Dartmoor Rabbits

Many sources state that the rabbit was not an original native of Britain and that they were introduced by the Normans. There are now several reports that this was not so and perhaps re-introduced should be the correct term. Archaeological excavations at Boxgrove in West Sussex revealed rabbit remains that dated back to the Palaeolithic times which was about 500,000BP. Another recent excavation at Lynford in Norfolk has turned up rabbit bones in a Roman context and are thought to date back 2,000 years to the second Roman invasion. Because of the few discoveries of rabbit remains it may well be possible that at some time the native rabbit became extinct and was re-introduced by the Normans.

Either way the rabbit has been an important source of food on Dartmoor for centuries. The Abbey of Tavistock was authorised by Henry I to maintain rabbit warrens and one of them was in Dolvin Wood just outside Tavistock.

Dartmoor is not the ideal habitat for rabbits because it is too wet and badly drained which meant they had to be 'farmed' in warrens. Originally the word warren meant an area of land set aside for the preservation of game, later it came to describe areas of land where rabbits were bred for commercial uses. There were 16 known rabbit warrens on Dartmoor as shown on the map below:

As the maps shows most of them were on the southern end of Dartmoor and virtually all of them were near to rivers or streams. It is also interesting to note that all but Skaigh and Redlake Tramway warrens were built close to old prehistoric settlements this was probably because the old settlements provided an excellent source of stone for building purposes as well as the walls forming boundaries and affording shelter.

One of the earliest illustration of a bury appears in the Luttrell psalter of the 14th century. Early documentary evidence for the warrens on Dartmoor is sparse with the oldest record being  a document granting land to a 'de Traylesworthy' dating to 1272.

The Luttrell Psalter - Rabbit Bury

As previously mentioned Dartmoor is not the ideal habitat for rabbits because it was too wet and the stony landscape did not allow the rabbits to burrow and so to overcome this problem 'pillow mounds' were built to house them. Although the Ordnance Survey use the term 'pillow mound' on their maps they are more commonly known as 'buries' on Dartmoor. The buries were usually built lengthways down a slope as this would prevent them from becoming wet and waterlogged. They are normally 'cigar shaped' and vary in length from 30 - 130ft (10m - 40m). The construction of a bury involved first digging a trench with with branches leading out from it, these were then covered over with flat stones. This gave the rabbit a communal burrow to live in. The whole structure was then covered or 'buried' over with a mound of earth in which entrance holes would be placed. The buries were normally built in a series with anything up to 10 - 15. In some cases the buries were constructed by simply piling earth up against existing walls such as would be found in prehistoric settlements.  Today buries can cause some confusion as they can sometimes be mistaken for prehistoric barrows.

One aid to the identification of buries is the occurrence of a reed called J. conglomertatus. This reed tends to grow on top of the mounds and due to their structure, which provides a light well-broken soil for the plants to flourish in, results in them standing taller than the other vegetation as can be seen from the picture below.

Every warren had a stated boundary and some of them would use streams, rivers and walls, not only did this mark out the warren but as rabbits hate water the streams and rivers helped to contain them as did the walls. In addition some used boundary stones to define the area many of these still stand today especially around Headland and Hentor warrens. The picture below shows the Hentor Warren 1 boundstone which is one of four remaining markers for the warren:

One big problem to the warrener was vermin especially stoats and weasels so to overcome this problem stone traps were built. These consisted of low walls forming an 'X' shape. In the centre of which was the trap. This meant the stoat or weasel was funnelled into the entrance of the trap and as it passed through the central tunnel a mechanism would be triggered which released the trap door thus containing the would be predator. Later in time these traps were superseded by shotguns and gin traps. Another problem the warreners had to contend with was that of poachers, especially when the warrens were near to mines. There are numerous records of miners poaching rabbits to supplement there meagre diet.

The rabbits would be caught in vast numbers from September to March. Recently this was done by using nets, these were about 300ft (91m) long and 5ft (1.5m) high. During the evening when the rabbits were feeding away from the warren the nets would be pegged out between the feeding ground and the buries, then with the help of his dogs the warrener would come from behind the rabbits and drive them into the nets, having been caught they would then be dispatched and taken back to the warren house. Sometimes the nets were placed over the buries and ferrets used to chase the rabbits out into the nets and the waiting warrener. Another method used for catching the rabbits was to lure them through a single entrance into a small walled enclosure, once in the entrance would be sealed and the rabbits netted and killed.

Once prepared the rabbit meat would be sold at market and the skins to furriers for trimming gowns, hats and gloves. In the latter days of warrening the meat was sent to the London and the larger towns by train.

The industry prospered until 1891 when that winter the famous 'great blizzard' wiped out many of the warren's rabbits. Rabbit populations recovered enough to allow commercial warrening to continue for another 64 years. In 1954 an epidemic of myxomatosis eradicated around 99% of the rabbit numbers. This was followed a year later by the 1955 Rabbit Clearance legislation which was the final nail in the coffin of Dartmoor warrens.

There is also a rather confused tradition that the rabbit was the symbol of Dartmoor Tinners however recent thinking is that in fact the symbol is of three hares and not rabbits.

There are still plenty of wild rabbits on the moor and a few years ago there used to be (maybe still is) a small colony of black rabbits around the Bellever tor area, I would imagine these were pet rabbits that had been released into the wild.

Dartmoor Rabbit Cider Pot

Ingredients

2lb (0.90 kg) wild rabbit joints (supermarket rabbit 'ull do' at a pinch)

4 rashers streaky bacon sliced into lardons (unsmoked)

2 ozs (56 gms) butter

1 tsp plain flour

6 'chipples' (spring onions)

4 ozs (113 gms) field mushrooms

1 bay leaf

¾ pint (439ml) dry Devonshire Cider

Salt and Pepper

Method

Trim rabbit joints and soak overnight in cold salted water. Drain, rinse and dry before use. Heat butter in a large pan and fry for 10 minutes. 5 minutes into the cooking of the rabbit add the bacon pieces and cook for the remaining 5 minutes. Take out and place in the bottom of an oven proof casserole dish. Sprinkle with flour. Trim and diagonally slice the spring onions, wash and slice the mushrooms. Scatter mushroom and spring onions over the meat, season to taste and add the bay leaf. Pour over the cider. Cover and cook in the centre of a preheated oven 350°/gas mark 4 for 2 hours or until the rabbit is tender. Toss out the bay leaf, serve with wholegrain mustard mash potatoes and crusty bread with more Devon cider.