Merrivale Stone Rows & Circles -Devon		View Stone Row or Circle photos by clicking in map to right.
Site in square  SX 55 74	Visited June 2000

Merrivale is a large complex of stone rows, stone circles, cairns, cists and standing stones laid out on Dartmoor, it is well worth a visit. Fortunately, Merrivale is perhaps the most accessible of all of the Dartmoor stone rows, as it lies only 200m or so south of the B3357 and ample car parking is provided. 
Although all of the component parts of Merrivale easily fit into a square half a kilometer on a side, the topography of the area conspires to separate the various monuments into two areas. Because there are so many interesting items in this site, we have decided to cover each "area" separately, they can be selected by clicking on the map above.

 The area to the north we have called the "Stone Rows" area, although it features several other types of monument, the long stone rows do dominate this sector.
The "Stone Circle" area to the south contains the true stone circle and a large menhir among other constructs.

Merrivale is known locally as "The Plague Market" or "The Potato Market", both references to an outbreak of bubonic plague in Tavistock in 1625, farmers used to leave food for the unfortunate inhabitants of the town at the Merrivale rows in order to avoid contamination. This was probably a wise move on their part, as 575 townsfolk died in the epidemic.