The Summit of Ryders Hill (geograph 3967826)

At 515 m, Ryder's Hill is the highest point on the southern part of

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England. On its summit there are two

standing stone A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright rock (geology), stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. T ...

s and a low

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

, on top of which is a

triangulation pillar A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they a ...

. One of the standing stones is called Petre's Bound Stone and it marks the boundary of three

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

es:

Dartmoor Forest Dartmoor Forest is a civil parish in Devon, England. It was formed in 1987 by the splitting of the former parish of Lydford. It covers about entirely within Dartmoor, Dartmoor National Park, and is the largest parish in Devon. Despite its size ...

Holne Holne is a village and civil parish on the southeastern slopes of Dartmoor in Devon, England. A community has existed here since at least the 11th century, and today a population of around 250 people is served by a church and a public house, the ...

and

Buckfastleigh Buckfastleigh is a market town and civil parish in Devon, England situated beside the Devon Expressway ( A38) at the edge of the Dartmoor National Park. It is part of Teignbridge and, for ecclesiastical purposes, lies within the Totnes Deanery. ...

. The cairn, which is not very prominent, has an important history. It was one of the boundary markers of the

Forest of Dartmoor The Forest of Dartmoor is an ancient royal forest covering part of Dartmoor, Devon, England. A royal forest was an area reserved by the king for hunting, and William the Conqueror introduced the concept of forest law in England in the 11th ce ...

mentioned in the Perambulation of 1240 and has been known as "Knattleborough" (or variations of that name) since at least the 17th century. Ryder's Hill can be reached by walking up Holne Ridge from

Combestone Tor Combestone Tor is a granite tor on Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which ...

, past Horn's Cross, a distance of about 3 km. From the summit there are good views over southern Dartmoor.

References

Dartmoor Hills of Devon {{Devon-geo-stub