thesweetcheat

Shapely, tapering stone, third from the north end.

Large recumbent slab just to the north of the last standing stone. Could this have been the terminal stone?

The northern end with four lovely standing stones, the largest in the row. A low cairn to the northwest of the row can be over to the right of centre.

Elevated view of the enclosed Erme Plains settlement, seen across the valley from higher ground to the east. The stone row runs across the picture, above the settlement site.

Looking across the Erme to the enclosed settlement at SX636638.

Enclosure boundary of settlement nearest to The Dancers, at SX636643.

Looking WNW towards Langcombe Hill.

Looking eastwards. Knatta Barrow is (barely) visible as a small lump on the skyline.

The tallest stone, on the north side of the circle.

Looking south down the Erme Valley.

The southernmost section and terminus of the row, at The Dancers stone circle.

The stones in the row get larger as they approach the southern terminus at The Dancers.

Two distinctive stones, next to a white quartz stone (see other picture). The stone on the left has a quartz band, the other is almost black in colour. The black stone is next to a minor stream(not big enough to be shown on the OS 1:25000) that the row crosses between Stall Moor cairn and The Dancers stone circle.

Three attractive stones in a row – white quartz in the foreground, the next one has a quartz band and the third is almost black. Stall Moor cairn can be seen on the near skyline.

This stone was notable for being quite a lot bigger than its neighbours, as well as weirdly eroded. Looking south towards The Dancers.

The row heading south parallel with the River Erme, just south of Stall Moor cairn.

Seen from the stone row, looking north.

Looking north.

Looking south, along the row towards its terminus at The Dancers. The River Erme winds through its valley on the left, the angular Sharp Tor protrudes above on the left skyline.

Looking southeast to the Erme valley with Stalldown rising behind. The Erme Plains enclosed settlement can seen on the slopes on the right of the image.

The solitary hut circle/round house within the enclosure.

The perimeter bank of the enclosure (this is the eastern side, looking north).

Approaching the enclosure from the SSE. The River Erme is on the left.

Three Barrows, with Sharp Tor behind on the right. Seen from the disused tramway near Leftlake Mires.

The cairn to the northwest of Stalldown stone row on the right.

The Sharp Tor cairn on the skyline. Unfortunately the restoration shown in Lubin’s photos has been somewhat undone by a horrible walker’s cairn built from the mound – what possesses people to do this?

The possible NE barrow, with the southern bell-cairn directly ahead and the northern cairn to the right.

The northern cairn, looking towards the southern bell-cairn.

The northern cairn, looking NNW to Sharp Tor. Three Barrows is on the right skyline.

The southern bell-cairn.

Section of the raised perimeter of the southern cairn, looking SSE towards Ugborough Beacon and Butterdon Hill.

The disturbed top of the southern cairn.

Approaching the southern bell-cairn from The Longstone.

The stone in its landscape, with cairn topped Ugborough Beacon (left) and Butterdon Hill (right) providing the backdrop.

Showing how much the re-erected stone is leaning (with excellent scale-providing pony).

When I arrived this lovely pony was having a nice time scratching his rear end on the stone.

The hollowed out top of the cairn, looking south to the Butterdon Hill summit cairns.

Looking west over the centre of the cairn, with Hangershell Rock in the middle-distance.

This attractive but damaged cairn reminded me of a sand-castle.

Hobajons Cross, a (lightly) christianised stone that may once have been the northern terminus of the row, which now continues further north to the Longstone on Piles Hill. The skyline is covered with bronze age cairns – on the extreme left is Ugborough Beacon, in the centre are the three Butterdon Hill cairns, to the right is Western Beacon.

Looking north towards Sharp Tor and Three Barrows. This stone, although on the line of the row, is a modern (19th c) insertion – it is much taller than the other stones in the row, which are graded. As the row would be difficult to trace in bad conditions, taller stones like this would have been added to clarify the position of the parish boundary, which follows the line of the row.

Looking back southwards along the row towards the prominent Butterdon Hill summit cairns.

Folllowing the row north as it approaches Butterdon Hill (north) cairn – on the right.

Diminuitive stones at the south end of the row, with Butterdon Hill summit cairn behind. This southern end of the row is just to the west of the cairn circle.

Looking south from Piles Hill back towards the two prominent Butterdon Hill summit cairns. Western Beacon with its cairns is further to the right.

Semi-leaning stones on the NE side of the circle.

Looking back to the nearby summit cairn. The remains of the cairn circle’s mound are in the centre of the picture, but difficult to see.

The fallen cairn circle, lost even in low grass. Hangershell Rock can be seen in the middle distance.