“My quarters were, as usual, at the Rock Hotel, in Haytor Vale, a neighbourhood becoming quite aristocratic, since two Torquay solicitors have cottages there, and the Vicar of All Saints’, Babbacombe, has just built himself a very modest, unpretentious moorland retreat. I reached my quarters on the afternoon of Friday, and after a walk to Ilsington and back, partook of a generous tea, and later on a frugal supper, consisting of a biscuit and a glass of milk, with just a tablespoon of whis...| Legendary Dartmoor
London + Dartmoor are not what I would call the most suitable combination and as you can see from the 1872 travel diary they certainly did not fit well on this occasion. As always when I post the descripts from the path I write them as they were written in order to maintain an authors …| Legendary Dartmoor
In 1811 the first edition of “Risdon’s Survey of Devon” was updated, possibly by one John Taylor. At the time he was President of the Geological Society and resided on Dartmoor for some years. He also had interests in several Dartmoor mines and was engaged in several agricultural pursuits. In the book he highlighted how …| Legendary Dartmoor
In 1906 Sabine Baring Gould, the noted Dartmoor antiquarian and folklore author, wrote an article for a London newspaper. It was called “Do you believe in ghosts? – Explanations of some strange sights and sounds.” “Mr. William Ewebank Jones was a man of many parts, and all good. He was a sportsman, a pleasant companion …| Legendary Dartmoor
For centuries the only means a passenger had of traveling between Tavistock and Okehampton and beyond was by means of a horse-draw coach. The coming of the railway was the ‘death knell’ for the owners of many of these coach companies, the staging inns, and indeed local hauliers. It was assumed at the time that …| Legendary Dartmoor
Imagine embarking on a three-day tour of Dartmoor with accommodation in some of the ‘finest’ hotels the area has to offer – sounds tempting? Now imagine a three-day tour of Dartmoor in September but travelling in an open top horse drawn carriage, along with other passengers, staying at the ‘finest’ hotels in 1887 – still …| Legendary Dartmoor
Due to their very nature the rivers of Dartmoor have been the ideal habitats for salmon and trout. Such a rich harvest provided many of the riverside landowners with an income as too the local businesses who profited from the visiting anglers. Certainly by the late 1800s virtually every hotel, inn, and guesthouse which advertised …| Legendary Dartmoor
Today the very thought of Otter hunting is abhorrent and barbaric and thankfully came under protection under the ‘Wildlife and Countryside Act in 1981 and later with the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations of 2017. This means it is illegal to deliberately kill, injure, disturb or capture them, damage or destroy their breeding sites …| Legendary Dartmoor
There are two locations on Dartmoor where the placename “Ringhill” can be found. The first is just to the east of Oxenham Manor where there is the “Ringhill,” “Ringhill Coppice” and “Ringhill Cross.” The second lies just to the north of Postbridge in the form of what was once “Ringhill Farm” along with “Ringhill Newtake”. …| Legendary Dartmoor
Catherine Parr, alias the noted Dartmoor authoress Beatrice Chase lived just outside Widecombe-in-the-Moor at Venton. She is best described as a typical Victorian dame and was a formidable, outspoken egotist on many matters including Dartmoor. John Oxenham wrote a novel in which Beatrice Chase was the heroine, the book was called, ‘My Lady of the …| Legendary Dartmoor
Aspects Of Dartmoor| www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk
Hemery, p.842, suggests that the Irishman’s Wall had in parts utilised the remains of a Bronze Age reave which yet again is a good example of the Dartmoor despoilers. But why was it built? There appears to be two main theories on this, firstly it has been suggested that the wall follows the old boundary line of the Forest of Dartmoor as was set down in the perambulation of 1786, – James, p.49, but this has been disputed by Brewer, p.41, who considers the Forest boundary ran further to the...| Legendary Dartmoor