Let me take you back to Princetown on the morning of Tuesday the 4th of June 1907. It’s ten o’clock and Princetown is suddenly engulfed in a shroud of thick Dartmoor fog – nothing new there then. Through this opaque wall of mist can be heard the sound of horse’s …

Old Crockern the ancient deity of Dartmoor is reputed to have warned that; “if you scratch my back then I’ll rip you pockets out.” which basically signalled that there was/is no profit to be made by exploiting Dartmoor’s natural resources. In the cases of numerous Dartmoor mining ventures this certainly …

Bacchanalian rites and pagan sacrifices on Dartmoor, surely not? Licentious and bawdy carousing at Holne, the birthplace of Charles Kingsley, can’t be? Well, sadly it’s was probably true, I say sadly because the ‘Holne Ram Roast’ is/was no longer any of the above. In fact in later years this event …

Take a winter’s day back in 1877 and a good round ramble from Holne and here you have a very evocative narrative of that trek.“A four miles’ drive from Buckfastleigh takes us to that most comfortable of hostelries ‘The Church House’ at Holne. Our coming had been duly notified and …

Today there are still ‘treasures’ to be discovered or rediscovered on Dartmoor. However, before people go grabbing metal detectors etc. I don’t mean gold and valuables. I am referring to pieces of Dartmoor’s history, archaeology and heritage that have suddenly come to light. I would suggest that some of these …

As the song goes – ‘I’m dreaming of a White Christmas‘ and these days it’s a rare event. But back in the good old days when snow, frost and ice was the norm one of the favourite activities was ice skating. Many of the old Christmas cards showed such scenes …

Probably the last place on earth where you would expect to see unearthly happenings occur is a vicarage. But then again anything is possible on mysterious Dartmoor.Back in the days when Queen Victoria sat on the throne and Britannia ruled the waves there was an aged vicar who dwelt in …

Here’s another account of a walk taken some 159 years ago which gives a taste of Dartmoor during that time. No longer will you see inmates of Dartmoor prison guarded by warders with muskets and fixed bayonets. Likewise there is no chance of walking past Trowlesworthy or Ditsworthy  warrens and …

The Old Postman. Here he sits who day by day Tramped his quiet life away; Knew a world but ten miles wide, Cared not what befel outside. Now, his tramping at an end, Has he need of book or friend. Peace and comfort he can find In the laneways of …

  “… passing through a gateway makes a direct descent of the steep, rugged and often very wet Diamond Lane. (This part of the route must surely have called into question the physical fitness of pedestrian monks as well at the surefootedness of palfreys and packhorses!). – Hemery, p.187. As …