West Saddlesborough Stone Row & Cairn Circle Stone Row / Alignment View all content for West Saddlesborough Stone Row & Cairn Circle

West Saddlesborough - Stone Row & Cairn Circle - 25.6.2004 I knew nothing about this site except for what I could see on the map, which showed a litter of boundary work and hut circles, plus a cairn circle and a stone row, running for about 175 metres from SX554634 to SX555636 No obvious places to park. Best I could do was to find a suitable snippet of land off the road (which runs from Cadover Bridge towards Wotter). The whole area east of the road is Access Land. Probably the simplest place to start and to get your bearings is from the road side cross and footpath (marked with a tiny ankle height marker) circa SX552634. The area is a litter of old field boundaries and hut circles, with bracken added in for fun (however, some of it has been recently cut away from around any archaeological features). I think I found the cairn circle and stone row. About 50 metres from the start point you should notice a cairn. Another 75 metres on from this (towards Saddlesborough summit) you should start to spot a low ditch and bank of some old boundary work accompanied by the first of several hut circles in the area. The map suggested the Cairn Circle is just to the north of this. I traced some stones in a circle in this area but it as definitely one of the days when you wonder whether you are seeing stone circles because you are looking for them or because you really are in the right place? All stones were tiny except for one massive stone! By the by, as you get slightly higher there are suddenly great views south, over Plymouth and out to sea. However the good news is that there is what seems to be a long row of stones leading away from this area, down the hill. And an easy way to spot it is to look for one of the star shaped markers in his area (see pics above). I walked the line and counted 53 stones. The row seems to curve at the end as the slope gets steeper. The row ends about seven metres from a small gulley and a sign that marks the boundary with the Shaugh Lake part of the china clay works.

Posted by pure joy 4th July 2004ce Edited 4th July 2004ce

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