Dartmoor Traditions

“The little granite church upholds Four pinnacles like holy hands, A missioner proclaiming God To ancient unbelieving lands. Long time it dared the indifferent hills Childlike, half frightened, all alone, Lest chink of matin bell offend The mother of its quarried stone. Now it is proven and at peace, Yet …

Whilst browsing through an old book of 1875 I came across the following eyewitness account of the ancient tradition of ‘riding to water’ which took place in the Dartmoor village of Lydford. “We spent the morning with our friends, and early in the afternoon retraced our steps to Lydford. As …

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. The ‘rite’ took place on May Day …

A farmer’s lot is not an easy one as there is always work to be done somewhere and nothing demonstrates this better than ‘Plough Monday’. Not that long ago the success of the harvest would mean the difference between having food on the winter table or not. So it is …

No matter whether the old year had been kind to folk or if it was one best forgotten they have always celebrated the transition from one year to the next. Many of the customs and traditions have centred around either attracting good fortune for the coming year or not doing …

If the astro-archaeologists are to be believed then man has been celebrating Midsummer’s Day on Dartmoor for around 4,000 years. It was also the time of the Summer Solstice which in simple terms is when the earth is at a stage of its orbit where the northern hemisphere is most …

“He who eats goose on Michaelmas day; Shan’t money lack or debts pay.” The feast of St. Michael and All Angels otherwise known as Michaelmas Day arrives on the 29th of September. This is one of the four Quarter Days of the yearly calendar that marked the changing seasons and …

Down through the centuries ‘May Day’ has always been a significant day in the calendar with celebrations held in most of the Dartmoor towns and villages. The roots of May Day can be found deep into the pagan beliefs in the form of Beltane which  occurs from the 30th of …

The Prologue. ‘Tis the last Sunday of March, ’tis clock-change day and therefore it must be the day of the Letterboxer’s Spring Meet. This prestigious event is held in the village hall at Lee Moor, previous venues have been the prison officers social club at Princetown, the Plume and Feathers …

There was a tradition that once took place on Shrove Tuesday called ‘Lent Crocking’, this was particularly popular in the area around Okehampton. Basically what would happen is that bands of children would call at houses and chant songs in return for which they would expect gifts of flour, eggs …