Grey Wethers

• Period: Bronze Age

The Grey Wethers are two stone circles close together on the open moor near Sittaford Tor, neither quite complete.

The name

A guide for visitors by Beatrix Cresswell describes them as "two stone circles, placed very near to each other, neither of them quite complete", and says those who have seen the Hurlers in Cornwall will recognise a likeness. "As you look at them from a distance, you cannot fail to be struck with that resemblance to sheep, which has earned them their name. Often I have fancied I saw sheep in the hollow, and afterwards realised that I was looking at Grey Wethers." A wether is a castrated ram.

Getting there

Crossing's routes to Cranmere pass through here. From the Warren House Inn the way goes north-west over the side of Waters Down to the head of Assacombe, then over White Ridge to the Grey Wethers. From there, he says, follow the wall of the Teign Head enclosures northward to White Horse Gate, and it is well to enter the enclosures at the Grey Wethers, "the ground being better there than outside". Another route comes up from Post Bridge by Stannon.

The story

One well-known story about the circles, "The Legend of the Grey Wethers", was written by Eva C. Rogers and published in The Magic Mist and Other Dartmoor Legends (1901). In that book a character says he would sooner visit the circles on Midsummer's Night than meet a particular apparition. J. R. W. Coxhead gave a short account of the Grey Wethers in Devon Traditions and Fairy-Tales (1959).

Sources

• William Crossing, Guide to Dartmoor.
• Eva C. Rogers, The Magic Mist and Other Dartmoor Legends (1901).
• Beatrix F. Cresswell, Dartmoor and its Surroundings.
• J. R. W. Coxhead, Devon Traditions and Fairy-Tales (1959).