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Hoaroak stone setting 340m north west of Hoaroak Farm

A Scheduled Monument in Brendon and Countisbury, Devon

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Coordinates

Latitude: 51.1794 / 51°10'45"N

Longitude: -3.8044 / 3°48'15"W

OS Eastings: 273974.206676

OS Northings: 143789.326698

OS Grid: SS739437

Mapcode National: GBR L2.5XR1

Mapcode Global: VH5JZ.0MN7

Entry Name: Hoaroak stone setting 340m north west of Hoaroak Farm

Scheduled Date: 22 March 1996

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1014261

English Heritage Legacy ID: 25218

County: Devon

Civil Parish: Brendon and Countisbury

Traditional County: Devon

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Devon

Church of England Parish: Lynton St Mary the Virgin

Church of England Diocese: Exeter

Details

The monument includes three standing stones, five recumbent stones and the
archaeologically sensitive area between and around them. The site is located
on the southern part of the ridge of Furzehill Common 340m north west of
Hoaroak Farm. The stones are set in a random manner extending over 0.02ha.
The standing stones are between 100mm and 450mm high, 100mm to 400mm wide and
are generally 100mm thick. The recumbent stones are between 500mm and 700mm
long and are c.200mm wide. The standing stone on the southern edge of the site
is loose in its socket and has a shattered top.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Exmoor is the most easterly of the three main upland areas in the south
western peninsula of England. In contrast to the other two areas, Dartmoor and
Bodmin Moor, there has been no history of antiquarian research and little
excavation of its monuments. However, survey work has confirmed a comparable
richness of archaeological remains with evidence of human exploitation and
occupation from the Mesolithic period to the present day. The well-preserved
and often visible relationships between settlement sites, major land
boundaries, trackways and ceremonial and funerary monuments give insight into
successive changes in the pattern of land-use through time.
Stone settings consist of a group of standing stones set out in an irregular
or random pattern. There are a number of such sites on Exmoor where they
appear to be a regional variation of the more common stone alignments. Stone
settings are often sited close to prehistoric burial monuments, such as small
cairns and cists, and to ritual monuments, such as stone circles, and are
therefore considered to have had an important ceremonial function. Stone
settings were being constructed and used from the Late Neolithic period to the
Middle Bronze Age (c.2500-1000 BC) and provide rare evidence of ceremonial and
ritual practices during these periods. Due to their rarity and longevity as a
monument type all surviving examples are considered to be of national
importance.

Although there has been some damage to one of the stones, the Hoaroak stone
setting, 340m north west of Hoaroak Farm, survives well and will retain
archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the construction and use
of the monument. Its importance is increased by being part of a complex of six
similar monuments within one square kilometre.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Quinnell, N V, Dunn, C J, Lithic Monuments within the Exmoor National Park: A New Survey, (1992), 23
Chanter, , Worth, , 'Rep Trans Dev Assoc' in The Rude Stone Monuments Of Exmoor And Its Borders, Part I., , Vol. 37, (1905), 375-397

Source: Historic England

Other nearby scheduled monuments

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