a fairly small space of time. Size didn't seem to matter whatsoever, unless they didn't have the communal forces at hand to construct with larger blocks. The menhir is another matter and must've taken significant effort to erect. Perhaps it pre-dated the stone rows by centuries when a different workforce was available. But then the extraordinary stone row and circle at Hingston Hill a few miles to the south also uses smallish stones for much of its length only to terminate with a colossal menhir.

The Merrivale stone circle is made up of 11 stones, all fairly small in height, and lies close to the menhir. Excavation in the 19th century found some evidence for the theory that a second circle once surrounded the existing one and used much larger stones, although little now survives above ground of this second circle.

One of the double stone rows at Merrivale

Of the four stone rows, only the two double ones are immediately apparent. The most northerly of the two is also the shorter running for 183m roughly east to west. The more southerly row is 80m longer. The southerly row is interrupted about halfway along by a burial cairn that separates the row into two almost equal halves. The remains of a kistvaen lie at its centre. It seems likely that the western half of the stone row was completed first when it terminated with the burial cairn. For some unknown reason, the stone row was then extended towards the east leaving the current unique arrangement. I wonder if the individual stones leading to the burial cairn represented community ancestors. From a distance the stones often look like people standing motionless on the moor.

The largest kistvaen at Merrivale and one of the largest still surviving on the moor

 The largest of the kistvaens at Merrivale is around 2.2m long although there is very little left of the cairn which used to cover it. Much of this seems to have been robbed away by 1802 when the site was visited by the Reverend Bray. The great granite capping stone was split apart in 1870 to provide a local innkeeper with two gateposts and a third post was removed from one of the slabs comprising the kistvaen's walls. The two halves of the capping stone were placed back over the cavity by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee in 1895 during which two flints and what the restorers believed to be a polishing stone were found.

The archaeology at the site is very complex and anyone wanting further information should refer to Jeremy Butler's account in Vol. III of his series, 'Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities'.

Access: very easy via car parking both at Merrivale and the nearby Four Winds car park. The ground can sometimes be a little boggy after wet weather but it's usually not an issue. The site is well worth a visit even if the remains at Drizzlecombe and Hingston Hill are more immediately impressive. And still we're left with the question: What did it mean for those who built it?

Source: 'Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities, Vol III - The South-West', Jeremy Butler, 1994