Historical Sites in Dartmoor National Park
Trowlesworthy Settlements, Shaugh Prior, Dartmoor National Park
The Upper Plym Valley in Dartmoor National Park is known for its concentration of Bronze Age and medieval sites. It was clearly an important and populated area. The high number of settlements are recorded on the Ordnance Survey Explorer OL28 'Dartmoor' map. There are some fine examples of settlement...
Moretonhampstead 1 and 2 The Almshouses, Moretonhampstead, Dartmoor National Park
One of the most impressive buildings in Dartmoor National Park, Moretonhampstead 1 and 2 The Almshouses are owned by the National Trust. If you're looking for historical information, visit the Moretonhampstead History Society website to which we provide an external link. 'Recorded as 'new' i...
Mardon Down Giant's Grave, Moretonhampstead, Dartmoor National Park
According to Phil Newman in his excellent 'The Field Archaeology of Dartmoor', 'it was Dean Jeremiah Milles of Exeter, President of the Society of Antiquaries, who first undertook archaeological fieldwork on Dartmoor barrows in 1752 on Mardon Down (Grinsell 1978, 87), and the literature of the early...
Challacombe Medieval Hamlet, Postbridge, Dartmoor National Park
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...
Standon Down Settlement, Mary Tavy, Dartmoor National Park
In his book 'The Field Archaeology of Dartmoor', Phil Newman writes: 'Some hut settlements [on Dartmoor] are unenclosed, but have connecting walls between individual huts. This is a different approach to the arrangements of space around the houses, and shows no apparent need for an outer enclosur...
Fernworthy Assycombe, Chagford, Dartmoor National Park
Fernworthy Forest is a big place. It's surprisingly easy to get lost in its maze of forestry tracks and uniform conifers. As such, the forest is split into a northern and southern section. Fernworthy Assycombe is to the south and is named after Assycombe Hill that peaks at 497 metres above sea level...
Fernworthy Froggymead, Chagford, Dartmoor National Park
Fernworthy Forest is a big place. It's surprisingly easy to get lost in its maze of forestry tracks and uniform conifers. As such, the forest is split into a northern and southern section. Fernworthy Froggymead is to the north as marked on the Ordnance Survey Explorer OL28 'Dartmoor' map.
Sourton Tors Ice Works, Sourton, Dartmoor National Park
Walk the moorland around Sourton Tors when the sun is low in Winter or at the end of the day and earthworks like a sheet of corrugated iron are particularly noticeable. These earthworks were part of Sourton Ice Works or the Ice Pits. The Dartmoor expert Eric Hemery describes this venture in...
Teignhead Farm (Ruins), Chagford, Dartmoor National Park
Whilst chatting to a local farmer on Thornworthy Tor, we were told that two farms lay in ruins or were submerged by water in Fernworthy Forest and Fernworthy Reservoir. Another ruined farm lies just west of the forest near Sittaford Tor, Quintin's Man and the source of the North Teign River. This is...
Whitehorse Hill Cist, Okehampton, Dartmoor National Park
Whitehorse Hill is a remote, shallow-domed hill on Dartmoor National Park's north plateau. A cist is a prehistoric burial chest made from slabs of granite. In 1999, a cist was discovered on Whitehorse Hill. In 2011, this burial chest was excavated. It was the first excavation of a prehistoric burial...
Fernworthy Cairn Circle and Cist, Chagford, Dartmoor National Park
Superb example of a burial chamber, or cist, on the edge of Fernworthy Reservoir. We've positioned Fernworthy Cairn Circle and Cist on Google maps so zoom in on the 'Satellite' setting to see its location. To visit, we'd recommend starting from the car park at the entrance to Fernworthy F...
Fernworthy Hut Circles, Chagford, Dartmoor National Park
Fernworthy Forest and the surrounding moorland are home to a high number of prehistoric sites. Highlights include Fernworthy Stone Circle and Hurston Ridge/Chagford Common Stone Row. The most common prehistoric sites you'll see are hut circles. There's a particularly good example just off...
New Waste, Cornwood, Dartmoor National Park
Whilst you can no longer park at New Waste, it still offers great access to the Stall Moor area of Dartmoor which includes the world's longest stone row in addition to arguably the finest stone row in the National Park near Stalldown Barrow. We've positioned New Waste on Google maps. Zoom in on t...
Battle of Lydford Battlefield, Lydford, Dartmoor National Park
In 997 AD, as recorded in the 'The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle', a Viking army sailed up the River Tamar 'until they came to Lydford, and burned and killed everything that they met, and burned down Ordwulf's monastery at Tavistock, and brought indescribable war-booty with them to the ships.' The...
Coffin Stone, Dartmeet, Dartmoor National Park
Study the Ordnance Survey Explorer OL28 'Dartmoor' map and you'll come across lots of evocative place names. There's the Heap of Sinners and Deadman's Bottom, Mount Misery and the Coffin Stone. All these names tell fascinating stories about Dartmoor's past. Once, the dead were carried in coffins...