Dartmoor CAM

This walk: 2011-8-6. Postbridge - Lakehead Hill antiquities, Kraps Ring, roundhouses, cairn circles, stone rows, cists, Bellever Tor, Sitka spruce, archaeological dig.

Walk details below - Information about the route etc.

The edge of Kraps Ring at the bottom of the hill i.e. the north edge, at SX 64460 78211. A sketch map of this "ring" enclosed settlement is given by Butler J (1991) Vol. II, 27.19 (fig. 27.12), page 49.

The south edge of Kraps Ring i.e. up the slope, at SX 64405 78101.

Looking back at the small group of roundhouses in Kraps Ring, difficult to see in the grass but the ling helps in locating the hut circles. Butler's sketch map (see above) shows 9 roundhouses inside the enclosure.

7.A Idenntifying marker that forms part of the monuments' recording system, see the following photo .....

The larger roundhouse just up the slope from Kraps Ring, at SX 64389 78069.

As previous photo, from the opposite direction.

The fallen tree.

10.A Cairn circle at SX 64352 77769. Details of this feature can be found in Butler J (1991), Vol. II, 27.19 (fig. 27.12, item 1), page 49. The most remarkable feature of this cairn is that besides the visible ring of 13 stones there is another, buried, ring.

11.A Stone row close to the summit of Lakehead Hill, at SX 64381 77653. Details of this feature can be found in Butler J (1991), Vol. II, 27.19 (fig. 27.12, item 3), page 48-51. The row is oriented close to east-west.

Cairns 12.A and 13.A at SX 64360 77471, see the next three photographs. Details of this feature can be found in Butler J (1991), Vol. II, 27.19 (fig. 27.12, items 5 and 6), pages 49-51.

The northern-most cairn circle ..... consisting of 10 erect slabs, as does the second circle .....

View in the opposite direction, with the other circle (and cist) behind.

The southern cairn complete with a burial cist in its centre, excavated 1901 by the Dartmoor Exploration Committee.

Looking at self-seeded Sitka spruce trees creeping up the left slope of Bellever Tor .....

Zoomed view of the errant trees.

Partially exposed roundhouses from the recent archaeological dig at SX 64868 76748 .....

The larger roundhouse circleis seen in the background, this side of the track. The foreground is part of a second roundhouse (about one-third excavated) and the exposed spoace between the two houses .....

Behind, the first roundhouse with entrance stones towards its bottom-left area (the left stone is fallen) .....

Flat, paved area outside the wall of the first house (at top left), note the old tree stumps ......

Tree stumps looking like science fiction spiders? .....

Tree stump, with roots penetrating between the stones .....

The first roundhouse, excavated in 2010, with the entrance nearest the camera .....

The first house with the second behind, at upper right.

Path off the forest road to Bellever Tor, at SX 6478 7645.

Bellever Tor, with self-seeded Sitka spruce trees spreading up the slope towards the tor.

Dartmoor CAM movie

Panorama of the self-seeded spruce trees on Bellever Tor. The movie starts with this frame which has the tor just out of view on the right.

Click the photo to download

File size: 2 MB.
Time to download: e.g. 13 secs
Length 18 secs

View from the point at which the red track on the map below passes through a wall at SX 64658 77056 .....

Another view.

14.A and 15.A monuments at SX 64490 77607, the main structure here is the burial cist, with a stone row running off .....

The stone row and cist. Details of this feature can be found in Butler J (1991), Vol. II, 27.19 (fig. 27.12, item 4), pages 49-51.

Walk details

MAP: Red = GPS satellite track of the walk.

This walk was reached by parking just south of the B3212 road running through Postbridge, at the yellow cross symbol on the map.

Statistics
Distance - 6.37 km / 3.96 miles