Arthurs Stone |
| Hob Uid: 106083 | |
Location :
County of Herefordshire
Dorstone
|
| Grid Ref : SO3188843124 |
| Summary : The site of an early Neolithic chambered tomb. The name refers to the site traditionally identified as one of King Arthur's battles. It is positioned overlooking the valley of the River Dore to the Black Mountains beyond, and at least two ancient roadways converged at this point. A Neolithic settlement was located nearby at Dorstone Hill, and some of its inhabitants may have been buried in the tomb. The mound of earth that would have originally covered the tomb has been removed or eroded away, exposing the locally quarried Old Red Sandstone infrastructure. The monument includes a stone burial chamber, and an entrance passage. The chamber is composed of nine orthostats standing up to 1.1m high, five of which support a massive capstone. This is now broken at roughly the midpoint but would originally have measured 5.9m long by 3.7m wide and up to 0.6m thick, weighing over 25 tons - a considerable organised effort by the whole community would have been required to manoeuvre it into position. The exposed entrance passage consists of nine stones arranged to form a passage 0.8m wide, running circa 5m east-west before turning at right angles to the south for 2.9m. Three m to the south-east of the chamber are two upright stone slabs which may have formed a trilithon by supporting a third slab to form a lintel. Traces of the mound which once covered the stones can be recognised, and in its present form it is roughly oval in plan, on an east-west orientation, measuring circa 22m by 19m. There are also undisturbed kerbstones around the edge in the south-east quarter. Another large stone is just visible in the ditch across the road from the chamber, circa 3m north-west of the monument. Known locally as 'Arthur's Stone', its function and relationship to the burial chamber are uncertain.In 2011 a dry-stone wall forming a previously unrecorded outer wall to the monument was revealed to the south-east of the chamber. The site is in the care of English Heritage. |
More information : (SO 3189 4312) Arthur's Stone (NAT) Burial Chamber (NR)
(Remains of). (1)
Arthur's Stone is the chamber and entrance-passage of a barrow from which the covering earth has been removed. The actual chamber retains nine of the enclosing stones, but only five of these now support the cap-stone. (See plan and photo). Traces of the mound remain but are insufficient to determine its precise form. In the charge of the Office of Works. "The mound is of indeterminate form, but at present oval (at least 70ft) NNW/SSE (?)". (2)
No change. Resurveyed at 1:2500 (3)
Neolithic chambered tomb known as Arthur's Stone overlooking the valley of the River Dore. Most of the earthen mound, which would have originally covered the tomb, has been removed thus exposing the stone infrastructure. This includes a stone burial chamber, or cromlech, and an entrance passage.Chamber composed of 9 orthostats standing up to 1.1m high, five of which support a massive capstone. This is now broken at roughly the midpoint but would originally have measured 5.9m long by 3.7m wide and up to 0.6m thick. The exposed entrance passage consists of 9 stones arranged to form a passage 0.8m wide, running circa 5m east to west before turning at right angles to the south for 2.9m. Some 3m to the south east of the chamber are 2 upright stone slabs which may have formed a trilithon by supporting a third slab to form a lintel. Repair work in 1900 records the presence of such a structure, and also recovered stone hammers, heavy mauls and stone chips. Traces of the mound which once covered all the stones can be recognised and in its present form it is roughly oval in plan, on a east wwest orientation, measuring circa 22m by 19m. There are also undisturbed kerbstones around the edge of the in its south east quarter. Scheduled (6)
Additional references. (7-11) |