Three Hares Trail, Chagford, Dartmoor National Park
The Two Moors Way, the Dartmoor Way and the Granite Way are examples of well known, official walking and multi-use trails in Dartmoor National Park. The Lych Way and the Abbot's Way are examples of lesser known trails that cut across the moors. The Three Hares Trail is a superb new initiative by Eleanor Ludgate of Ludgate Fine Art first publicised in 2013* that helps visitors discover the ancient symbol of three hares that's carved in bosses in the roofs of many Dartmoor churches.
Before you leave home to explore the Three Hares Trail, we'd recommend spending time on the local photographer Chris Chapman's website to which we provide an external link. Chapman photographs the three hares symbols in Dartmoor churches and beyond. The website is a great places to start as it can be difficult to see some of the bosses in detail when you are in the churches. We'd then suggest you browse the Devon's Nature In Art website. Again, we provide an external link to the site.
In Dartmoor National Park, running clockwise, you'll find the three hares bosses in:
Chagford
Cheriton Bishop
Bridford
North Bovey
Widecombe in the Moor
Ilsington
Tavistock
Lydford
South Tawton
Throwleigh
Note that there are plenty of other Devon churches with three hares bosses but those are outside the geographic boundary of this site. They also appear in other buildings. For example, from memory, we've seen them in the National Trust's Cotehele House when adding content to our UK travel site PictureTheUK.
*We first noticed signs appearing in Chagford during 2013. The three hares in the main photo to this listing appear in the sign for Ludgate Fine Art Gallery in Chagford. We've used the image because the sign is in a public space. At the time of writing, the gallery was exhibiting the exquisite work of Eleanor Ludgate that depicts hares, churches and three hares bosses. If you have further information about the trail, artist or gallery that you'd like published then we'd love to add it here. Copyright remains with the owner of any images provided. Our only aim is to get more people visiting and discovering Dartmoor.
External Links
Photo Gallery
