MDE1041 - Alleged stone row on Holdstone Hill, Holdstone Down (Monument)

SS 620 476 A stone row on Holdstone Down. This is possibly a duplication of the record for one of the three cairns or barrows to the northwest (MDE20203). Three large stones were noted on barrow 'B' by H J Wickenden in 1939. [1] Recorded as a stone row by L V Grinsell, but a dubious classification based on a reference of 1939 to three stones on a cairn. The site was situated on Holdstone Down where all the cairns have been completely destroyed. [2] Fowler states that the site may represent boundary stones used to demarcate the allotment when the Down was enclosed in the 19th Century (MDE21579). [3] Modern Ordnance Survey mapping (2013) shows a group of three stones arranged between SS 6202 4755 and SS 6204 4758 in a line. It is possible that this may be the stones that Fowler refers to above and also they may be the stones referred to by Grinsell. Alternatively, Fowler and/or Grinsell may actually mean the stones on the cairn at MDE20203. These three stones appear to be part of a much larger group (MDE21579). [4] This site was not surveyed during the 2017-2018 Exmoor Standing Stone Condition Survey. These stones are likely related to other monuments, possibly the 19th century boundary stones (MDE21579) used to demarcate the allotment when the down was enclosed. [5] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [6]