The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Mardon Down Cairn Circle

Cairn circle

Fieldnotes

There are plenty of parking places, three that I can see on Google earth, I parked on the west side and followed the obvious and worn path straight to the top. Passing the flattened ring cairn to the junction of paths, right takes us to the stone circle, the biggest on Dartmoor. Left takes us past the often disappointing Giants grave and friend. Keep going, past confusing mortar pits until you get to the cairn circle. Bosh, done.

Apparently this site confuses some people, is it a small stone circle? a cairn with a stone circle or even a hut circle? an enlightened chap called Jeremy Butler said this "it is unparalleled among the numerous cairns on the moorland massif only a short distance to the west, emphasizing the very localised nature of some cairn designs". The confusion arises I think because of peoples need to pigeon hole all monuments, everything has to be of a type, it's all got to be named, give it a name and we can add it to the list of known things.
Mardon down doesn't care about your wants or needs, it is what it is, but, what is it?
It's a wondrous thing, that's what.
Big stones in a small space.
Looking north away from Dartmoor the views are long, sit around and wait for the sun to come back out and the whole scene is just brilliant.

In the end, I think it's a cairn with some very pronounced circle stones, it reminded me of the very distant Bryn Cader Faner.
postman Posted by postman
11th October 2020ce
Edited 11th October 2020ce

Comments (0)

You must be logged in to add a comment