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Butterdon Hill (Harford)

Harford, Ivybridge, Devon

Grid ref: SX 6553 5864

Part of Harford →

Main image: The Butterdon stone row, with the cairn on the hill in the distance. Photo: Sandy Gerrard (CC BY-SA 2.0) via Wikimedia Commons

  • Height: 366 m
  • Grid reference: SX 65538 58641
  • Parish: Harford, on the boundary with Ugborough
  • Period: cairns and stone row, Late Neolithic to Bronze Age
  • Stone row: a single line over 2 km long, from the hill to the Longstone on Piles Hill
  • Encircled cairn: at the south end of the row, kerb about 11 m across, twelve mostly recumbent stones

Butterdon Hill rises to 366 m on south Dartmoor above Harford and Ivybridge, on the line between Harford and Ugborough parishes. The summit carries several large cairns, the biggest recorded by Dartmoor Walks at about 27 m across and 3.3 m high.

The Butterdon stone row begins here, at an encircled cairn with a kerb of twelve mostly fallen stones about 11 m across. This is the "stone circle" often mentioned for the hill. From it the row runs north along the ridge for over 2 km, the second longest on Dartmoor, to the Longstone, a recumbent stone on Piles Hill. The cairn, the row and the Piles Hill stone are one scheduled monument. Most row stones are low, mainly 0.1 to 0.4 m. One stone about 300 m south of the Longstone carries an incised cross, known as Hobajon's Cross.

This is one of two Butterdon Hills on Dartmoor. The other is on the north-east side of the moor, north of Moretonhampstead, and has a standing stone but no stone row.

This is a location on Dartmoor that has a namesake. Read more about this: Dartmoor Places With the Same Name

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