Walking on Dartmoor. Earle John

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      The Parliament of Crockern Tor was also aware of its duty to the rest of the country, for in 1532 they discussed the problems caused by vast quantities of sediment and waste, caused by the tinners’ works on Dartmoor, being carried down the rivers Dart and Plym and silting up the harbours at their mouths.

      But over the years the importance of the tin taxes for the Crown lessened and the power of the Great Court of Crockern Tor decreased and many of the privileges for the tinners were withdrawn. The last tin coinage was in 1838 and by 1896 the stannary courts were abolished. The tin industry in Devon was dead and so were the powers and privileges of the tinners, men who knew that in the early days they could defy the laws of the land because the king depended on them for a large part of the royal income, but in return created their own laws and rules often more severe than common law.

      Farming on Dartmoor is another huge subject that I can only touch on here. Clearly prehistoric man herded his animals on the moor. In the twelfth century the Cistercians from Buckfast Abbey drove their own sheep up onto the moor near the abbey to graze there and indeed travelled across the moor by the Abbots Way (described later) to Tavistock Abbey with their wool.

      I mentioned earlier the Ancient Tenements of Dartmoor which came into being with the Normans. It was the increase in population at this time that made more and more people look for farming land on the higher areas of Dartmoor, and this is clearly the start of farming settlements on the moor as we know them now. Most of the land was owned, as a lot of it still is, by the Duchy of Cornwall, and the tenants had to pay their rates to the Duchy and agree to certain feudal duties.

      Most farmers looked to increase the acreage of their land on Dartmoor by the system called newtakes, which had been operating since well before the 14th century. The average farm on Dartmoor was about 40 acres. This old system of newtakes allowed the farmers on the ancient tenements to enclose and reclaim eight acres of rough moorland every time a new tenant took over a farm.

      The modern Dartmoor farmers of today still have to contend with the harsh conditions faced by the tenants of years ago. Many of the farms are still rented from the Duchy and are occupied by the same family for generations. Cattle, sheep and ponies are still all important; keeping livestock is the way that they make their livings. If the farm has some good enclosed pastures they may keep a herd of Friesians for milk. Lower down, maybe in a sheltered valley, the less harsh climate will allow farmers to grow a few cereals as well as keep dual-purpose cattle, sheep and ponies. A few pigs and chickens, usually managed by the farmer's wife, may all add to the possible income for the typical mixed Dartmoor farm. At the other end of the scale there are a few high moorland farms which might really be called smallholdings which in these hard days are not really economic to run even with the subsidies that are given to hill cattle farmers.

      Riders near Great Mis Tor, see Walk 26

      Hay, of course, is an important crop for all Dartmoor farmers who have large numbers of animals to feed in winter, but with the high rainfall and uncertain summer sun it is not surprising that many now make silage instead of hay.

      Several of the old moorland farms have the word ‘warren’ after their name: Ditsworthy Warren, Huntingdon Warren and there is the Warren House Inn, the third highest pub in Britain, we are told. They were all farms where rabbits were bred commercially, the oldest being Trowlesworthy Warren which dates back to 1272. If you visit the ‘warrens’, which I hope you will, you can often find the remains of the old burrows that were constructed of stones and earth where the rabbits lived and bred. Nets and dogs were used to catch the rabbits and at Ditsworthy Warren you can still see the stone dog kennels made in the walls of the yard behind the farm.

      I need to make passing reference to a few of the other industries that have brought man onto Dartmoor and in all cases have changed the landscape by his exploitation of the resources. Peat-cutting, quarrying, china clay mining and forestry all fall into this category. Of these four, only peat cutting is no longer carried out on Dartmoor on a commercial basis, but the remains of the old workings at Rattlebrook are well worth a visit and there are many large areas near the tinners’ works and mines and the old farms where there is plenty of evidence of the peat cuttings of the past.

      I have not been able to mention all the activities of man such as the moormen, the packhorse routes, the cutting of peat-passes, the building of the prison at Princetown or the Dartmoor crosses but I hope to make up for some of these omissions in the Guide itself. However, I will end with what many consider a highly controversial use of Dartmoor by man and that is the activities of the military.

      Of course it is nothing new and there were military manoeuvres on Dartmoor as far back as the 1860s, and from that time on firing and exercises have taken place on the various ranges that have been created. I need not dwell on the various licences and Bills that make it possible but all of you who walk on Dartmoor have to be aware that on quite a number of days of the year large areas of the north moor are closed for use and that you need to check always in newspapers, local post offices and other centres to make sure that there is no firing taking place; a subject I shall return to later.

      Above and below:Dartmoor Ponies

Legends of Dartmoor

      As man has lived on Dartmoor since prehistoric times and as the landscape itself is often mysterious, it is no wonder that there are many legends and folk tales to be heard. Many of them of course are to explain some of weird features of the moor or to give an explanation to some unaccountable occurrence. Again, as might be expected, many of the stories are linked to the Devil and perhaps the best known comes from my own village Widecombe-in-the-Moor.

      However, this legend starts in the Tavistock Inn, Poundsgate where some of the locals were enjoying a pint on the morning of Sunday, 21 October 1638. They heard the sound of a galloping horse approaching and then suddenly the door burst open and a tall, dark stranger entered. There was something sinister and foreboding about him but the people in the inn shrugged it off as the stranger ordered a tankard of ale. He paid with gold and raised the tankard to his lips. As the beer went down his throat there was a loud sizzling noise and the locals drew back in horror and astonishment. Within a moment the pot was empty and the Devil, for it was surely him, swept out of the bar and the sound of his horse galloping off towards Widecombe could be heard in the silent inn. Later when the landlady opened her till, after drawing a great many pints to calm the nerves of her customers, she discovered that the gold given to her by the stranger had turned to withered, autumnal leaves!

      The scene now shifts to Widecombe church and a young, dissolute tinner called Jan Reynolds who was a heavy drinker and gambler with a weakness for the cards and the girls; something of a ‘no good boyo’! It appears that he had sold his soul to the Devil for money, to pay his numerous debts, forgetting, as is often the case, that eventually there has to be a day of reckoning.

      On this particular Sunday Jan had spent quite some time in the Old Inn before the service and now was slumped at the back of the church very much the worse for drink and playing cards to while away the time during the sermon. But quite soon, with the combination of the drink and maybe the sermon, Jan fell asleep. No sooner had he dozed off, than with incredible suddenness, a terrible storm blew up with ferocious winds, thunder and lightning. The congregation cowered in their pews and then with a loud explosion and, I am sure, fire, brimstone and a smell of sulphur, the Devil appeared through a hole in the roof of the tower, seized Jan by the scruff of his neck and before anyone could move, shot back to the top of the tower, where he had tied his horse to one of the pinnacles, СКАЧАТЬ