Spinster's Rock

Sketching at Spinster’s rock

Neolithic chamber tomb, North east Dartmoor , OS Map Ref SX700908

Taking the scenic route home across – skirting the eastern edge of Dartmoor so we could pick up the road across the moors, heading towards Princetown. I noticed on the map ‘Spinsters Rock, burial chamber’. A quick detour was required.

Spinster’s rock is a Neolithic dolmen- a rather impressive one. However, in 1862 it was reconstructed following a collapse in storm – and it seems a number of sources believe it wasn’t quite put back together as it had been.

Nearby Drewsteignton means 'farm at the Druid's stones'; the area was likely rich in prehistoric archelogy however the Dolmen is all that obviously remains.  The name Spinsters rock derives from a legend that says the stones were erected by three spinsters before breakfast one morning.

Neolithic chamber tomb, North east Dartmoor , OS Map Ref SX700908