Headland Warren and Headland Warren Farm, Postbridge, Dartmoor National Park
Study a map of Dartmoor and you'll see plenty of places named 'warren'. For example, in the south west section of the National Park, Hentor Warren, Ditsworthy Warren, Willings Walls Warren, Legistor Warren and Trowlesworthy Warren are names given to moorland on either side of the River Plym in the Upper Plym Valley. A warren is where a rabbit lives. These warrens were commercial rabbit farms. Rabbit meat fuelled tin miners. Fur was also sold for clothing.
Headland Warren is an old rabbit farm towards the heart of Dartmoor National Park. Today, it's a stunning area of moorland surrounded by historic and prehistoric sites near the extremely popular Warren House Inn which also gets its name from the local rabbit farming industry.
We've positioned Headland Warren and Headland Warren Farm on Google maps so zoom in on the 'Satellite' setting to see their location.
Look on the Ordnance Survey Explorer OL28 'Dartmoor' map and you'll see Headland Warren Farm at the top of Challacombe Valley. Headland Warren was a large area of land used to farm rabbits around those buildings.
Today, when you visit you'll see the remains of walls and fields that contained the rabbits. In addition, you'll walk through a landscape shaped and scarred by tin miners who ate the rabbit meat.
To visit, start from one of the car parking areas along the B3212 between The Warren House Inn and Bennett's Cross. You'll see Birch Tor on the horizon to the east. Headland Warren is the land below that. It runs across to Headland Warren Farm that's located in the next valley. Paths run across the moor to Headland Warren and Headland Warren Farm. These are clearly marked on the Ordnance Survey map.
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