Hell Stone
 | |
  Shown within Dorset | |
| Location | Dorset |
|---|---|
| Type | Dolmen |
The Hell Stone (grid reference SY604868) is a badly-restored Neolithic dolmen on Portesham Hill in Dorset, England. It is around 1 kilometre north of the village of Portesham, and approximately 1 kilometre southeast of the Valley of Stones.
Description
The Hell Stone is situated at the head of a dry valley system in the parish of Portesham.[1] The burial chamber is at the southeast end of a rectangular mound. The mound is orientated northwest to southeast, and is 24 metres long.[1] The mound tapers in width from the southeast end (12 metres) to the northwest end (8 metres) and is 1 metre high.[1] The remains of another tomb, The Grey Mare and her Colts, is 2 kilometres to the west.
The chamber was badly restored in 1866 when eight men re-erected the stones, arranging them radially "rather like the slices of a cake" and supporting a large capstone.[2] The chamber may have been, originally, a long rectangular one.[2] A drystone wall runs across the mound and a pond for watering stock was dug close to the southeast end of the mound in modern times.[1]
Notes
- ^ a b c d Historic England. "Hell Stone (452288)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 25 November 2013.
- ^ a b Glyn E. Daniel (1950), The Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of England and Wales, page 93. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 110769762X
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