Are you the type of person who has a favourite stone circle on Dartmoor?

 I suppose you might be, if you ended up here. I certainly am, and this one is mine, for many reasons.

 Firstly, it’s a convenient walking distance from an accessible car park (Norsworthy Bridge at Burrator) but is nevertheless nearly always deserted.

Secondly, it’s just impressive… the circle itself isn’t large, but it is the terminus of a stone row that extends down into the dip beyond, in the direction of Nun’s Cross. The stone circle seems to enclose a kind of burial chamber.  The largest stone in the row is the one adjoining the circle, at 9 feet tall. The row generally decreases in height as it moves away from the circle, and is an impressive 1145 feet in length (using 157 stones).

The elevation at each end of the row is higher than the central part, meaning that as one follows the row, one is treated to a panoramic view at either end of the row, with only the middle portion being occluded by the surrounding hills.

We might fancifully imagine that ancient people used to walk along the length of the stone row, towards the circle and burial cist at the other end, and imagine it as some metaphor for life. The truth is, of course, that we just don’t know why it was built, or even when, other than that it seems to be from the Bronze Age, or from 2000-1500 BC.

Whatever it once was, it is now a very pleasant place to stop for a coffee if one is walking between Burrator and Nun’s Cross Farm, and soak up the atmosphere that must have felt very much the same 4000 years ago.