Part of a coaxial field system, prehistoric settlements and cairns on Buttern Hill

Buttern Hill holds the remains of a coaxial field system, a pattern of Bronze Age land division still visible across parts of Dartmoor. Alongside the fields are the traces of prehistoric settlements and cairns, markers of burial or ceremonial use. These overlapping landscapes tell of communities who farmed and lived on the high moor when the climate and vegetation were different from today.

The site is a Scheduled Monument, protected for its archaeological importance. Visitors walking across Buttern Hill will find themselves among a palimpsest of ancient land use. Low banks and stone arrangements mark the old field boundaries, while the scattered cairns anchor the moor to its deeper past. This is archaeology written in the landscape itself, best understood on foot and in context with other Bronze Age sites across Dartmoor.