Two neolithic stone circles have been discovered on Dartmoor, adding credibility to the theory that a “sacred arc” of monuments was built in the heart of the wild Devon uplands.
One of the circles appears to have similar features to Stonehenge, while the second sits slightly outside the sweep of the arc and could have served as a gateway used by pilgrims travelling to the area.
The discovery of the two rings is a result of a lifetime of work by Alan Endacott, a Devon archaeologist and stained glass artist who in 2007 unearthed the presence of the highest stone circle in southern England, Sittaford on Dartmoor
It was the first stone circle to be discovered on the moor for more than a century and reinforced the sacred arc theory. Rather than resting on his laurels, Endacott has kept on searching for more circles and been rewarded with two further finds.
“It’s been wonderful,” said Endacott, who was joined by a team of volunteers braving the moor’s often inclement weather in September and October to work on the sites. “Since Sittaford I’ve been doing lots of systematic searches. You’ve got to get off the beaten track to find anything new on Dartmoor.”
Endacott has named one of the monuments the Metheral circle after the hill it stands beneath. It consists of 20 stones, mainly fallen, and the circle measures about 40 metres by 33 metres.
The team also discovered signs of an external bank surrounding the circle, of which Endacott said: “It is suggestive of a Neolithic henge monument of a similar form to the Stripple Stones on Bodmin Moor [in Cornwall], the Ring of Brodgar on Orkney or even the earlier phase of Stonehenge.
“People moved long distances in that period, so the people who built the stone circle at Metheral might also have been to Stonehenge and even possibly to Orkney. They travelled quite widely; there were lots of contacts between them with trading and so on.”
Endacott believes a sacred arc was intended to ring the high ground in the centre of the moor. “Dartmoor would have been very different then, there would have been a lot more forest cover. So possibly they were markers in the landscape, they recognised the higher ground and wanted to kind of enclose it for some reason.”
The second newly discovered circle sits just north of what Endacott believes is the sweep of the sacred arc at a prominent position called Irishman’s Wall. Also found there was a collapsed dolmen that Endacott has named “the fallen brother dolmen” as a tribute to those from Dartmoor communities who died in the world wars.
It does not appear to be part of the arc. “But maybe it was an entrance point [to the arc] from the north,” he said.
Endacott, 66, has been searching for the circles on Dartmoor since the 1970s and has “contenders” for other circles that may help fill in gaps in the ring.
He said: “These excavations exceeded my expectations and brought new evidence to light that will help with our understanding, but inevitably they have also raised more questions about why they were built. There are definitely other sites that I want to follow up on. We won’t be stopping any time soon.”
