Shovel Down

Shovel Down is a stretch of open moorland on northern Dartmoor in Devon. It is scattered with Bronze Age megaliths, including stone rows, standing stones and the Fourfold Stone Circle. The site lies on a broad ridge running east to west, its slopes covered in rough grass and heather. Five double stone rows and one single row cross the ridge, while nearby cairns mark burial places. Other monuments such as the Long Stone and the Three Boys standing stone stand close by. The remains belong to a farming culture that lived here around three thousand years ago. The Fourfold Circle is made of four concentric rings of stone, the largest nine metres across. A turf-covered burial mound sits at its centre, its cist once robbed of its contents. The Long Stone, recorded in a 13th-century document, now marks the meeting point of three parishes. The Three Boys stone once had two companions, removed long ago for gateposts. Visitors walk among the ridges and rows, following paths worn by centuries of use. The Long Stone rises above the surrounding grass, its flat face weathered by wind. The Fourfold Circle’s rings of stone stand low on the moor, their shapes clear against the turf. From the ridge there are wide views over Dartmoor’s hills and valleys. The stone rows lead the eye across the open ground, showing how the land was organised in the Bronze Age.