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Historic Dartmoor

Ringhill Flint Factory

There are two locations on Dartmoor where the placename “Ringhill” can be found. The first is just to the east of Oxenham Manor where there is the “Ringhill,” “Ringhill Coppice” and “Ringhill Cross.” The second lies just to the north of Postbridge in the form of what was once “Ringhill …

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Quicksilver Mail

Today we have the luxury of instant communication with the benefits of email, online news coverage, and mobile phones etc. on and around Dartmoor. But how was this achieved in days long gone by in such a remote area? I think the answer would be very, very slowly if at …

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Sticklepath Stone

On Dartmoor there are numerous enigmatic prehistoric standing stones, there are hundreds of boundstones, there are many ancient crosses, and there are a few stones which are a combination of them all.  It could be said that the latter category of stones have over time been re-cycled to represent different …

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Upline to Tavy

“A long time ago came a man on a trackWalking thirty miles with a sack on his backAnd he put down his load where he thought it was the bestHe made a home in the wilderness He built a cabin and a winter storeAnd he ploughed up the ground by …

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Home Office Scheme

In the July of 1916, the Government introduced the Home Office Scheme whereby Conscientious Objectors were given the chance to leave prison and work at designated labour camps called “Work Centres.”. It was announced that from the 1st of March 1917 “Dartmoor Prison will be closed for convict prisoners and …

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Bachelor’s Hall

“Sir Thomas (Tyrwhitt) may be regarded as the founder of Princetown, since it was through his instrumentality that the war prison, which called the town into existence, was erected on the Moor. Many houses were built in the neighbourhood of the prison; a mill and bakery were established at Bachelor’s …

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Dartmoor’s Black Gold

  Over the centuries numerous adventurers had set up companies to exploit Dartmoor’s natural resources, none more so than its ‘Black Gold’ – namely the huge peat deposits on the northern moor.  Some of these enterprises aimed at selling dry peat, others converting it into peat charcoal, peat litter, peat …

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Tavistock Deluge

“I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.” – Genesis 6:17 On the 17th of July 1890 I would have imagined that that the above biblical prophecy …

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Holne Church

“The parish church of Holne is situated in the centre of the village, and is perfectly plain and unpretending in its structure of early English date. Dr. Oliver in his list of the Devonshire churches makes it dedicated to St. Mary. It comprises of a chancel, nave, north and south …

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The Great Fire

Today Moretonhampstead is a bustling town popular with tourists and locals alike. Over the centuries it has had its fair share of excitement but nothing can rival the events which took place in 1838 and 1845. At that time many of the dwellings and business establishments had what today would …

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