In 1995 Burl described this stone circle as "a wreck" in his Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany. Then in 1999 and 2000 Richard Bradley carried out an archaeological excavation and many of the stones were re-erected in their original sockets. Whilst it is now a reconstruction, this recumbent stone circle looks quite magnificent.
A now-disused quarry came right up to the edge of the circle, and at least one of the stones fell due to the quarrying and was lost. 11 of the presumed 13 original stones of the outer circle remain.
Most of the stones here are pale red granite, with the huge recumbent stone more grey.
The outer circle is about 17m in diameter. Within that is the kerb of a cairn about 14m in diameter.
The 1999/2000 excavation demonstrated that the inner cairn was constructed first, and the stone circle was added to the monument at a later date. Charcoal was dated to the early bronze age, around 2500BC, with other prehistoric finds indicating that the site was in use 1000 years later, and a pit contained charcoal dated to the post-medieval period, around the 1500s or 1600s AD.