Yelverton

In prehistoric times, the area around Yelverton must have been quite heavily populated to judge by the extraordinary concentration of stone circles and rows, hut and cairn circles, and burial chambers. The B3212 to Princeton passes through this once-populous stretch of moorland, part of which is now submerged beneath Burrator Reservoir.

Situated just inside the Dartmoor National Park, Yelverton itself is a large village with broad-verged streets, which has caused it to be described as “rather like a thriving racecourse”. The village is one of very few in the country to have had its name bestowed by the Board of Directors of a railway company. Great Western Railway opened a station here in 1859 when the village was officially known as Elfordtown. The story goes that the London-based surveyors interpreted the Devon pronunciation of Elfordtown as Yelverton. So that was the name blazoned on the station signboard, and the name by which the village has been known ever since.