Swincombe Farm
Paul Rendell visits the ruins of this farm building beside the River Swincombe. Near the River Swincombe is the lost hamlet of Swincombe with the dwellings including Swincombe Ford Cottage (now known as John Bishop’s House), Swincombe Farm, Lower Swincombe Farm and, across the river, Dolly Trebble’s Cottage, which is said to be where a […]
Virtuous Lady Mine
Paul Rendell looks at Virtuous Lady Mine (SX 47340 69850) alongside the River Tavy in the parish of Buckland Monachorum on the Maristow Estate. Today known as Tavy Cottage, this building (above) was once a mine captain’s house and known as Virtuous Lady House. It is not known when it was built, but the 1851 […]
Visitors to Fur Tor
Paul Rendell opens up the visitors book to see what comments have been made. There has been a letter box at Fur Tor since 1951. A visitors book at the site enables walkers sign in to say they have reached this remote tor. When the book is full it is removed and placed in Plymouth […]
Donald Sutherland on Dartmoor
By Paul Rendell Donald Sutherland, actor, was born on 17 July 1935 and died after a long illness on 20 June 2024, aged 88. He appeared in many films including the 1973 thriller Don’t Look Now, The Hunger Games (2012) and M*A*S*H (1970). Thirty-nine years ago he visited Dartmoor when he was one of the […]
The Tale of Billy’s Tor
Paul Rendell looks at a very small and over looked tor near Princetown. There is a small outcrop of rocks on the lower slopes of North Hessary Tor known as Billy’s Tor. The first published reference to Billy’s Tor was in 1983 when Eric Hemery published High Dartmoor. It is 440 metres above sea level […]
Dartmoor Hospitals
By Paul Rendell The flat piece on moorland between Whitchurch and Horrabridge called Plaster Down was once a busy army camp run by the 115th Field Hospital Unit. The unit was formed in America in 1942 and most of the men came from New England and the mid-Atlantic states while the nurses were from mid-Atlantic […]
My Perambulation Walk
Paul Rendell recalls a series of walks he did in the 1980s when he completed the perambulation of the old Forest of Dartmoor as determined in 1240. It was Thursday 2nd August 1984 and what a great time of year to commence the greatest walk on Dartmoor, the perambulation of the Forest of Dartmoor. I […]