Lying Low on High Ground

17.02.2025

I was on the familiar road from Princetown to Yelverton again, this time looking for a turn off in the town that would take me to Cadover Bridge and the large National Trust Car Park there beside the River Plym. I was on the hunt for two lesser known circles that lay close to each other on Ringmoor Down.

I walked over the old stone bridge and followed the road I’d just driven down to a right turn that lead to a farm. It was the worst kept farm I had ever come across with empty chemical and feed bags everywhere amongst abandoned machinery and stray sheep. Sadly I had to make my way through it all to find the path that took me up to Ringmoor Down. Through a gate the path arced up to a landscape of windswept tufts of long grass. It was a few degrees colder up here and I quickened my pace in an attempt to stay warm. A spur from the path brought me to the Ringmoor complex made up of a Cairn Circle with a Stone Row emanating from it extending for a distance of 369 metres. The stones were not that high and obvious to make out at first but then the well restored circle appeared with its toothlike angular uprights. Both the circle and row had been renovated in 1909 after it’s decimation by ploughing in medieval times. Unlike Down Tor there were no taller stones where the row met the circle, just one metre high triangular uprights disappearing off down the hill to the north. There seemed to be in places the existence of a double row forming an avenue that split the tall grass either side. Looking back at the circle the stones stood out more against the sky and looked more balanced to the eye. The size of the circle was perfect for viewing each stone in relation to the others without the need to back off, move in or turn one’s head.

I dropped down the hill to the south and there near a boundary wall on a slight incline was the much larger circle of Brisworthy. There were once forty two stones here but now only twenty four remain, more numerous and larger on the northern arc of the circle. They varied greatly in shape with one on the western side resembling a perched falcon. Again evident was the smoothness of the inner faces of each one with some of the granite outer sides showing seams of quartz. Those stones remaining in the north western section were evenly spaced and two in particular looked like entrance stones that may have had a row from them at one time. Farmland lay just beyond the nearby stone wall but it was still a beautiful wild place. As I walked away east I turned to see a timeless view of Brisworthy with Legis Tor rising up to the east.