Whilst thumbing through John Chudleigh’s oft neglected book – An Exploration of Dartmoor’s Antiquities (1987, p.43), I came across the following passage: “Two tall granite stones on the Down above the bridge will strike our attention – one is 6 feet, the other 8 feet high, set up at the …

“Great Mistor near the centre stands, Looming above the dreary lands; Here heathery wastes, and there the mires, Surround for miles the rocky spires; O’er hill and dale and wavy plain The eye will seek for bounds in vain.” Rev. E. W. L. Davies – 1863 As Dartmoor tors go …

“A wagon gay and horses four, Are standing here against your door, Five-and-twenty sacks of corn, Waiting to be upward bourn.” This is not a story about gruesome happenings at an ancient stone or of merrymakers being petrified for enjoying themselves on the Sabbath. This is all about what can …

I bet more people have driven through Merrivale without knowing they have done so than those that did. Nobody could have driven from Princetown to Tavistock without wincing at the huge ‘bite’ taken out of the hillside above Merrivale. That gaping wound was known as Tor Quarry and in itself …

Meldon Pool is not a naturally formed body of water it is a flooded disused limestone quarry, the limestone being used for building and for burning in the nearby limekilns. The water was known to have been over 130ft (39.5m) deep and clearly a dangerous place. It was here in …

Probably one thing that anyone would not associate with Dartmoor would be the production of glass but during the 20th century there was a glass factory at Meldon. But why at Meldon? The simple answer to that question is the geology of the area which consists of dykes of Aplite …

An old miner called Sam Gaskett once lived in the small village of Meavy on Southern Dartmoor. All his working life had been spent at the mines and although there was never a constant demand for work he enjoyed the job. The miners were paid by the quality of the …

Just south of the small village if Meavy are a small group of landscape features all with the name of Marchant’s. These are snuggled at the foot of Lynch Hill under the open ground of Lynch Common. There is Marchant’s Bridge, Marchant’s Cross and Marchant’s Ford all suggesting that they …

Manga, now there’s a name to conjure with, today people usually associate the word with a Japanese genre of comic books but far more interesting are the Manga’s of Dartmoor. You have Manga; Brook, Clapper, Head, Hill, Hole, House, Mill and what this page is about – Manga Rock. It …

“Lydford Bridge has been compared to the Devil’s Bridge in Cardiganshire. It spans a dark chasm through which struggles the almost invisible river, seventy feet below. Than this romantic gorge no fairer spot exists in the West Country, and few more alarming to a head other than strong. To within …