Dartmoor National Park Authority

Merrivale

This PAL forms a compact archaeological landscape that contains well preserved prehistoric ritual and settlement monuments.  The impressive ritual landscape contains almost the whole variety of ceremonial monument types that exist on Dartmoor; the nearby prehistoric settlement is sizeable with well-built house remains.  The site is amongst the most well-known on Dartmoor; and its importance is reflected in the fact that it was taken into the care of the State in the 1970s; only the finest examples of particular types of site have been designated Properties in Care.  The close proximity of the ritual complex and the settlement site makes Merrivale an excellent location for educational groups and visitors interested in archaeology.

A prestigious prehistoric ritual complex, about 4000 years old, can be seen; consisting of four stone rows, a standing stone, a stone circle and several round stony burial mounds (cairns): there are cists (a cist being a rectangular pit lined with granite slabs, originally covered by a cairn) and at least one ring cairn (a level area surrounded by a  low circular or oval rubble wall).  

Part of an important prehistoric boundary can be seen in the southern part of the PAL, crossing the landscape in a NNW/SSE direction: this is known as the Great Western Reave, which is in total over 10km (six miles) in length and probably marks the upper limit of enclosed land in prehistoric times.  Reaves appear on the ground as low stony, vegetation-covered banks; this one is unusual in having a number of stony heaps (cairns) along its length. This reave, together with the settlement in the northern half of the PAL is about 3,500 years old, although reave and settlement may not have been constructed at the same time.

The settlement occupies both sides of the modern road and contains the remains of 37 stone-built round houses (hut circles); these are generally well-built and also well-preserved so that features such as doorways can be discerned; they also vary in size and character, which makes them excellent material for study and interpretation.

All the prehistoric features within this PAL have been designated as Scheduled Ancient Monuments (SAMs).

What it should look like: This area requires very short grassland on the archaeological sites (averaging around 10 cm). Discrete patches of heath vegetation (heathers and Western Gorse) may be allowed to grow away from archaeological interest.

Interactive Mapping (GIS) System

The link below provides access to an interactive map which shows the PAL at Merrivale.  You can zoom in further on a specific area of interest using the tools provided.  (For additional help using the system please refer to our GIS help page.)

Page updated 16 September 2009