The Dartmoor Arts

Having recently written a couple of pages on various Dartmoor pony fairs I then came across the following poem. Basically it describes the gathering of the ponies from the moor and imagines what emotions the creatures must have felt having been torn away from their pastures and the fate which …

Over the years there have been numerous guide books written about Dartmoor and if asked to name a few the answers would probably be ‘Crossing’s Guide to Dartmoor’ Hemery’s ‘High Dartmoor’, Jeremy Butler’s ‘Dartmoor Atlases of Antiquities’, Worth’s ‘Dartmoor’, Rowe’s ‘Perambulation of Dartmoor’ and Mike Brown’s ‘Field guides’ to name …

Whenever doing any research on Gidleigh and its surrounding area I always used to consult the ‘Gidleigh – A Dartmoor Village Past and Present’ book. This was jointly written by Tony Grumley-Grennan and Michael Hardy and published in 2000. Then sometime ago I went to find my copy and to …

In The Footsteps Of The Victorians. Aspects of change in the Wrey Valley and surrounding area 1837 – 1901. The Lustleigh Society and Individual Authors – 2018. ISBN 978-0-9957122-1-8 Paperback – 211 pages Short Run Press Ltd, Exeter. Price – £10.00 (plus p. & p.) “In 1837, at the start …

  Dartmoor Ivory – now before anyone wonders, there are not or have there ever been any herds of wild elephants roaming Dartmoor but back in 1925 somebody was making a living from ornaments and jewellery from ‘Dartmoor Ivory’. I recently came across the following article which appeared in the …

Author – Jez Wilkinson Paperback – 192 pages. Publisher – Blackingstone Publishing Publication Date – 1st September 2016 ISBN-10 – 0995498601 ISBN-13 – 078-0995498600 Price – £12 Normally it takes me ages to finish a book as I find that reading is so soporific that I usually fall asleep after …

The Fox’s Prophecy was written in 1871 by D. W. Nash and presented to the then master of the Ledbury Hounds. It the respect of Dartmoor it bears no relation but when Dartmoor is taken as part of the United Kingdom it very much reflects our times. It is eerie …

How often when one is browsing the internet does a stunning photograph of a Dartmoor landscape appear which either makes you think “I wish I’d taken that,” or “wow I must visit that place.”? I would suggest that happens quite often and the chances are that some of those photographs …

Wistman’s Wood There’s eeriness in Wistman’s Wood, Where stealthy shadows slowly creep About the boles of moaning trees. There’s terror where the foaming stream Streaks all the gorge with ghostly light, And creaking willows toss their arms Naked and lean against the flood. There’s mourning on the bleak hillside, And …

THE WINDY POST. Lonely there, betwixt moor and sky, Where great grey clouds go drifting by, And the peewit utters her plaintive cry, The windy post stands silently. A little old cross on the windy heather, Roughly hewn out of granite gray, Fretted and worn by the wind and the …