Dartmoor Places

I tramp o’er the moors in the fresh morning air, The breeze in my face, so bracing and rare. Deep golden gorse amidst heather I saw, Whilst climbing “up over” high Rippon Tor. The track through the bracken on velvety turf, Grey rocks, lichen-cover’d, and red-brown earth, Wild shaggy ponies …

“Halshanger, where an army rifle-range of red brick, gaunt and hideous, leaves on the landscape a blot exacerbated by the weeds and creepers now sprouting from it.” Hemery, p.688. “This monstrous construction, as high as two houses, must be quite the most unbelievable building in the National Park.”, Hayward, p.256. …

Over the years there has been much debate regarding the military’s use of Dartmoor as a training area and regardless of one’s views there is one undeniable benefit, namely the ‘Ring Road’ or ‘Loop Road’. This has not only given military access to the remoter parts of the North Moor …

It will come as no surprise that the term; ‘everything is not black and white‘ aptly applies to Dartmoor – sometimesit’s red. Having now compiled web pages on Dartmoor place-names that contain the descriptive element ‘black’ and ‘white’ surely ‘red’ cannot be left out? When compared with ‘black’ and ‘white’ …

Probably one of the most mysterious and enigmatic places on Dartmoor is the prison at Princetown, it holds a certain morbid fascination for most visitors. The dark, grey granite walls have for two centuries kept French and American war prisoners along with a multitude of criminals securely confined behind them. …

Back in the early 1800s Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt had amongst others, a dream that Princetown would have a prison along church to serve the growing community. The prison was to house prisoners of war from the Napoleonic war and construction of this project began in 1806. However, it was several …

“Whom the untaught Shepherds call Pixies in their madrigal, Fancy’s children, here we dwell: Welcome, Ladies! to our cell. Here the wren of softest note Builds its nest and warbles well; Here the blackbird strains his throat; Welcome, Ladies! to our cell.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge – Songs of the Pixies. …

This shows you how Dartmoor can affect people, I was reading the latest edition of ‘The Dartmoor News’ where I read an article about how the recent access laws have meant that one can now visit Pin Tor. It seems despite the Dartmoor National Park erecting a brand spanking new …

In 1984 Prince Charles described a new extension to the National Gallery as a, “monstrous carbuncle”, but he was not the first to liken a skin blemish unto an architectural intrusion on the landscape. Since the early 1900s Dartmoor or to be more precise, Whitchurch Down has had a structure …

“The view from Pu Tor is exceedingly fine, much of the moor being revealed on one side, and a vast extent of the cultivated country on the other.” Crossing, p.146. “Grey through the thickening trees, the heights of Pu Tor towered northerly, and round about the land fell by fields …