“James Perrott, the well known guide, the best living authority on that land of tors, of which he is, indeed, a veritable ‘walking cyclopaedia.” – J. Ll. W. Page 1895. Back in the time when there was no such thing as health and safety, personal injury claims and perceived danger …

“And near hereto’s the Gubbins’ cave; A people that no knowledge have Of law, of God, or men; Whom Caesar never yet subdued, Who’ve lawless liv’d; of manners rude; All savage in their den. By whom, if any pass that way, He dares not the least time to stay, For …

Back in the dark ages almost every tor was home to a fearsome giant. Slowly, one by one they all died either at each others hand or through old age. Until the last living ogre was the largest and fiercest of them all – namely Moran the mighty. Now Moran …

High up the reaches of the Red Brook stands the ruin of a tinners hut known as Garth’s House. This small granite shelter was once his abode. One spring day he set of to his tin sett, on reaching the works he noticed what he initially thought to be a …

Back in 1844 Eliza Bray related the tale of Nicholas Mason the freebooter and according to the Oxford Dictionary a freebooter was/is, ‘a piratical adventurer, a pirate; any person who goes about in search of plunder‘. From that description one would today simply call him a Labour Minister but things …

I will make a bet than any Dartmoor lover has never once thought that just maybe they would love to live in the wilds of Dartmoor, away from everybody and spend their days tramping the moor – I know I have on many occasions. Clearly in this day and age …

It is not surprising that with such a legendary figure as Sir Francis Drake there are many folk stories told about him. Although he did not live on Dartmoor there are quite a few traditions associated with him and the moor. As he was such an heroic figure it is …

Many, many years ago, in fact it was so long ago this story nearly became lost in the pages of Dartmoor’s folklore, there was a small moorland farm. This farm had just been taken over by the last living moorman of his family. He was a young man with a …

Some people today would consider Dartmoor as being a remote place, after all it is described as the ‘Last Wilderness’. But centuries ago it truly was a remote place with little hamlets and farmsteads scatter across its landscape. Due to its many natural resources such as tin, granite, peat etc …

Back in the days of the Druid’s rule lived king Essrus who was a mighty chieftain of the Dumnonni tribe. His settlement was on the hillside of the lofty ‘Hill of Bards’, this was crowned by two granite masses known as the ‘Bardun tors’. Here it overlooked the ‘Wood of …