On the 26th of March 1941 the Western Morning News published the following report under the headline of ,”Vanished from Dartmoor.” It read: “Stanley Thurston the man who boasted that no English goal could hold him, escaped from Dartmoor Prison yesterday morning and was still at large up to a …

If you happen across a Dartmoor pony drift today you will see that in the main it’s an operation that consists of a combination of horsepower and mechanised vehicles such as quad bikes and trail bikes. However in days gone by there were a couple of vast differences, firstly the …

  If ever you happen to be strolling along a Dartmoor lane any time between May and September and happen to notice a small yellow flower growing in a hedgerow then there is a chance that you have just come across Herb Bennet. To be precise the Latin name for …

  Moor Beer – now there’s a sentiment that many folk will appreciate especially when the beer and ales are actually brewed on Dartmoor. Having sampled many of them in-situ so to speak I can verify that the art of brewing is still alive and kicking on the moor. For …

  Mary Tavy is a small and tranquil moorland village nestled snugly in a small valley above the River Tavy but sadly in the August of 1905 things were far from peaceful. The events over that August Bank Holiday are probably one of the most tragic and pitiful in the …

“Is my team ploughing, That I was used to drive And hear the harness jingle When I was man alive?” Ay, the horses trample, The harness jingles now; No change though you lie under The land you used to plough.” A. E. Housman Even today I think there is something …

  No visit to Dartmoor is complete without a visit to the Museum of Dartmoor Life which is conveniently located in the centre of Okehampton. Here you can step back through millennia of Dartmoor’s history by way of exhibits which show how they lived, where they worked, how they played …

“Lower Meavy Bridge was once a picturesque ivy-covered stone arch bridge but was replaced by an iron construction in 1909, and was from then known as Iron Bridge.” Pauline Hemery, The Book of Meavy, p.21. Dartmoor has many fine examples of early bridges all of which carried ancient routes used …

  In the August of 1908 Amos Shillibeer was ploughing one of his fields when the point of one of the plough shares became caught in a large metal ring which was buried in the soil. Some forty years later the Rev. Hugh Breton and Amos’ son George went to …

  It was a dark winter’s night when all on the moor was coated by a thick frost which sparkled in the still moonlight, the small inn was unusually quite with just a few local packmen and waggoners sat around the smoky peat fire. It was on such nights when …