The Miniliths of Exmoor

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a programme of research on an unusual group of prehistoric stone settings located on Exmoor, south-west England. Taking a variety of semi-geometric and apparently random forms, a total of 59 settings have been identified, with new discoveries taking place on a regular basis. These stone settings are remarkable for their diminutive size, with component stones often standing to heights of 100 mm or less, a factor which has led to their being termed ‘minilithic’. Through reference to the results of a programme of geophysical survey and small-scale excavation targeted upon a particularly rich cluster of settings around the upper reaches of Badgworthy Water, issues of morphology, dating, relationships, and the implications of the Exmoor miniliths for developing understandings monumentality are discussed.

Fugitive Monuments and Animal Pathways: Explaining the Stone Settings of Exmoor

“…Running perpendicular to the contour the stony character of these bands is reflected in the vegetation patterns observable today, supporting much shorter grass and rushes in contrast to the wide swathes of purple moor grass in between (Gillings et al 2010) (Figure11). Put simply, these are zones that are much clearer of vegetation; they are also generally drier, Lanacombe I in particular an area where cattle like to congregate and gather 4 .…”

“…Second, they have also stressed how unrepresentative the surviving ground plan is with respect to now lost or de-commissioned stones; this applies to both non-geometric and geometric forms. Take for example the setting at Tom's Hill where geophysical survey enabled erosion hollows (proxies for former stone positions) to be disentangled from mortar craters (the site was located on a military target range) the resultant picture disrupting what had been until that point interpreted as a straightforward geometrical form comprising three parallel rows (Gillings et al 2010). More complex is the setting of Furzehill Common I.…”

“…Take for example Lanacombe and what we now know of the landscape context of the settings. Far from sitting in splendid isolation, geophysical survey and excavation at Lanacombe II and III has revealed that the stones were associated with a series of fragmentary linear boundaries incorporating carefully aligned and linked cairns (whose arrangement was reminiscent of the fragments of co-axial field system recorded at Codsend Moor some 9km to the west) and a circular postbuilt structure (Gillings et al 2010;Gillings 2013). Needless to say, only the cairns had left any surface signature.…”

“…What is unusual about the Exmoor structures is their consistent use of very small uprights (typically 0.3m or less in height) often accompanied by distinctive projecting packing stones called 'triggers' and their seemingly regular geometric and semi-geometric forms that have no obvious parallels. To date 59 such settings have been identified, many concentrated around the headwaters of valleys (for more detailed discussions of the stone settings see Riley and Wilson-North 2001;Gillings et al 2010;Tilley 2010). The subject of the present paper is a group of 5 settings over-looking a tributary of Hoccombe Water; Lanacombe I-IV and the new Trout Hill setting (Quinnell and Dunn 1992, 44-5;Riley 2007; see Figure 1 and Table 1).…”

“…The subject of the present paper is a group of 5 settings over-looking a tributary of Hoccombe Water; Lanacombe I-IV and the new Trout Hill setting (Quinnell and Dunn 1992, 44-5;Riley 2007; see Figure 1 and Table 1). They are part of a particularly dense cluster of 14 settings in the upper reaches of Badgworthy Water; Riley and Wilson North's Landscape Study Zone 3 (2001, 31) and have been the focus of the most sustained episodes of the current fieldwork (Gillings et al 2010;Gillings 2013;Gillings and Taylor 2011a).…”