Tag Archives: Dartmoor

Here is a case of a typical Dartmoor confusion – I’ve seen Sanduck Cross – which one? The old ancient cross or the road ‘T’ junction called Sanduck Cross? In this particular case the old ancient wayside cross which sits in the hedgerow near Sanduck Farm. To begin with how …

“He voiced his opinion on a day when he and Lawrence were working together on the great fern slopes under the Beacon. There, some weeks before, the bracken had been mown down with scythes, and now the harvest was dry and ready to be stacked for winter litter. They made …

“As we are again on the Moor we may as well descend upon Gidleigh by way of Creaber Pound; not the old structure, which has long since disappeared in newtake walls, but a piece of enclosed common at the foot of the Moor, through which strangely enough, the road passes. …

You are driving over the B3212 road by Shapley Common, its a crisp autumn day, the heather is in full bloom casting a purple hue over the hazy moorland and all of a sudden in the middle of the road you see a shaggy looking cow. Somewhere beneath its furry …

Dinna Clerks, AKA Dinah Clerk – who or more technically what are they? In all reality nothing to get too excited about, they are in fact the names of three fields belonging to or once belonged to West Shallowford which lies to the south-west of Widecombe-in-the-Moor. As can be seen …

“Rolling featureless in a great, rounded mass on the western frontiers of Dartmoor; marked only by the occasional pit or mound, where man has burrowed without success for metal; its mighty back close-coated in ling and heath and the lesser whin, there heaves up Gibbet Hill.” Eden Phillpotts, Gibbet Hill, …

‘Learn a lesson from this dial, Dwell not on the past; Greet the present with a smile, For future cannot last.’ Many will argue that the first use of a sundial began way back in prehistoric time in the form of the stone rows, circles and menhirs which acted as …

  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 …

  “Down the slopes are scattered in wild confusion huge blocks of splintered granite, locally known as ‘clatters’ or ‘clitters.’ Some of these blocks must weigh scores of tons, and the eye is bewildered by their picturesque disorder and varied forms. Frequently the loveliest ferns fill the interstices, and lichens, …

  Today, the small Bellever Youth Hostel does an excellent job of concealing its agricultural past and royal associations. It was only whilst delving through old copies of the Times newspaper that I realised how important the old farm was. Hemery, says very little about the later history of the …