DARTMOOR NATIONAL PARK

Dartmoor is a National Park in the centre of the English county of Devon. It covers 368 square miles (953 km2).

The granite upland dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history, and the landscape is both dramatic, and bleak. The rolling moorland is capped with hundreds of exposed granite hilltops (known as tors), and provides rich and diverse habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The highest point is High Willhays, 621 m above sea level. The entire area is rich in antiquities.

Dartmoor differs from some other National Parks in England and Wales, in that since a 1985 Act of Parliament much of it has been designated as 'Access Land', with no restrictions on where walkers can roam. There are still footpaths in these areas, but they are for guidance and convenience - they do not have to be kept to, and in fact footpaths in these sections of the Park are generally not waymarked. On larger scale - i.e., 1:25,000 - Ordnance Survey maps of Dartmoor, Access Land is edged in purple for easy reference.

This is not connected with the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which has established similar rights in other rural parts of the country. Dartmoor is largely unaffected by this legislation because of its existing arrangements.

However, parts of Dartmoor have been used as a military firing range for over 200 years. Today, the Ministry of Defence uses three areas of the northern moor, totalling 10,871 hectares (41.9 sq miles), or just over 11 per cent of Dartmoor National Park. Red and white posts mark the boundaries of these military areas, which are shown on Ordnance Survey maps.

Dartmoor's Access Land, incidentally, is still privately owned land. Much of it, in fact, is owned by the Duke of Cornwall, a title held under a charter of Edward III by the heir to the throne of England, better known as the Prince of Wales. Other parts of the Park can, of course, still be accessed via the usual network of footpaths and bridleways.

The Park was featured on the TV programme Seven Natural Wonders as the top natural wonder in South West England.


PRE-HISTORY OF DARTMOOR

The majority of the prehistoric 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 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.

The nature of the soil, which is highly acidic, means that no organic remains have survived. However, by contrast, the high durability of the natural granite means that their homes and monuments are still to be found in abundance, as are their flint tools.

Numerous menhirs (more usually referred to locally as standing stones or longstones), stone circles, kistvaens, cairns and stone rows are to be found on the moor. The most significant sites include:

• Beardown Man, near Devil's Tor - isolated standing stone (3.5m high, said to have another 1m below ground).

• Challacombe, near the prehistoric settlement of Grimspound - triple stone row.

• Drizzlecombe, east of Sheepstor village - stone circles, rows, standing stones, kistvaens and cairns.

• Grey Wethers, near Postbridge - double circle, aligned almost exactly north south.

• Laughter Tor, near Two Bridges - standing stone (2.4m high) and two double stone rows (one 164m long).

• Merrivale, between Princetown and Tavistock - includes a double stone row (182m long, 1.1m wide, aligned almost exactly east-west), stone circles and a kistvaen.

• Scorhill, west of Chagford - circle (26.8m in circumference) and stone rows.

• Shovel Down, north of Fernworthy reservoir - double stone row (approx 120m long).

There are also an estimated 5,000 hut circles still surviving today, despite the fact that 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 6ft (1.8m) 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.


THE HISTORICAL PERIOD

The climate worsened over the course of a thousand years from around 1000 BC, so that much of high Dartmoor was largely abandoned by its early inhabitants.

It was not until the early medieval 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. 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 the notorious Dartmoor Prison, which was originally built both by, and for, Napoleonic prisoners of war. The prison has a (now misplaced) reputation for being escape-proof, both due to 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 once mighty Dartmoor tin-mining industry, and farmhouses long since abandoned.

Indeed the industrial archaeology of Dartmoor is a subject in its own right.


DARTMOOR IN MYTHS AND LITERATURE

Dartmoor, an eerie place even in high summer, abounds with myths and legends.

The moor is reputedly the haunt of pixies, a headless horseman, a mysterious pack of 'spectral hounds', and a large black dog. During the Great Thunderstorm of 1638, Dartmoor was even said to have been visited by the Devil.

Many landmarks have ancient legends and ghost stories associated with them, such as the mysterious Jay's Grave, the ancient burial site at Childe's Tomb, and the oddly shaped rockpile called Bowerman's Nose.

A few stories have emerged in recent decades, such as the 'hairy hands', that are said to attack travellers on the B3212 near Two Bridges. Several motorists have claimed that the hands materialised in front of them, grasped the wheel and forced their vehicle off the road.

Dartmoor has inspired a number of artists and writers, such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in The Hound of the Baskervilles, Eden Phillpotts, Beatrice Chase, and the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould.


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