Mardon Down Giant's Grave, Moretonhampstead, Dartmoor National Park

Mardon Down Giant's Grave, Moretonhampstead, Dartmoor National Park

According to Phil Newman in his excellent 'The Field Archaeology of Dartmoor', 'it was Dean Jeremiah Milles of Exeter, President of the Society of Antiquaries, who first undertook archaeological fieldwork on Dartmoor barrows in 1752 on Mardon Down (Grinsell 1978, 87), and the literature of the early 19th century has frequent anecdotal references to the opening of barrows, though with few reliable accounts of the finds'.

On the ground, Mardon Down Giant's Grave isn't the most impressive of Dartmoor's barrows. There's not much left to see. It's easy to walk through the clearing in which it's located without realising Giant's Grave is there. That said, the remarkable views more than make up for this.