Things To Do near Hamel Down Cross
Broad Barrow, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 1 mile away)
Numerous cairns and barrows run along the spine of the vast Hamel Down. Broad Barrow sits on the highest ground 532 metres above sea level. The views up top are awesome. It's a particularly impressive place when the heather and gorse flower purple and yellow in early Autumn. A barrow is a mound o...
Grey Wethers and Blue Jug, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 1 mile away)
'The stream on the eastern side of the hill forms the boundary between the common lands of Manaton and Widecombe, and this is drawn from its head to Hameldon Cross, the space between the two being marked by a couple of bondstones, the lower one being called Blue Jug, and the other the Grey Wethe...
Hameldown Tor, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 1 mile away)
Grimspound is an English Heritage site located in a dip between Hamel Down and Hookney Down towards the heart of Dartmoor National Park. Two tors stand guard over the prehistoric settlement. To the north west is Hookney Tor. To the south east is Hameldown Tor. The views from the cairn and trig point...
Single Barrow, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 1 mile away)
The Dartmoor expert William Crossing writes 'this tumulus was opened in 1873 by the late Mr. C. Spence Bate, and was found to consist of earth with the exception of a low hedge of stones which encircled it, and a low cairn in the centre. About six feet from the latter a small heap of burnt human...
Hamel Down, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 1 mile away)
Drive along the A30 that skirts the northern boundary of Dartmoor National Park and you'll see the unmistakable dome of Cosdon Hill topped by Cosdon Beacon. Further south, towards the heart of the National Park is the equally vast Hamel Down topped by a tor, barrows and its own beacon. The views fro...
Grimspound (English Heritage), Postbridge, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 1 mile away)
There are a number of amazing facts about the prehistory of Dartmoor National Park.* It has the greatest concentration of Bronze Age sites in Britain. It's home to the longest stone row in the world. It has 60% of England's stone rows. It's home to more than 5000 hut circles or ancient homes. Despit...
Two Barrows, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 1 mile away)
There's a display cabinet in Postbridge National Park Visitor Centre which contains a replica of the Hameldon Dagger or Hamel Down Dagger. The display reads: 'Hameldon dagger. In 1872 the original dagger was found with a burial of burnt human bones in a cairn or barrow at Hameldon. It cons...
Berry Pound, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 1 mile away)
'On the Widecombe side of the little stream, which runs through a hollow, is the enclosure known as Berry Pound ... The area covered is very much smaller than that occupied by Grim's Pound, and the vallum is low and not of great width'.
Hamel Down RAF Memorial, North Bovey, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 1 mile away)
At the northern end of Hamel Down, where the moor drops down to Natsworthy, is a memorial to a RAF bomber that crashed after a raid in March 1941 during the Second World War. The memorial is by the side of a path that cuts across the moors to/from English Heritage's ancient settlement Grimspound....
Challacombe Valley and Farm, Postbridge, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 1 mile away)
This beautiful valley sits between Hamel Down to the east and Challacombe Down to the west. At the top of the valley are Headland Warren Farm, Hookney Tor and English Heritage's Grimspound. At the bottom of the valley, by Challacombe, the land flattens out into an area of farmland leading down t...
Challacombe Medieval Strip Fields, Postbridge, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 1 mile away)
Stand at English Heritage's Grimspound or Hookney Tor and look south west and you'll see weathered strips of farmland on the side of a steep hill. These are Challacombe Medieval Strip Fields. A local information board states that 'the narrow strip fields (lynchets) which you can see running...
Challacombe Medieval Hamlet, Postbridge, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 1 mile away)
Dartmoor's most famous deserted medieval settlement sits below Hound Tor towards the eastern side of the National Park. An English Heritage site, it attracts plenty of visitors and bus loads of school kids learning about Dartmoor's past. Clearly, it's not the only deserted medieval settlement on Dar...
Hameldown Beacon, Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 1 mile away)
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a beacon as 'a fire or light set up in a high or prominent position as a warning, signal, or celebration’. There is a chain of beacons on Dartmoor running from the edge of the north moor down to the edge of the south moor. Hameldown Beacon is, roughly spe...
Hookney Down, Moretonhampstead, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 1 mile away)
This is an area of moorland between, roughly speaking, Hookney Tor and Hameldown Tor and King Tor on the edge of the high moor near English Heritage's Grimspound. It's particularly beautiful in late summer when the heather flowers. It runs into the vast whale's back of moorland that is Hamel Down...
Hookney Tor, Postbridge, Dartmoor National Park (approx. 1 mile away)
English Heritage's Grimspound sits in a saddle of moorland below two tors. Hameldown Tor is to the south east. The superb stacks of granite that form Hookney Tor are to the north west. Hookney Down pushes east to King Tor and is beautiful when covered in heather in late summer. Headland Warren Farm...