A pleasant two miles by turf and road, and we cross a bridgeless stream and skirting the base of Pew Tor, reach Sampford Spiney, a hamlet of but few houses, the most noticeable an old farm near the church, whose pinnacled tower rises above a little grove of trees. The …

The’ hill where bounds abound‘ is just one of the accolades that Ryder’s Hill can boast, another being that at 515m it is the highest hill on Southern Dartmoor. Ryder’s Hill could also be described as the frontier between fen and moor as to the east lie the typical Dartmoor …

Situated near to Widecombe in the Moor this famous logan stone (a naturally trigged boulder that can be rocked with relative ease) has a rather unique, well unique amongst logan stones, story. Unlike the majority of logan stones this one can only be moved by divine intervention as this story …

Roos Tor, one might be forgiven for thinking it is something out of a Winnie the Pooh book but as far as I know Roo never stepped foot on Dartmoor. According to the place-name society the first recorded name for the tor was Rulestorre which appeared in a document of …

I tramp o’er the moors in the fresh morning air, The breeze in my face, so bracing and rare. Deep golden gorse amidst heather I saw, Whilst climbing “up over” high Rippon Tor. The track through the bracken on velvety turf, Grey rocks, lichen-cover’d, and red-brown earth, Wild shaggy ponies …

“Halshanger, where an army rifle-range of red brick, gaunt and hideous, leaves on the landscape a blot exacerbated by the weeds and creepers now sprouting from it.” Hemery, p.688. “This monstrous construction, as high as two houses, must be quite the most unbelievable building in the National Park.”, Hayward, p.256. …

Over the years there has been much debate regarding the military’s use of Dartmoor as a training area and regardless of one’s views there is one undeniable benefit, namely the ‘Ring Road’ or ‘Loop Road’. This has not only given military access to the remoter parts of the North Moor …

It will come as no surprise that the term; ‘everything is not black and white‘ aptly applies to Dartmoor – sometimesit’s red. Having now compiled web pages on Dartmoor place-names that contain the descriptive element ‘black’ and ‘white’ surely ‘red’ cannot be left out? When compared with ‘black’ and ‘white’ …

Probably one of the most mysterious and enigmatic places on Dartmoor is the prison at Princetown, it holds a certain morbid fascination for most visitors. The dark, grey granite walls have for two centuries kept French and American war prisoners along with a multitude of criminals securely confined behind them. …

Back in the early 1800s Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt had amongst others, a dream that Princetown would have a prison along church to serve the growing community. The prison was to house prisoners of war from the Napoleonic war and construction of this project began in 1806. However, it was several …