Historic Dartmoor

There was a time long, long ago when giants lived on Dartmoor. They tended to dwell on the high tors where they could sit and watch over their territories. From a lot of the lofty peaks they could even see across into Wales and down to the South Devon coast. …

Tradition has it that for centuries there has been an ancient trackway which runs from Bideford in North Devon and Dartmouth in South Devon. The purpose of this route was for sailors to travel between the two ports when transferring from one ship to sail on another, hence the name …

This ancient wayside cross must have been both a blessing and a dread for early travellers across the moor, to those coming down from the wilderness it probably was a most welcomed sight but for those about to enter upon the wastes it must have been a sickening reminder of …

In the little moorland churchyard of Manaton stands a sad, time worn granite cross. It is hard to imagine that, not that long ago, the peaceful tranquillity of this Dartmoor parish was shattered by a bitter dispute over the church cross. For time immemorial there had been a tradition that …

In many a green and solemn place, Girt with the wild hills round, The shadow of the holy cross Yet sleepeth on the ground. North Bovey can boast a typical and picturesque village green that is studded with artefacts from a bygone age. Sitting majestically in the shade of a …

One question that always intrigues me is when did people first realise that someone had died and feel the need to actually bury them as opposed to just discarding or eating the corpse? Also what happened to make these same people feel the need to actually bury the body with …

One of Dartmoor’s most enigmatic features are the standing stones which sit on the remote hilltops surveying the centuries as they speed by. The sad fact is that in the whole of the Dartmoor National park there are only 12 which are left intact and stand on the open moor. …

Standing in the stroll of the field next to the church stands a large, incised stone with Viking style runic carving, this is the ‘Rune Stone’. Just across the road stands a pillar of granite with a sculpture of a shield and axe mounted on it, this is the ‘Saxon …

There is a sinister pathway that winds its sombre way across the northern wastes of Dartmoor, it is known as the ‘Way of the Dead’, the ‘Corpse Way‘, or the Lych Way. Its roots are firmly set deep in the days when every person on the moor was expected to …

Since the first early Christian stone crosses appeared on Dartmoor there has been a constant ebb and flow of their numbers down through the ages. It seems that some disappear whilst other are discovered or rediscovered, one such example of this is the supposed cross head on Three Barrows Hill. …