Merrivale

The Bronze Age Merrivale complex was one of the first (if not the first) of Dartmoor’s megalithic monuments that I visited, and all these years later it still fascinates me and still draws me back. Standing Stones, Stone Circles, Kist, Circle Cairns and Stone Rows, this site has them all, and closely grouped too. What a wonderful prehistoric landscape. You can only wonder at what rituals and practices must have gone on here, that's one of the joys of prehistory, you can hypothesize to your hearts content, if the evidence supports it, it's a valid hypothesis and well, if there's no evidence the knock yourself out. Whatever those activities were, they must have been important as, even with the 'on site' materials, a complex of this size and complexity would have taken considerable time (years), effort and manpower to erect. One interesting thing it highlights is that the Bronze Age communities of Dartmoor must have had an abundance of all three, suggesting their farming/hunting practices must have been effective and successful.