There are several Dartmoor legends which tell of fabulous hoards of gold hidden in the ancient Bronze Age cairns and kistvaens   that dot the moor, indeed several of them have names which allude to such treasure; The Gold Box, The Crock of Gold, The Money Box and The Money Pit. …

‘High on a hill stands a lonely cross...’, and as far as Dartmoor crosses go there is none that is located higher than Hameldon Cross who sits at a lofty 1,732 feet (524m). Many experts agree that the old cross is no longer standing at its original location as it …

‘A 700-year-old stone cross discovered at a medieval settlement may have been an early “advert” reminding Christians to attend church, experts claim.’ The Daily Telegraph – 31st December 2009 Nothing startling with the above headline apart from the next line which read: ‘Archaeologists found the artefact in a remote part …

I think enough time has now elapsed to tell the story of ‘The Grimspound Mystery’. Back in 2008 I recieved the following email: ‘Hi on Saturday 13th me and my father went up to the old Grimspound settlement on Dartmoor to do some Metal Detecting after about 10 minutes I …

Walk a short way up the tiny Grims Lake stream and you will arrive at a large area enclosed by a circular wall which immediately suggests a settlement of sorts. This is ‘Grimspound’, a very evocative name if ever there was one but unfortunately the place-name is only a few …

Walk up the valley of the Langcombe and you will eventually come to a low, irregular circle of stones inside which sits a kistvaen. This is the sinister sounding ‘Grim’s Grave’ whose name shadows its origins. If you read the early writers such as Page you will be led to …

‘Such is the situation of the circles called the grey wethers, below Sittaford Tor, in one of the wildest and most solitary parts of the moor. Each of these consisted originally of twenty-five stones, of which nine remain erect in one, and seven in the other: the rest lie half …

Whilst thumbing through Burnard’s book – Dartmoor Pictorial Records I came across a chapter that I had never really took much notice of before. It is entitled, ‘The Great Triangle’ and opens like this: ‘Draw a straight line on the six-inch Ordnance map sheet CXII. N.E. from Sheeps Tor to …

Silently reposing in the shadow of the great dome of Cosdon lies one of Dartmoor’s enigmatic prehistoric features which is locally known as ‘The Graveyard’ or ‘The Cemetery’. Hemery writes of this feature; ‘On the elevated plain is an impressive stone row, rare in being triple,… The monument is known …

There is always a lot coverage and debate concerning Bronze Age activity on Dartmoor but you hear very little about the Iron Age. Is it possible that some settlement sites were occupied right through from the Bronze to the Iron Age. In later times the occupation type may have changed …