Dartmoor Traditions

There always have and still are land disputes between neighbouring communities and there have been several notable ones occurring on Dartmoor. Many of these involved various landowners, the Duchy of Cornwall or between rival parishes. Since prehistoric times on Dartmoor such ‘tribal lands’ have been delineated by various landscape features …

  “On the Saturday before Christmas a great cattle market is held here; and on the Saturday after Christmas, is a great holiday-fair, called a ‘Giglet,’ or ‘Giglet Market’; that is, a wife market; at which the most rustic swain, if weary of his bachelorship, is privileged with self-introduction to any …

  Over the centuries fairs have always been an important facet of Dartmoor life, most have been consigned to its memory box but a few still exist today in one form or another. Probably the two most celebrated ones are Widecombe Fair and Tavistock’s Goosey Fair. However, there was another …

  I recently paid a trip to our local ASDA store and was amazed at the extensive range of expensively priced ghoulish paraphernalia laid out temptingly for the youngsters. Thanks to the Americans Halloween has now become an excuse for the shopkeepers to make money and the children to turn …

“Under the arms of a goodly oak tree, There was of swine a large company: They were making a rude repast, Grunting as they crunched the mast, Then they trotted away: for the wind blew high – One acorn they left, no more mote you spy.” There are a couple …

  At one time the annual ‘Harvest Home’ was very much a celebration between local farmers, their workers and neighbours but today, where the tradition is carried on, it has expanded to a community affair in the village or town and anyone who wants to can attend. Below is a …

  Whilst trawling through some nineteenth century newspapers I can across a headline which read – A Dartmoor Wayzgoose,’ what an evocative word. But the big question being what was/is a wayzgoose? Well, it transpired that a Wayzgoose was originally an event provided by a master printer for his employees …

  It is said that; “money does not grow on trees,” which in essence is completely true but there are instances where from appearance it looks as if money does grow on trees.  There are also examples where money seems to be growing from timbers used in old buildings. To …

It makes a refreshing change to write about what hopefully will become a modern-day tradition on and around Dartmoor as opposed to one belonging to the mists of time. In the May of 2017 one hundred ‘otters’ were released on and around Dartmoor. These ‘otters’ were placed in 94 locations …

  I would imagine that ever since the time mankind began to live in settlements there has always been some rivalry between the neighbouring clans. Sometimes this would be fairly light-hearted and with others downright hostile. Part of this inter-tribal exchange would be to give various nicknames to the folk …