Dartmoor Places

“Quite and undisturbed, save by the shouts of the merry boys who frequent the neighbouring school, is the small churchyard. In summer it is quite over-shadowed by the umbrageous foliage of its protecting trees. Many rude tombstones attract our notice for their quaint design, or curious epitaph.”, Rachel Evans, 1846 …

“Keep the Sabbath Holy”, was always the watchword on the farms of Dartmoor, which meant no work whatsoever and to ignore this warning was to invite the wrath of the Lord. Even more strictly observed was the tradition that no earth should be so much as scratched on Good Friday …

I would wager a months salary that thousands of people have driven or walked over the modern bridge that carries the B3212 over the Blackabrook just to the north east of Princetown and not even noticed the little building now called the ‘Okery’. And why should they, afterall it looks …

The three military firing ranges encompass much of north Dartmoor and they have done for a very long time. Many of the structures associated with the military’s activities can be classed as ‘archaeological features’ which include target railways, butts, bound stones and the observation posts or OP’s as they are …

‘There is another (logan stone) between Rippon Tor and Withycombe, called the ‘Nut-crackers.’ A block, sixteen and a half feet long and a half in breadth and thickness, is poised upon the very edge of a wedge of rock. Its ‘logging’ power is said to have been destroyed in mere …

Ever heard the saying, “like using a hammer to crack a nut”? Well you won’t get a much bigger hammer than the ‘Nutcrackers’ and that’s for sure. At one time this must have been one of the finest balanced logan stones on Dartmoor. Basically a logan or logging stone is …

If you’re ever near Nun’s Cross Farm have a careful look along the numerous enclosure walls and you may spot a strange stone embedded in one of them. As can be seen from the pictures below it certainly did not originate from that area and does not seem to be …

The emptiness of Dartmoor has often been remarked upon, it has been called a wilderness, a waste, a barren land, and many such other descriptives. Those that know the moor probably refute most of those terms but anyone looking at an Ordnance Survey map of Dartmoor could be forgiven for …

If you drive on the road from Hemsworthy Gate to Cold East Cross you will pass a collection of ruins that literally sit on the verge. Their very location may beg the question as to why any building would be so close to the roadside? William Crossing gives us the …

“The bridge is a lovely, picturesque structure, green with ivy, and the river on each side is hedged in with schistose crags and woods,” – T. C. Paris 1865. Newbridge or Holne New Bridge as it’s sometimes called is thought to date from the fifteenth century, Henderson & Jervoise, p.33, …