Dartmoor Town Guides

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Bovey Tracy

Bovey Tracey is a small market town, built of cob and granite and known as one of

the gateways to Dartmoor. Located at the southern eastern edge of the moor and is

close to the famous Haytor, one of the high points of Dartmoor. Even before the

Norman Conquest, there was a Saxon settlement known as Boffain about 500AD.

The name Bovey derives from the River Bovey which passes through the town.

The de Tracey family was a Norman family who settled in the area after 1066.

William de Tracey was one of the knights who murderedThomas à Becket in

Canterbury Cathedral in 1170, he later added his name to that of Bovey, thus

renaming the town 'Bovey Tracey'. January 1646 during The Civil War the Roundeds

beat the Royalists at the Battle of Bovey Heath, A gateway, known as Cromwell’s

Arch, lies a little off the main street. This is all that remains of a monastery which

once stood on the site until it was demolished in 1822. It now serves as a reminder

of Bovey Tracey’s connection with the Civil War.

Chudleigh Knighton

Is a small old village on the Southern East corner of Dartmoor, now overlooking the Plymouth to Exeter A38, resting on the northern boundries of the clay pits. Mentioned in the Domesday book. Chudleigh Knighton Heath, near Chudleigh Knighton, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, so designated because of its rare lowland heath vegetation. It is a habitat for many rare species including the ant, Formica exsecta. This is one of only two wild colonies in England, the other being at Bovey Heath. 

Haytor Vale

A little village on the East boarders of Dartmoor. Hey Tor, which derives its name from heah, high, with its two huge granite mass outcrops which crown its summit stands around 1499ft (457m). To the north west lies Holwell Quarry and to the north-east lies Haytor Quarry both were in use during the 1800 - 1900's. It was from here that granite was taken for use in building the famous London Bridge with rock used in the west face and the flagstones. It wasn’t until the early 19th century, Haytor Vale was a smallholding of Smallacombe Farm called Kennapark Wells. In 1826 George Templer construction of a row of cottages and the Rock Inn to house quarry workers. Between the 1850's and about 1910 many thousands of tons of iron ore were taken from this mines.

Heathfield

Is a development on the Southern East corner of Dartmoor, overlooking the Plymouth to Exeter A38, resting western boundries of the clay pits. Heathfield’s railway station was on the Moretonhampstead and South Devon Railway line. The station was opened with the line on 26 June 1866.

Hennock

HENNOCK is a small wildish, hilly parish between the Teign and Bovey valleys, the village standing some 600 ft above sea-level, just 3 miles North of Chudleigh Knigton.

Tin, iron ore, lead and copper are found here, pipe and potters' clay is found further south at Chudleigh Knighton. There is a 15th century church with granite arcades. The plain, unbuttressed tower is older. The font, with rude carvings, is early 13th century in date, and some medieval glass still remains.

Ilsington

Ilsington is situated on the eastern edge of Dartmoor. The name, Ilsington, is derived from the Domesday name, Ilestintona, which may have developed from the old English personal name, Ielfstan. believed to be an ancient settlement - probably existing 200 to 300 years before the Norman Conquest. When the village was first invaded by the Saxons. Record show that there was a St.Michael's church back in the 11th Century. Ilsington is full of the evidence of its history since prehistoric times. Prehistoric field boundaries (reaves) still forming part of Parish boundary near Prince of Wales boundary stone, there are prehistoric hut circles on east side of Smallacombe rocks, the granite tramway constructed to carry granite from Haytor quarries, quarries, tramway and miners huts and buildings still visible to north of Haytor Rocks.

Liverton

Liverton on the Southern borders of Dartmoor.

It is now most famous for Trago Mills, also features the magnificent narrow gauge Steam Railway. The Old kiln and associated buildings are now part of a housing development named 'Potters Yard'.

Lustleigh

Lustleigh a picturesque little village nestled in the Wrey Valley, inside the Dartmoor National Park. It sits between the towns of Bovey Tracey and Moretonhampstead. The area where Lustleigh now stands has been inhabited long before records began as shown by the remains of stone hut circles and Druidical remains, which can still be seen in the 'Cleave' (meaning 'Cliff' or 'Cleft', which is the defining geological feature of the valley) and the presence of an ancient burial monument "Datuidoc's Stone" which dates from before AD 600. Whilst the name Lustleigh (or any variation) is not found in the Domesday Book, it is believed that the village was recorded under the name of Sutreworde, Anglo Saxon for 'South of the Wood'. Today interesting building ranging in date from the 13th century to the early 16th. On the common called Lustleigh Cleve, is a fine range of rocks and crags; and in the vicinity is a logan stone, and some other Druidical remains.

Manaton

Manaton lies wholly within Dartmoor National Park, on the South-Eastern side of the moor, west of Lustleigh. Next to the rocky hills known as Hound Tor.

By the time of Domesday {1086), there appeared to have been several flourishing settlements, in and around Manaton. the best-known of which is the mediaeval village at Houndtor, below Greater Rocks. These were abandoned some time in the 14th Century, possibly as a result of the Black Death (1349). Due to the Black death and also because of a change in the climate which made the growing of corn more difficult on the moor, the local population gathered in the more clement centres of Manaton, Freelands and Water, together forming the modern village of Manaton, or retired to individual farms scattered throughout the parish. A short distance, south-east of are the remains of a deserted medieval hamlet, this hamlet was set on an east-facing slope overlooking the deep but gentle wooded valley of Becka Brook. The substantial remains now visible are those of a cluster of eleven stone buildings – three dwellings and their ancillary structures from about 1200-1350. Excavation in the 1960s revealed evidence that beneath the stone buildings lay a series of turf-walled dwellings dating back to the tenth or eleventh century. The outlying medieval farmhouse to the north was built within a prehistoric enclosure.