Create accountLogin

Recent searches

No recent searches

Search options

Only available when logged in.
mas.to is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
Hello! mas.to is a fast, up-to-date and fun Mastodon server.

Administered by:

Server stats:

12K
active users

mas.to: AboutStatusProfiles directoryPrivacy policy

Mastodon: AboutGet the appKeyboard shortcutsView source codev4.3.7

Helen Clayton

There was a beautiful sunrise somewhere on Friday, but sadly I didn’t get to see it on my early morning potter around Merrivale - just its faint glow through the thick cloud sitting over Dartmoor.

A fascinating place with its Bronze Age complex of stone rows, stone circles, menhir and burial cairns, alongside remains of a medieval settlement, tin-mining activities, and more modern quarrying.

Photo of a double stone row - two neat lines of parallel granite stones - that runs roughly east-west along a ridge of open moorland. Photo taken from the eastern end, marked by a triangular-shaped blocking stone. To the right, running almost parallel is another double stone row, just showing through longer grass. A few sheep are dotted about. On the far right, beyond a line of trees just over the ridge, in the dip of a valley, is a white stone building - a pub that once served the workers of a quarry just out of frame. It stands beside a road that snakes over the moor into the distance. The early morning sky is grey and overcast.
Photo of the other, northern, double stone row taken from the western end. The rising sun is an orange glow in the thick grey clouds. The row leads towards a clump of trees (that mark the site of an old school for quarry workers’ children). Part of the southern stone row is also in frame on the right. A radio mast stands on the top of a hill beyond on the right.
The remains of a burial cist that lies next to the stone rows. The large covering slab has been cut - a large slice taken out to be used for gateposts or a lintel at some time in the past - revealing the stone-lined cist. The stone rows can just be made out behind and a scattering of stones beyond from a medieval settlement. The sky is grey and cloudy but there’s an orange glow on the right on the horizon. A tor - Little Mis Tor - on the left touches the cloud line.
Photo of a tall - 3 metre or so - straight-sided menhir with a view of King Tor behind on the right. There is a circular patch of bare earth around the base of the menhir, worn by feet - maybe human but more likely livestock using the stone as a scratching post! The lower slopes of the tor are enclosed and dark green (probably bracken and dotted with trees…and sheep). Above, cutting through the scree of the tor, is the line of a disused railway. To the left on the opposite hillside are piles of stone from old quarry workings.
#StandingStoneSunday
Aug 04, 2024, 08:11 AM·Public·Toot!
53boosts·132favorites
Public
Helen Clayton

@banane I don’t *think* I heard the stones.

ExploreLive feeds
About