Merrivale Standing Stone Dartmoor National Park West Country Devon England
The Merrivale ceremonial complex is probably one of the second most important ritual landscapes on Dartmoor. The inquiring mind will find many references to it in many books. But they are all brief mentions, which leaves the reader thirsting for more knowledge. This is an attempt to bring all those snippets together and to provide a larger picture that encompasses not only single features but the whole ritual landscape as a complete entity. As with any investigation into a landscape it is helpful to start by looking at a map. This will present a picture of the surrounding landscape and its features. Clearly there are the pre-historic remains; there are later features such as the warren, the blowing house and tin workings associated with mining activities. There are modern features such as the pump house and quarry. All these features have been built up layer upon existing layer through the ages. These various combined layers of activity are known as a 'palimpsest'. This has made the landscape into a sort of layer cake and to discover the prehistoric layer we must metaphorically strip away all the previous features, leaving us with the early landscape with its features and uses. This examination will only be concerned with that early prehistoric layer and feature on the ritual remains of the complex, namely the stone rows, circles, cairns, menhir and kistvaen Another idea was that "the avenues were erected in memory of some great battle and represent the lines of opposing forces, or perhaps the ranks defending the village in the rear "There are two rows, both being double, and some faint indications of a third nearer the menhirs. The direction of the two former is nearly due east and west, and they are roughly parallel to each other The length of the southern row is 850 feet and that of the northern 590. About the middle of the former is a stone circle and at the eastern end of the latter a large stone.
Size: 3572px × 5380px
Location: Merrivale Princetown Dartmoor National Park West Country Devon England
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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