Dartmoor is an

upland Upland or Uplands may refer to: Geography *Hill, an area of higher land, generally *Highland, an area of higher land divided into low and high points *Upland and lowland, conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level *I ...

area in southern Devon, England. The

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally ...

and surrounding land has been protected by

National Park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...

Period of geological history. The landscape consists of moorland capped with many exposed granite hilltops known as

tor Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia Sc ...

s, providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The highest point is High Willhays, above sea level. The entire area is rich in antiquities and archaeology. Dartmoor National Park is managed by the Dartmoor National Park Authority, whose 22 members are drawn from

Devon County Council Devon County Council is the county council administering the English county of Devon. Based in the city of Exeter, the council covers the non-metropolitan county area of Devon. Members of the council (councillors) are elected every four years to ...

, local district councils and Government. Parts of Dartmoor have been used as military firing ranges for over 200 years. The public is granted extensive land access rights on Dartmoor (including restricted access to the firing ranges) and it is a popular tourist destination.

Physical geography

Geology

Dartmoor includes the largest area of granite in Britain, with about at the surface, though most of it is under superficial peat deposits. The granite (or more specifically

adamellite Quartz monzonite is an intrusive, felsic, igneous rock that has an approximately equal proportion of orthoclase and plagioclase feldspars. It is typically a light colored phaneritic (coarse-grained) to porphyritic granitic rock. The plagioclas ...

) was intruded at depth as a

pluton In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

into the surrounding sedimentary rocks during the

period, probably about 309 million years ago. It is generally accepted that the present surface is not far below the original top of the pluton; evidence for this includes partly digested

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

xenoliths, contamination of the granite and the existence of two patches of altered sedimentary rock on top of the granite. A considerable gravity anomaly is associated with the Dartmoor pluton as with other such plutons. Measurement of the anomaly has helped to determine the likely shape and extent of the rock mass at depth.

Tors

Dartmoor is known for its

s – hills topped with outcrops of bedrock, which in granite country such as this are usually rounded boulder-like formations. More than 160 of the hills of Dartmoor have the word ''tor'' in their name but quite a number do not. However, this does not appear to relate to whether or not there is an outcrop of rock on their summit. The tors are the focus of an annual event known as the Ten Tors Challenge, when around 2400 people aged between 14 and 19 walk for distances of 56, 72 or 88 km (35, 45 or 55 mi) between ten tors on many differing routes. The highest points on Dartmoor are on the northern moor: High Willhays, , () and Yes Tor, , () The highest points on the southern moor are Ryder's Hill, , (), Snowdon , (), and an unnamed point, at (), between Langcombe Hill and Shell Top. The best-known tor on Dartmoor is Haytor (called Hey Tor by William Crossing), , (). For a more complete list see List of Dartmoor tors and hills.

Rivers

The high ground of Dartmoor forms the catchment area for many of Devon's rivers. As well as shaping the landscape, these have traditionally provided a source of power for moor industries such as tin mining and quarrying. The moor takes its name from the River Dart, which starts as the

East Dart The East Dart River is one of the two main tributaries of the River Dart in Devon, England. Its source is to the west of Whitehorse Hill and slightly south of Cranmere Pool on Dartmoor. It flows south and then south-west for around 9 km to ...

and West Dart and then becomes a single river at Dartmeet. It leaves the moor at

Buckfastleigh Buckfastleigh is a market town and civil parish in Devon, England situated beside the Devon Expressway ( A38) at the edge of the Dartmoor National Park. It is part of Teignbridge and, for ecclesiastical purposes, lies within the Totnes Deanery. ...

, flowing through Totnes below where it opens up into a long ria, reaching the sea at

Dartmouth Dartmouth may refer to: Places * Dartmouth, Devon, England ** Dartmouth Harbour * Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States * Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada * Dartmouth, Victoria, Australia Institutions * Dartmouth College, Ivy League university i ...

. Other rivers flowing from Dartmoor include the

Teign Teigne (also : Teign, Tègne, Teeñ, Tin or Tañ in Wolof language) was the title of the monarch of the pre-colonial Kingdom of Baol, now part of present-day Senegal. In Wolof, "Teigne" means the support that is placed on the head to carry som ...

, the

Taw Taw, tav, or taf is the twenty-second and last letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Tāw , Hebrew Tav , Aramaic Taw , Syriac Taw ܬ, and Arabic ت Tāʼ (22nd in abjadi order, 3rd in modern order). In Arabic, it is also gives ri ...

, the Tavy, the Avon, and the

Lyd Lyd may refer to: * LYD, the abbreviation for a Libyan dinar * PKP class Lyd2 The PKP class Lyd2 (manufacturer designation L30H) is a narrow gauge diesel-hydraulic locomotive built by FAUR (former 23 August Works) in Romania, for use initially ...

. Some of the rivers in Dartmoor have been dammed to create reservoirs for drinking water, including the River Avon and the South Teign River (Fernworthy Reservoir).

Bogs

Much more rain falls on Dartmoor than in the surrounding lowlands. As much of the national park is covered in thick layers of peat (decaying vegetation), the rain is usually absorbed quickly and distributed slowly, so the moor is rarely dry. In areas where water accumulates, dangerous

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s or mires can result. Some of these, topped with bright green moss, are known to locals as "feather beds" or "quakers", because they can shift (or 'quake') beneath a person's feet. Quakers result from sphagnum moss growing over the water that accumulates in the hollows in the granite. Aune head mire3

The vegetation of the bogs depends on the type and location. Blanket bog, which forms on the highest land where the rainfall exceeds a year, consists mainly of cotton-grass (''

Eriophorum ''Eriophorum'' (cottongrass, cotton-grass or cottonsedge) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cyperaceae, the sedge family. They are found throughout the arctic, subarctic, and temperate portions of the Northern Hemisphere in acid bo ...

'' species), sedges ('' Carex'' and ''

Rhynchospora ''Rhynchospora'' (beak-rush or beak-sedge) is a genus of about 400 species of sedges with a cosmopolitan distribution. The genus includes both annual and perennial species, mostly with erect 3-sided stems and 3-ranked leaves. The achenes bear a ...

''), ''

Bog Asphodel ''Narthecium ossifragum'', commonly known as bog asphodel, Lancashire asphodel or bastard asphodel, is a species of flowering plant in the family Nartheciaceae. It is native to Western Europe, found on wet, boggy moorlands up to about in eleva ...

'' and ''

Common Tormentil ''Potentilla erecta'' (syn. ''Tormentilla erecta'', ''Potentilla laeta'', ''Potentilla tormentilla'', known as the (common) tormentil, septfoil or erect cinquefoil ) is a herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the rose family (Rosaceae). Descri ...

'', with '' Sphagnum'' thriving in the wettest patches. The valley bogs have lush growth of rushes, with sphagnum,

cross-leaved heath ''Erica tetralix'', the cross-leaved heath, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, native to western Europe, from southern Portugal to central Norway, as well as a number of boggy regions further from the coast in Central Europe ...

, sundews and several other species. Some of the bogs on Dartmoor have achieved notoriety. Fox Tor Mires was supposedly the inspiration for Great Grimpen Mire in Conan Doyle's novel '' The Hound of the Baskervilles'', although there is a waymarked footpath across it. Sabine Baring-Gould, in his ''Book of Dartmoor'' (1900) related the story of a man who was making his way through Aune Mire at the head of the River Avon when he came upon a top-hat brim down on the surface of the mire. He kicked it, whereupon a voice called out: "What be you a-doin' to my 'at?" The man replied, "Be there now a chap under'n?" "Ees, I reckon," was the reply, "and a hoss under me likewise."

Climate

Along with the rest of South West England, Dartmoor has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than locations at similar height in the rest of England. At Princetown, near the centre of the moor at a height of , January and February are the coldest months with mean minimum temperatures around . July and August are the warmest months with mean daily maxima not reaching . Compared with Teignmouth, which is on the coast about to the east, the average maximum and minimum temperatures are and lower respectively, and

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...

is at least five times as frequent.Webb 2006, p. 30 On the highest ground, in the north of the moor, the

growing season A season is a division of the year marked by changes in weather, ecology, and the amount of daylight. The growing season is that portion of the year in which local conditions (i.e. rainfall, temperature, daylight) permit normal plant growth. Whil ...

is less than 175 days – this contrasts with some 300 days along most of the south coast of the county. Rainfall tends to be associated with Atlantic depressions or with convection. In summer, convection caused by solar surface heating sometimes forms shower clouds and a large proportion of rainfall falls from showers and thunderstorms at this time of year. The wettest months are November and December and on the highest parts of the moor the average annual total rainfall is over . This compares with less than in the lower land to the east around the Exe Estuary, which is in the

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...

of the moor. Due to the influence of the

Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Current, North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida a ...

snowfall is not common, though due to its high altitude it is more vulnerable to snowfall than surrounding regions.Webb 2006, p. 31 Between 1961 and 1990

Met Office The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelope E ...

data shows that there was an average of 20 days when snow fell on the moor, and over 40 days a year with hail, which is as high as anywhere else in the country. This results when cold polar maritime air that has travelled over a large expanse of warmer ocean is forced to rise over high country. When average temperatures at Princetown between 1961 and 2000 are compared, the average annual temperature in the decade 1990–2000 was up by and the late winter temperature increased by .Webb 2006, pp. 32–33

Wildlife

Because of Dartmoor's height and granite geology, it experiences strong winds and has acidic soils. In consequence it has been subject to very little intensive farming, and all these factors combine to form the basis of the important ecosystems found here. The landscape is one of granite with peat bogs overlying it. While the moors topped with granite tors are the most iconic part of Dartmoor's landscape, only about half of Dartmoor is actually moorland. Equally important for wildlife are the blanket bogs, upland heaths and the oak woodlands which are all of global importance. Dartmoor is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) with four habitats (''Northern Atlantic wet heaths with Erica tetralix''; ''European dry heaths''; ''Blanket bog''s and ''Old sessile oak woods with Ilex and Blechnum in the British Isles'') being listed as primary reasons for the selection of Dartmoor as a SAC. In addition the area has a population of the southern damselfly which is also a primary reason for its selection along with populations of

Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are ...

and

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

being qualifying reasons. Wisht

Wistman's Wood is one of the old sessile oak woods which contribute to the listing of Dartmoor as a SAC and is possibly a surviving fragment from the earliest Neolithic woodland clearances. It is home to exceptional epiphytic mosses, liverworts and lichens. Nearly 50 species of moss and liverwort are found in the wood along with 120 types of

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.brown cobblestone lichen and goldspot lichen and many rare lichen grow on rocks exposed by mining which are rich in

heavy metals upright=1.2, Crystals of osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">lead.html" ;"title="osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead Heavy metals are generally defined as ...

. On the upland heaths heather (

ling Ling may refer to: Fictional characters * Ling, an ally of James Bond's from the film ''You Only Live Twice'' * Ling, a character in the ''Mulan'' franchise * Ling, a playable character from the mobile game '' Mobile Legends: Bang Bang'' * Ling ...

) and bell heather are common along with western gorse. In dry grassy areas

tormentil ''Potentilla'' is a genus containing over 300Guillén, A., et al. (2005)Reproductive biology of the Iberian species of ''Potentilla'' L. (Rosaceae).''Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid'' 1(62) 9–21. species of annual, biennial and perenni ...

, heath bedstraw and heath milkwort are all common.

Cross-leaved heath ''Erica tetralix'', the cross-leaved heath, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, native to western Europe, from southern Portugal to central Norway, as well as a number of boggy regions further from the coast in Central Europe ...

and

purple moor grass ''Molinia caerulea'', known by the common name purple moor-grass, is a species of grass that is native to Europe, west Asia, and north Africa. It grows in locations from the lowlands up to in the Alps. Like most grasses, it grows best in acid so ...

grow in wetter spots and in the boggy areas many different species of sphagnum and other mosses can be found along with liverworts,

Hare's-tail Cotton-grass ''Lagurus'' is a genus of Old World plants in the Poaceae, grass family, native to the Mediterranean Basin and nearby regions, from Madeira and the Canary Islands to Crimea and Saudi Arabia. It is also naturalized in Australia, New Zealand, the A ...

round-leaved sundew ''Drosera rotundifolia'', the round-leaved sundew, roundleaf sundew, or common sundew, is a carnivorous species of flowering plant that grows in bogs, marshes and fens. One of the most widespread sundew species, it has a circumboreal distribution ...

and

bog asphodel ''Narthecium ossifragum'', commonly known as bog asphodel, Lancashire asphodel or bastard asphodel, is a species of flowering plant in the family Nartheciaceae. It is native to Western Europe, found on wet, boggy moorlands up to about in eleva ...

and in the valley bottoms, many different sedges,

bogbean ''Menyanthes'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Menyanthaceae containing the single species ''Menyanthes trifoliata''. The North American form is often referred to as ''M. trifoliata'' var. ''minor'' Michx. It is known ...

and

pale butterwort ''Pinguicula lusitanica'', commonly known as the pale butterwort, is a small butterwort that grows wild in acidic peat bog areas along coastal atlantic western Europe from western Scotland and Ireland south through western England and western Fra ...

all grow. A large variety of bird species can be found on Dartmoor including ones that have declined elsewhere in the UK, such as skylark and common snipe, or are even rare nationally, such as the ring ouzel and the cuckoo. There are internationally important populations of meadow pipit and

stonechat ''Saxicola'' (Latin: ''saxum'', rock + ''incola'', dwelling in.), the stonechats or chats, is a genus of 15 species of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World. They are insectivores occurring in open scrubland and grassland with scatte ...

. Woodland birds include a number of migrant species, like the pied flycatcher, the wood warbler or the

common redstart The common redstart (''Phoenicurus phoenicurus''), or often simply redstart, is a small passerine bird in the genus ''Phoenicurus''. Like its relatives, it was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family, (Turdidae), but is now known to be ...

. Mammals found here include otters, hazel dormice and nearly all of the UK's 16 bat species. Three rare species, the barbastelle, and the greater and lesser horseshoe bats are of particular importance. The upper reaches of the rivers, are spawning grounds for Salmon and trout and

Palmate newt The palmate newt (''Lissotriton helveticus'') is a species of newt found in Western Europe, from Great Britain to the northern Iberian peninsula. It is long and olive or brown with some dark spots. The underside is yellow to orange, and the thr ...

s, frogs and toads breed in the numerous small pools. Two shrimp species can be found on Dartmoor: fairy shrimp that can be found in temporary pools and in underground streams very rare cave shrimp. The world's largest land slug, the Ash black, is also found. Reptiles include

common lizard The viviparous lizard, or common lizard, (''Zootoca vivipara'', formerly ''Lacerta vivipara''), is a Eurasian lizard. It lives farther north than any other species of non-marine reptile, and is named for the fact that it is viviparous, meaning it ...

s and adders. The farmland in the wet valleys around the edge of the moors is the most important habitat for insects including the marsh fritillary butterfly, southern damselfly, narrow-bordered bee hawkmoth and bog hoverfly. Areas of bracken are home to the high brown fritillary and pearl-bordered fritillary. Insects found in the heathlands include the emperor moth,

green hairstreak The green hairstreak (''Callophrys rubi'') is a small butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. Etymology The genus name '' Callophrys'' is a Greek word meaning "beautiful eyebrows", while the species Latin name ''rubi'' derives from ''Rubus'' (bramb ...

and the

bilberry bumblebee ''Bombus monticola'', the bilberry bumblebee, blaeberry bumblebee or mountain bumblebee, is a species of bumblebee found in Europe. Description The bilberry bumblebee is rather small and compact, with a broad head and a short tongue. The quee ...

. The old oak woodlands have a distinctive group of insects including the

blue ground beetle ''Carabus intricatus'', the blue ground beetle, is a species of ground beetle found in Europe. It is a large beetle ( in length), with a metallic purple or blue and roughly surfaced elytra; the second pair of wings (which are used by beetles for ...

and Heckford's pygmy moth, a species found nowhere else in the world.

History

Pre-history

The majority of the

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

remains on Dartmoor date back to the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. Indeed, Dartmoor contains the largest concentration of Bronze Age remains in the United Kingdom, which suggests that this was when a larger population moved onto the hills of Dartmoor. The large systems of Bronze Age fields, divided by

reave A reave is a long and generally straight boundary wall made of stone that was built during the Bronze Age. Reaves were identified as prehistoric features on Dartmoor in Devon, England in 1972, and although they had been described by antiquarians ...

s, cover an area of over of the lower moors. The climate at the time was warmer than today, and much of today's moorland was covered with trees. The prehistoric settlers began clearing the forest, and established the first farming communities. Fire was the main method of clearing land, creating pasture and

swidden Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed vegeta ...

types of fire-fallow farmland. Areas less suited for farming tended to be burned for livestock grazing. Over the centuries these Neolithic practices greatly expanded the upland moors, and contributed to the acidification of the soil and the accumulation of peat and

s. After a few thousand years the mild climate deteriorated leaving these areas uninhabited and consequently relatively undisturbed to the present day. The highly acidic soil has ensured that no organic remains have survived, but the durability of the granite has meant that the remains of buildings, enclosures and monuments have survived well, as have flint tools. A number of remains were "restored" by enthusiastic

Victorians In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian ...

and, in some cases, they have placed their own interpretation on how an area may have looked.

Standing stones

Numerous prehistoric menhirs (more usually referred to locally as

standing stone A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright rock (geology), stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. T ...

s or longstones),

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The be ...

s, kistvaens,

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

s and

stone row A stone row or stone alignment is a linear arrangement of upright, parallel megalithic standing stones set at intervals along a common axis or series of axes, usually dating from the later Neolithic or Bronze Age.Power (1997), p.23 Rows may be in ...

s are to be found on the moor. The most significant sites include: * Upper Erme stone row is the longest on Dartmoor and in fact in the world at * Beardown Man, near Devil's Tor – isolated standing stone high, said to have another below ground. * Challacombe, near the prehistoric settlement of Grimspound — triple stone row. *

Drizzlecombe Drizzlecombe or Thrushelcombe is an area of Dartmoor in the county of Devon, England, containing a number of Bronze Age stone rows, cairns and menhirs. There are three principal stone rows each with an associated barrow and terminal menhi ...

, east of

Sheepstor Sheepstor is a village, civil parish and former manor on the western side of Dartmoor in the county of Devon, England. In 2001, its population was 53, down from 95 in 1901. For administrative purposes the parish is grouped with the parishes of ...

village – stone rows, standing stones, kistvaens and cairns. * Grey Wethers, near Postbridge — double circle, aligned almost exactly north south. * Laughter Tor, near Two Bridges — standing stone high and two double stone rows, one long. * Merrivale, between Princetown and Tavistock — includes a double stone row long, wide, aligned almost exactly east–west, stone circles and a kistvaen. *

Scorhill Scorhill (pronounced ''Scorill'') Stone Circle is now the commonly known name for Gidleigh Stone Circle or Steep Hill Stone Circle, one of Devon's biggest and most intact stone circles, situated on Gidleigh Common near the village of Gidleigh in ...

(pronounced 'Scorill'), west of

Chagford Chagford is a market town and civil parish on the north-east edge of Dartmoor, in Devon, England, close to the River Teign and the A382, 4 miles (6 km) west of Moretonhampstead. The name is derived from ''chag'', meaning gorse or broom, and ...

— circle, in circumference, and stone rows. *

Shovel Down Shovel Down is an area of Dartmoor in Devon that is covered in megaliths including the remains of several stone rows, the Fourfold Stone Circle, and several standing stones. Stone rows The Shovel Down stone row complex () occupies the norther ...

, north of Fernworthy reservoir — double stone row approximately long. *

Yellowmead Down Yellowmead stone circle near Sheepstor in Devon, England, is a Bronze Age concentric stone circle consisting of four rings of stones set within one another. The largest is 20 metres wide and the smallest, 6 metres. It is located on Yellowmead Dow ...

, a quadruple concentric stone circle and stone rows.

Hut circles and kistvaens

There are also an estimated 5,000 hut circles still surviving although many have been raided over the centuries by the builders of the traditional dry stone walls. These are the remnants of Bronze Age houses. The smallest are around in diameter, and the largest may be up to five times this size. Some have L-shaped porches to protect against wind and rain; some particularly good examples are to be found at Grimspound. It is believed that they would have had a conical roof, supported by timbers and covered in turf or thatch. There are also numerous kistvaens, Neolithic stone box-like tombs.

The historical period

The climate became wetter and cooler over the course of a thousand years from around 1000 BC, resulting in much of high Dartmoor being largely abandoned by its early inhabitants. It was not until the early Mediaeval period that the weather again became warmer, and settlers moved back onto the moors. Like their ancient forebears, they also used the natural granite to build their homes, preferring a style known as the longhouse — some of which are still inhabited today, although they have been clearly adapted over the centuries. Many are now being used as farm buildings, while others were abandoned and fell into ruin. The earliest surviving farms, still in operation today, are known as the

Ancient Tenements The Ancient Tenements are the oldest surviving farms in Dartmoor, England, established during the 14th century and possibly earlier. In Mediaeval Britain, grazing rights within the boundaries of the Forest of Dartmoor were strictly limited. Howev ...

. Most of these date back to the 14th century and sometimes earlier. Some way into the moor stands the town of Princetown, the site of Dartmoor Prison, which was originally built by Isbell Rowe & Company, Plymouth, for

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

from the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. The prison has an incorrect reputation for being escape-proof, due to both the buildings themselves and its physical location. The Dartmoor landscape is scattered with the marks left by the many generations who have lived and worked there over the centuries – such as the remains of the Dartmoor tin-mining industry, and farmhouses long since abandoned. Indeed, the industrial archaeology of Dartmoor is a subject in its own right.

Myths and literature

Dartmoor is known for its myths and legends. It is reputedly the haunt of pixies, a

headless horseman The Headless Horseman is a mythical figure who has appeared in folklore around the world since the Middle Ages. The figure is traditionally depicted as a rider upon horseback who is missing his head. Description Depending on the legend, the Hor ...

, a mysterious pack of " spectral hounds", and a large black dog, among others. During

the Great Thunderstorm The Great Thunderstorm of Widecombe-in-the-Moor in Dartmoor, Kingdom of England, took place on Sunday, 21 October 1638, when the church of St Pancras was apparently struck by ball lightning during a severe thunderstorm. An afternoon service was t ...

of 1638, the moorland village of

Widecombe-in-the-Moor Widecombe in the Moor () is a village and large civil parish in Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. Its church is known as the Cathedral of the Moors on account of its tall tower and its size, relative to the small population it serves. It ...

was said to have been visited by the Devil. Many landmarks have ancient legends and

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

stories associated with them, such as the allegedly haunted Jay's Grave, the ancient burial site of

Childe's Tomb Childe's Tomb is a granite cross on Dartmoor, Devon, England. Although not in its original form, it is more elaborate than most of the crosses on Dartmoor, being raised upon a constructed base, and it is known that a kistvaen is underneath. A ...

, the rock pile called

Bowerman's Nose Bowerman's Nose is a stack of weathered granite on Dartmoor, Devon, England. It is situated on the northern slopes of Hayne Down, about a mile from Hound Tor and close to the village of Manaton at . It is about high and is the hard granite core ...

, and the

stone crosses In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's ...

that mark former mediaeval routes across the moor. A few stories have emerged in recent decades, such as the "

hairy hands The Hairy Hands is a ghost story/legend that built up around a stretch of road on a remote area of Dartmoor in the English county of Devon, which was purported to have seen an unusually high number of motor vehicle accidents during the early 20th ...

", that are said to attack motorists on the B3212 near Two Bridges; and the "Beast of Dartmoor", a supposed big cat. Dartmoor has inspired a number of artists and writers, such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in '' The Hound of the Baskervilles'' and ''

The Adventure of Silver Blaze "The Adventure of Silver Blaze", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the first from the 12 in the cycle collected as ''The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes''. It was first published in ''The Strand Magazi ...

'',

R. D. Blackmore Richard Doddridge Blackmore (7 June 1825 – 20 January 1900), known as R. D. Blackmore, was one of the most famous English novelists of the second half of the nineteenth century. He won acclaim for vivid descriptions and personification of the ...

Eden Phillpotts Eden Phillpotts (4 November 1862 – 29 December 1960) was an English author, poet and dramatist. He was born in Mount Abu, India, was educated in Plymouth, Devon, and worked as an insurance officer for ten years before studying for the stage a ...

Beatrice Chase Beatrice Chase (5 July 1874 – 3 July 1955) was the pen name for a British writer known during the first half of the 20th century for her Dartmoor-based novels. Her real name was Olive Katharine Parr, and she claimed to be directly descended fro ...

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

Rosamunde Pilcher Rosamunde Pilcher, OBE (''née'' Scott; 22 September 1924 – 6 February 2019) was a British writer of romance novels, mainstream fiction, and short stories, from 1949 until her retirement in 2000. Her novels sold over 60 million copies worldw ...

, Gilbert Adair and the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould. In 1820, the newly formed Royal Society of Literature offered a prize for a poem on the subject of Dartmoor, this being won by Felicia Hemans. In ''

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the fourth novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. It follows Harry Potter, a wizard in his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and W ...

'', the fictional 1994 Quidditch World Cup final between Ireland and Bulgaria was hosted on the moor.

Ownership and access

Over half of Dartmoor National Park (57.3%) is private land; the Forest of Dartmoor being the major part of this, owned by the

Duke of Cornwall Duke of Cornwall is a title in the Peerage of England, traditionally held by the eldest son of the reigning British monarch, previously the English monarch. The duchy of Cornwall was the first duchy created in England and was established by a ro ...

. The

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

owns 14% (see below), 3.8% is owned by water companies (see Dartmoor reservoirs), 3.7% by the National Trust, 1.8% by the Forestry Commission and 1.4% by Dartmoor's

national park authority A national park authority is a special term used in Great Britain for legal bodies charged with maintaining a national park of which, as of October 2021, there are ten in England, three in Wales and two in Scotland. The powers and duties of all suc ...

. About 37% of Dartmoor is common land. Dartmoor differs from some other National Parks in England and Wales, in that since the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 much of it has been designated as Access Land, which, although it remains privately owned, has no restrictions on where walkers can roam. In addition to this Access Land, there are about of

public rights of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

on Dartmoor, and many kilometres of permitted footpaths and bridleways where the owners allow access. Because of the 1985 Act, Dartmoor was largely unaffected by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which established similar rights in other rural parts of the country, but in 2006, this Act opened up much of the remaining restricted land to walkers.

Use by the Ministry of Defence

There is a tradition of military usage of Dartmoor dating back to the Napoleonic Wars. Today, a large British Army training camp remains at Okehampton — also the site of an airbase during the Second World War. The

(MoD) uses three areas of the northern moor for manoeuvres and live-firing exercises, totalling , or just over 11% of the National Park. Red and white posts mark the boundaries of these military areas (shown on Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale maps). Flagpoles on many tors in and around the ranges fly red flags when firing is taking place. At other times, members of the public are allowed access. Blank rounds may also be used, but the MoD does not notify the public of this in advance. Some "challenge" and charitable events take place with assistance of the military on Dartmoor including the long established Ten Tors event and the more recent

Dartmoor Beast The Dartmoor Beast is an annual charitable fundraising challenge run in aid of the charity ''Cancer Climber Association (CCA) UK''. The challenge takes the form of a daytime navigation exercise held in the Dartmoor National Park in the county of ...

. Dartmoor's fictional use as an MoD centre for animal testing called Baskerville was referenced in the BBC drama ''Sherlock'' episode "

The Hounds of Baskerville "The Hounds of Baskerville" is the second episode of the second series of the BBC crime drama series '' Sherlock'', which follows the modern-day adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and was first broadcast by BBC One on 8 January 2012. It was writt ...

". The disused

Rippon Tor Rifle Range Rippon Tor Rifle Range is a disused rifle range from World War II on Dartmoor, Devon, England. The range is situated southeast of the 473 m high Rippon Tor, near the village Widecombe-in-the-Moor, and close to the road between Halshanger and Col ...

was built to train soldiers during the Second World War, and remained in use until its closure in 1977.

Preservation

Throughout human history, the landscape has been exploited for industrial purposes. In recent years, controversy has surrounded the work of industrial conglomerates

Imerys Imerys S.A. is a French multinational company which specialises in the production and processing of industrial minerals. It is headquartered in Paris and is a constituent of the CAC Mid 60 index. Imerys has operations in over 40 countries and ...

and Sibelco (formerly Watts Blake Bearne), who have used parts of the moor for china clay mining. Licences were granted by the

British Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

but were recently renounced after sustained public pressure from bodies such as the Dartmoor Preservation Association. The British government has made promises to protect the integrity of the moor; however, the cost of compensating companies for these licences, which may not have been granted in today's political climate, could prove prohibitive. The military use of the moor has been another source of controversy, as when training was extended in January 2003. The

received 1,700 objections before making the decision. Objectors said that Dartmoor should be an area for recreation, and that the training disturbs the peace. Those who objected included the Open Spaces Society and the Dartmoor Preservation Association. During her lifetime,

Sylvia Sayer Sylvia Olive Pleadwell Sayer, Lady Sayer (6 March 1904 – 4 January 2000), was a passionate conservationist and environmental campaigner on behalf of Dartmoor, an area of mostly granite moorland in Devon in the south-west of England. She was cha ...

was another outspoken critic of the damage which she perceived that the army was doing to the moor.

Towns and villages

Dartmoor has a resident population of about 33,000, which swells considerably during holiday periods with incoming tourists. The largest settlements within the National Park are Ashburton (the largest with a population of about 3,500),

, Moretonhampstead, Princetown, Yelverton,

Horrabridge Horrabridge is a village in West Devon, England with a population of 2,115 people in 2006, down from 2,204 in 1991. It is located approximately north of the city of Plymouth and south of Tavistock and is within the Dartmoor National Park. ''Ho ...

South Brent South Brent is a large village on the southern edge of Dartmoor, England, in the valley of the River Avon. The parish includes the small hamlets of Aish, Harbourneford, Lutton, Brent Mill, and many scattered farmhouses. It is five miles (8&n ...

Christow Christow is a village and civil parish in the Teignbridge district of Devon, England, about southwest of Exeter. The village is in the Teign Valley, just off the B3193 road that links Chudleigh and Dunsford. Christow is on the eastern edge of ...

, and

. For a full list, expand the ''Settlements of Dartmoor'' navigational box at the bottom of this page.

Landmarks

Avon Dam Reservoir Over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, several reservoirs and dams were built in the area now covered by Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England to supply drinking water to the rapidly growing towns in the surrounding lowlands. With its ...

– reservoir popular with walks and trout fishing *

– a tor said to be shaped like a nose * Brentor Church – remote church high on crag at western edge of moor *

Buckfast Abbey Buckfast Abbey forms part of an active Benedictine monastery at Buckfast, near Buckfastleigh, Devon, England. Buckfast first became home to an abbey in 1018. The first Benedictine abbey was followed by a Savignac (later Cistercian) abbey cons ...

– abbey near

Burrator Reservoir Burrator Reservoir is a reservoir on the south side of Dartmoor in the English county of Devon. It is one of a number of reservoirs and dams that were built over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries in the area now covered by Dartmoor Nati ...

– late Victorian reservoir *

Canonteign Falls Canonteign Falls is a waterfall in the historic tything of Canonteign in the Teign Valley and Dartmoor National Park near Chudleigh, South Devon, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with ...

– second highest waterfall in England * Castle Drogo – Edwardian faux castle built by

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

on a crag above Teign Gorge, Drewsteignton *

– ancient burial site *

Cosdon Hill Cosdon Hill, also called Cosdon Beacon, or Cawsand Beacon, is one of the highest hills on Dartmoor, in Devon, England. It has numerous traces of prehistoric occupation. Description Cosdon is a large, rounded hill that rises to . The first writte ...

– prominent hill, northern extremity of moor, site of beacon fire for invasion warning * Cranmere Pool – original letterbox site and location of the legend of Cranmere Binjie * Crazywell Pool – artificial lake * Dartmeet – meeting point of East and West Dart * Dartmoor Prison – a prison in the middle of Dartmoor near the village of Princetown * Devonport Leat – man-made water channel * Duck's Pool – location of a memorial to local writer William Crossing * Fernworthy Dam & Reservoir – granite-faced concrete dam and lake in Fernworthy Forest, near Chagford *

Fingle Bridge Fingle Bridge is a 17th-century stone arch bridge carrying an unclassified road over the River Teign near Drewsteignton, within Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. This packhorse bridge has three arches and the two central piers are ...

– a 17th-century crossing of the River

near

Great Links Tor Great Links Tor is a prominent tor on the north-western flank of Dartmoor, Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon ...

– dominant tor on north west scarp of moor * Grey Wethers – pair of ancient stone circles * Grimspound – Bronze Age settlement * Haytor Granite Tramway – early tramway with stone rails; ran from quarries at Haytor to Stover Canal * Haytor Rock – prominent tor and viewpoint between Bovey Tracey and Widecombe *

Hay tor Haytor, also known as Haytor Rocks, Hay Tor, or occasionally Hey Tor, is a granite tor on the eastern edge of Dartmoor in the English county of Devon. Location The tor is at grid reference , near the village of Haytor Vale in the parish of Ils ...

– less prominent outcrop behind Haytor rock when viewed from the south. Popular spot for rock climbing due to its large cliff face and relative ease of access. * High Willhays – highest point on Dartmoor * Hound Tor – rugged tor with remains of Iron Age village * Jay's Grave – burial site * Lydford Gorge – very deep and narrow gorge with waterfalls * Meldon Viaduct and reservoir – wide and high concrete dam and Victorian iron bridge which itself is wide and high *

North Hessary Tor transmitting station Standing on the summit of North Hessary Tor in Devon, England is an FM radio and television transmitter which uses as aerial a high guyed mast. History It was built by BICC for the BBC in 1955 when a transmitter was needed to introduce 405 ...

– a TV mast near Princetown which can be seen for many km. *

– disused rifle range * Redlake Tramway – disused railway *

Spitchwick Spitchwick is an historic estate situated within the parish of Widecombe-in-the-Moor, Devon. The present 19th century mansion house known as Spitchwick Manor is situated four miles north-west of Ashburton, the gardens of which are open to the ...

– a swimming spot where the

River Webburn A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

joins the River Dart * Tavistock Canal – 19th-century canal * Two Bridges – 18th-century

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of tra ...

* Warren House Inn – highest inn in south west England, rumoured to have a fire which hasn't gone out in hundreds of years. *

Widecombe in the moor Widecombe in the Moor () is a village and large civil parish in Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. Its church is known as the Cathedral of the Moors on account of its tall tower and its size, relative to the small population it serves. It ...

, village in a valley in southern Dartmoor with a church rumoured to be struck by lightning in the medieval times. * Wistman's Wood – remote copse of stunted oaks in valley of West Dart near Two Bridges * Yes Tor – tor next to High willhays, forming the second highest hill in Dartmoor.

Leisure activities

Until the early 19th century Dartmoor was not considered to be a place worth visiting: in the 1540s John Leland wrote in his ''Itinerary'' that "Dartmore is muche a wilde Morish and forest Ground", and even by 1789 Richard Gough's opinion was that it is a "dreary mountainous tract". At the turn of the 19th century John Swete was one of the first people to visit Dartmoor for pleasure and his journals and watercolour paintings now provide a valuable historical resource. The oldest leisure pursuit on the moor is hill walking. William Crossing's definitive ''Guide to Dartmoor'' was published in 1909, and in 1938 a plaque and letterbox in his memory were placed at Duck's Pool on the southern moor. Parts of the Abbots Way,

Two Moors Way The Two Moors Way is a long-distance trail mostly in Devon, UK, first established in 1976. It links Dartmoor and Exmoor and has been extended to become a Devon Coast-to-Coast trail. History The Two Moors Way was the brainchild of Joe Turner ...

and the Templer Way are on Dartmoor. Letterboxing originated on Dartmoor in the 19th century and has become increasingly popular in recent decades. Watertight containers, or 'letterboxes', are hidden throughout the moor, each containing a visitor's book and a rubber stamp. Visitors take an impression of the letterbox's rubber stamp as proof of finding the box and record their visit by stamping their own personal stamp in the letterbox's logbook. A recent related development is geocaching. Geocache clues make use of

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

coordinates, whereas letterboxing clues tend to consist of grid references and compass bearings. Whitewater kayaking and

canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other acti ...

are popular on the rivers due to the high rainfall and their high quality, though for environmental reasons access is restricted to the winter months. The River Dart is the most prominent meeting place, the section known as the Loop being particularly popular. Other white water rivers are the Erme, Tavy, Plym and

Meavy Meavy is a small village, civil parish and former manor in the English county of Devon. Meavy forms part of the district of West Devon. It lies a mile or so east of Yelverton. The River Meavy runs near the village. For administrative purposes ...

. Other activities are

rock climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

on the granite tors and outcrops, some of the well-known venues being Haytor, Hound Tor and The Dewerstone; horse riding, which can be undertaken on any of the common land; cycling (but not on open moorland); and angling for wild

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

sea trout Sea trout is the common name usually applied to anadromous (sea-run) forms of brown trout (''Salmo trutta''), and is often referred to as ''Salmo trutta'' morpha ''trutta''. Other names for anadromous brown trout are sewin (Wales), peel or peal ...

and salmon—although much of the river fishing on Dartmoor is privately owned, permits are available for some stretches.

Visitor centres

The park's main visitor centre is located in Princetown and features exhibits about Dartmoor's history, culture and wildlife, as well as changing displays of local art. The visitor centres located in Postbridge and Haytor feature information, maps, guidebooks and items for exploring the area.

Transport

Bus

Dartmoor is served by the following bus services: * 359 Moretonhampstead – Exeter (Country bus) * 271 Newton Abbot – Bovey Tracey – Widecombe (Summer Saturdays only) (Country bus) * 173 Moretonhampstead – Chagford – Exeter (Dartline) * 178 Newton Abbot – Bovey Tracey – M'tonhampstead – Chagford – Okehampton (Country bus) * 98 Tavistock – Princetown – Postbridge (Oakleys) Other bus services operate in Dartmoor on a less frequent basis. GWR operate direct trains from Exeter to Okehampton.

References

Sources

* Crossing, William Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor, the 1912 edition reprinted with new introd. by Brian Le Messurier. Dawlish: David & Charles, 1965. * * * * *

External links

Dartmoor National Park Authority
* {{authority control National parks in England Hills of Devon Special Areas of Conservation in England Duchy of Cornwall Geology of Devon Geography of Devon Parks and open spaces in Devon Protected areas established in 1951 Common land in England Natural regions of England Moorlands of England Sherlock Holmes