Tag Archives: Dartmoor

Dartmoor is infamous for it’s quaking bogs and impenetrable mists and fogs but not that long ago there was another peril – dust – or to use the Devonshire vernacular ‘pillum’. This was the scourge of many a town and village street, especially during the hot and windy summertime. The …

When travelling along the road from Lydford to Brentor you will be on what at onetime was an old turnpike road belonging to what was the Tavistock Trust who oversaw the road from Tavistock over Dartmoor. About 350 metres beyond the second turning for North Brentor you will pass a …

“Water colours by F. J. Widgery are an acquisition to any gallery. He has devoted himself whole-heartedly to the charms of the West of England scenery. His sensitive colouring and “live” feeling are revealed in beautiful pieces of work.” – 1927. If asked who is my favourite Dartmoor artist of …

Beatrice Chase was a well known if not eccentric Dartmoor authoress who liked to be known as “My Lady of the Moor”. Over the years she made numerous trips to the elusive Cranmere Pool and in 1929 she enlisted the aid of the famous Dartmoor guiding family – the Perrots. …

Possibly one of the most popular inns on Dartmoor is the Warren House Inn located above the old Vitifer mines. Just past the inn are some old foundation walls of which used to be the early predecessor of the inn known as the Newhouse Inn. This inn was burnt down …

  A vital part of any harvest on Dartmoor was storing the crop until it was needed for processing or feed and bedding. Due to the small size of many farmsteads it was not possible in the barns and linhays so the answer was to build ‘ricks’. Numerous crops would …

If you look on a modern Ordnance Survey map at grid reference SX 7708 8925 you will see the enigmatic and singular name of “Peregrine”. Was this once or still is the haunt of the Peregrine falcon? Now look at the Ordnance Survey map from 1964 below and the mystery …

William Weldon Symington owned a factory at Bowden Steam Mills in Market Harborough where they manufactured pea flour, tinned groats and barley and packet of Scotch oatmeal. In 1870 he purchased Skaigh woods which became known as the Rockside Estate and included an eighty eight acre pheasantry and rabbit warren. …

  The Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis), also known as the ‘Bog Onion’ is Dartmoor’s largest fern and indeed the largest European fern – hence its name. This fern can grow anything between two and four metres high. During the summer months the fronds are a dark green and comprise of …

There is nothing better for Dartmoor nostalgia than to read words and imagine descriptions and voices from the dim and distant past. Here are a few insights in the life of a ‘youth’ written in 1890 and it’s also a great recommendation for the healing powers of the fresh and …