| Hell Stone | |
|---|---|
 | |
Location within Dorset | |
| 50°40′43″N 2°33′33″W / 50.678619°N 2.559209°W / 50.678619; -2.559209 | |
| Type | Dolmen |
| Location | Dorset |
| SY604868 | |
Official name | Helstone burial chamber |
| Reference no. | 1002693 |
The Hell Stone is a badly-restored Neolithic dolmen on Portesham Hill in Dorset, England. It is just to the north of the village of Portesham, and approximately three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km) southeast of the Valley of Stones.1
Description
The Hell Stone is situated at the head of a dry valley system in the parish of Portesham.2 The burial chamber is at the southeast end of a rectangular mound. The mound is 24 metres (79 ft) long and orientated northwest to southeast.2 The mound tapers from 12 to 8 metres (39 to 26 ft) in width from the southeast end to the northwest end, and it is 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) high.2 The site has been designated as a scheduled monument.3
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.4 The chamber may have been, originally, a long rectangular one.4 A drystone wall runs across the mound, and a pond for watering livestock was dug close to the southeast end of the mound in modern times.2 The remains of another tomb, The Grey Mare and her Colts, is 1+1⁄4 miles (2 km) to the west.1
Notes
Notes
- "Hell Stone Dolmen" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
- Historic England. "Hell Stone (452288)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 25 November 2013.
- "Helstone burial chamber, Portesham - 1002693 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
- Glyn E. Daniel (1950), The Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of England and Wales, page 93. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 110769762X