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Historic Dartmoor

Dinna Clerks Longhouse

Dinna Clerks, AKA Dinah Clerk – who or more technically what are they? In all reality nothing to get too excited about, they are in fact the names of three fields belonging to or once belonged to West Shallowford which lies to the south-west of Widecombe-in-the-Moor. As can be seen …

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Grimspound 1942

Grims2

  “The best known of many prehistoric settlements on Dartmoor, Grimspound dates from the late Bronze Age (about 1450–700 BC). The remains of 24 stone roundhouses survive here, within a massive boundary wall about 150 metres in diameter.” – English Heritage. There can be no question that Grimspound is one …

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Dartmoor’s Gulwell Cross

Gulwell3

  Just by the junction of West Street and the old Totnes road in the ancient stannary town of Ashburton stands a rather erect stone cross. Known as either Gulwell or St. Gudula’s Cross it’s clear that it has undergone some restoration in fairly recent years. Both names refer to …

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Dartmoor’s Dunstone Cross

Dunstone2

  Dunstone Cross – I don’t know why but this little granite cross perched serenely on its high granite pedestals is one of my favourite of the Dartmoor crosses. So much so that the cross appears on both the front and back cover of my book – ‘A Pilgrimage to …

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Dartmoor Misdemeanours

  Back in the days when Britain was ‘Great’ and before the act of Human Rights life was a lot more ordered and what made this possible were the harsh sentences for the numerous petty crimes. The other major difference was that the police in those days were not governed …

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Meldon Quarry

MeldoQ4

  Today the old Meldon Quarry plays host to many visitors, some come to walk or cycle, others to swim, a few come for some extreme sports such a bungee jumping whilst others visit the remains of the redundant railway. For whatever reason what they see today is normally a …

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Redlake Tramway

Redlake 13

Today the old Redlake Railway track provides an eight mile picturesque walk up into the southern wilderness of Dartmoor. With wide ranging views and peace and quite virtually guaranteed it makes for a splendid day out. As the old track winds its way up to the moor there are the …

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Langstone Moor Xploration

Langstone 1

  This little Xcursion was due to a Westcountry phenomenon called ‘drectly’, which means if something has to be done and it’s done drectly then it’s put off to the very, very last moment at the earliest. At university it’s assignment time and one of them is to give two …

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Terril Posts

terhill

  Sitting on top of Ter Hill are two granite crosses (known locally as the ‘Terhill Posts‘) which at onetime marked the old monastic track which ran between the abbeys of Tavistock to Buckfast. They are part of a line of 12 other such crosses which acted as guideposts for …

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Dartmoor’s Maltern Way

  Of all of the tracks on Dartmoor the oldest is probably the one that runs from near Holne moorgate in the west to Cockle’s Gate in the east. Today the distance is about 7 miles but it may originally have been a mile or two longer. What marks this …

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