Tag Archives: Dartmoor

When walking on Dartmoor it won’t take very long to come across a leat, in the modern landscape it may appear as a gently flowing channel of water or simply as a shallow, dry ditch. Nobody to my knowledge has been brave enough to estimate the miles of leats that …

I have heard on occasions that Hog’s Pudding is the ‘Devonshire haggis’ which I find totally incomprehensible. It looks nothing like haggis and it sure as hell tastes nothing like haggis. Granted it is a large sausage and it has some magical ingredients but unlike the haggis they do not …

When you hear talk of the Dartmoor Drifts people are either discussing a bad winter or a practice that has occurred for centuries, this page concerns the latter instance. I suppose a cowboy would describe a drift as a ’round-up’ for it was an occasion when cattle and ponies were …

Today if you drive down any Dartmoor road you will meet vans and lorries delivering the many necessities of life either to the villages and towns or from the various business on the moor. There is nothing more frustrating than getting stuck behind such a vehicle especially on the steep …

The County or ‘C’ Stones of Dartmoor are often overlooked as a feature of Dartmoor roads. They are always found near the major bridges of the moor and originally would have consisted of a pair of stone pillars incised with the letter ‘C’ which denoted the word ‘County’. Today many …

‘The Clappers of Dartmoor‘ sounds very much it should be followed by the “Bells of St. Martin’s” but in this instance it refers to a type of bridge found on the moor and in other upland areas of Britain. One thing Dartmoor is not lacking is rivers, streams and leats …

Allspice, Barum Beauty, Beech Bearer, Beef Apple, Bickington Grey, Billy Down Pippin, Bowden’s Seedling, Brown’s Apple, Butterbox, Devon Crimson, Devonshire Redstreake, Devonshire Striped, Devonshire Whitesour, Docker’s Devonshire, Ellis Bitter, Endsleigh Beauty, Fair Maid of Devon, Farmer’s Glory, Golden Bittersweet, Hollow Core, Johnny Voun, Limberland, Listener, Lucombe’s Pine, Lucombe’s Seedling, Malor, …

‘Hath not the diuell (Devil) hys Chapell close adioning God’s Church?‘ – Nash 1593 It has been said that there was at one time a church house in every ancient parish of this country and by 1961 G. W. Copeland had identified at least 64 in Devon, (Copeland, 1961, p119). …

Walk up amongst the heather on a hot summer’s day and the moor will literally buzz with the noise of bees busily collecting pollen. With such an abundance it is hardly surprising that Dartmoor folk fully utilised this resource and that the bee has found itself firmly embedded in tradition …

Having recently just completed a webpage on the ‘Pits of Dartmoor‘ it does seems logical to follow it with a page on the Beams and Gerts of Dartmoor. Mainly due to the fact that both beams and gerts began life as pits before they actually formed. I must admit it …