Tottiford Reservoir, north east Dartmoor has recently been drained by South West Water to show a previously unknown ceremonial complex. A local man noticed two stone rows and some cairns and informed the National Park Authority who then surveyed the area and confirmed there was a standing stone, a double stone row, a single stone row a series of cairns, a stone circle 22m wide and many flint tools.
Great stuff, there has been some geophysics done in the area before the reservoir is filled up, although there are no plans of the site on the Park website. The site being in a reservoir would seem odd as I thought most of these types of sites had at least one larger vista. It seems amazing though that there are no antiquarian accounts of this complex, what I’d like now is for Chris Tilley to put on a deep sea diving suit and give us a phenomenlological account of strolling about the area!
This area has until now had a relative lack of such sites which means it will be even more interesting to see the results of the survey and how it complements the previously known prehistoric archaeological features on Dartmoor, which is well known for the clarity of it’s relict landscape.
