Yellowmead Down

Yellowmead Down lies in Devon’s high moorland near Sheepstor. Four rings of upright stones stand one inside another, the largest circle measuring twenty metres across. The smallest inner ring is only six metres wide. Bronze Age builders arranged the stones in concentric circles on the open slope. A low burial mound once stood at the centre but has been worn flat by centuries of rain and wind. To the south-west, lines of standing stones stretch away like spokes, cut by an old leat built to feed a tinworks. The circles were first studied and partly rebuilt in 1921 by the Rev. H Breton. In 2008 archaeologists used geophysical scans and a small trench to check whether Breton’s work had been accurate. They found he had placed stones correctly and also uncovered buried stones still lying in line with the rows. Peat preserved these fallen slabs, hinting that more hidden features may lie buried downslope beneath the leat. Visitors walk among the rings of grey granite set against the purple moor grass. The stones stand low, so the circles feel intimate rather than grand. From the site the skyline shows tors rising above the heather. The leat’s shallow channel, now dry, winds past the southern edge, marking the boundary between ancient ritual space and later industry. Wind and rain keep the ground soft, so the circles sit lightly on the land, waiting for each new visitor to notice their quiet order.