Yelland is a village of 2,000 inhabitants situated in

North Devon North Devon is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based just outside Barnstaple, the district's largest town. The district also includes the towns of Ilfracombe, Lynton and Lynmouth and Sout ...

between

Instow Instow is a village in north Devon, England. It is on the estuary where the rivers Taw and Torridge meet, between the villages of Westleigh and Yelland and on the opposite bank to Appledore. There is an electoral ward with the same name. The ...

and Fremington in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

county of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. Yelland is included within the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Fremington.

Amenities

There is a garage, and a small industrial park. Residents use the nearest major village Fremington, or the slightly smaller village of

for their daily needs.

Supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

s are located in the nearest towns -

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. The town lies at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool from ...

and

Bideford Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, South West England. It is the main town of the Torridge District, Torridge Districts of England, local government district. Toponymy In ancient records Bi ...

. There is no

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

situated in the village. Regular bus services are operated by

Stagecoach Devon Stagecoach South West is a bus operator providing services in Devon and East Cornwall along with coach services to Bristol. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group, Stagecoach. History Devon General The Devon General Omnibus and Touring Compa ...

. The nearest railway station is

Barnstaple railway station Barnstaple railway station is the northern terminus of the Tarka Line and serves the town of Barnstaple, Devon. It is from and from . It is managed by Great Western Railway (train operating company), Great Western Railway, which also operate ...

, and

Exeter International Airport Exeter Airport , formerly ''Exeter International Airport'', is an international airport located at Clyst Honiton in East Devon, close to the city of Exeter and within the county of Devon, South West England. Exeter has a CAA Public Use Aero ...

is the nearest passenger international

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

by road. The nearest international ferry port is at Plymouth. Children in the area generally attend Fremington or Instow Primary Schools at primary school age, and

Bideford College Bideford College is a mixed secondary school and sixth form in Bideford in the English county of Devon. The principal is Claire Ankers. History It is the only state-funded secondary school in Bideford. On 28 June 2014 the then Secretary of St ...

Pilton Community College Pilton Community College is a coeducational secondary school located in the Pilton area of Barnstaple in the English county of Devon. Previously a community school administered by Devon County Council, Pilton Community College converted to a ...

The Park Community School The Park Community School is a coeducational secondary school located in Barnstaple, Devon, England. History The school was founded in 1910 as Barnstaple Grammar School, and was the first secondary school to be built by Devon County Council, ...

at secondary school age. College students attend Bideford College's sixth form, Petroc (formerly North Devon College), or may travel further afield.

Archaeology

Near Lower Yelland Farm is a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

megalithic A megalith is a large Rock (geology), stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging ...

site consisting of a double

stone row A stone row or stone alignment is a linear arrangement of megalithic standing stones set at intervals along a common axis or series of axes, usually dating from the later Neolithic or Bronze Age.Power (1997), p.23 Rows may be individual or groupe ...

. They are unusual in being sited at the river's edge rather than on higher

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of Habitat (ecology), habitat found in upland (geology), upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and the biomes of montane grasslands and shrublands, characterised by low-growing vegetation on So ...

. Since its construction, thousands of years ago, the site has been smothered by

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

from the widening of the

River Taw The River Taw () in England rises at Taw Head, a spring on the central northern flanks of Dartmoor, crosses North Devon and at the town of Barnstaple, formerly a significant port, empties into Barnstaple Bay in the Bristol Channel, having form ...

. The stones are no longer visible.

Walking trails

Visitors to Yelland and the surrounding area enjoy the views and scenic paths for walking. The

Tarka Trail The Tarka Trail is a series of footpaths and cyclepaths (rail trails) around north Devon, England, that follow the route taken by the fictional Tarka the Otter in the book of that name. It covers a total of in a figure-of-eight route, centred ...

and

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked Long-distance footpaths in the UK, long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harb ...

are easily accessible from the Yelland Power Station Road. Also Lower Yelland Nature Reserve.

East Yelland Coal-fired Power Station

View of old Yelland Power Station site on estuary of R

East Yelland Power Station Jetty - geograph

The

East Yelland Power Station Yelland is a village of 2,000 inhabitants situated in North Devon between Instow and Fremington, Devon, Fremington in the England, English county of Devon. Yelland is included within the parish of Fremington. Amenities There is a garage, and ...

was once an operational

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

-fired

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

production plant located in a partially hidden area on the estuary, next to the

. The power station was one of only two located to the west of

Hinkley Point Hinkley Point is a headland on the Bristol Channel coast of Somerset, England, north of Bridgwater and west of Burnham-on-Sea, close to the mouth of the River Parrett. Excavations in 2014 and 2015, carried out by Cotswold Archaeology and fun ...

. The power station was sanctioned in September 1949, and an extension approved in June 1950. The first generating set was commissioned in July 1953 and subsequent sets in November 1953, September 1954, October 1956, December 1956, and October 1957. The power station was formally opened on 21 April 1955 by Lord Fortescue. The station had a net capability to deliver 170 MW of electricity from six Parsons 31 MW turbo-alternators. There was also a 225 kW diesel engine house service set. The Thompson radiant heat steam boilers were fired by twin chain grate stokers could deliver 253 kg/s of steam at 42.7 bar and 468 °C. Cooling water to condense steam in the plant was drawn from the river estuary. The generating capacity and output was:CEGB ''Annual Report and Accounts'', 1961, 1962 & 1963 In the year ending 31 March 1981 the station delivered just 0.2 per cent of its capability.''CEGB Statistical Yearbook operating results 1980-81''. 1981, CEGB, London. In March 1984, it was announced by the

Central Electricity Generating Board The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 Januar ...

that the power station would close by the end of October that year. Fuel for the power station was obtained from

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

s in

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

, and was transported across the

Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel (, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales (from Pembrokeshire to the Vale of Glamorgan) and South West England (from Devon to North Somerset). It extends ...

onto a jetty specially constructed for the power station. However, due to the closure of the coal mines in the 1980s, coal would be more expensive to obtain from other areas of the country. Therefore, it was more economical to close the power station. Today, most of the power station, which covered an area of 3.1ha, has been demolished.

References

External links

Information about the Megalithic site
including photos and an aerial photo showing its location, at megalithic.co.uk {{authority control Villages in Devon