Dartmoor is an area of moorland in south Devon, England. Protected by National Park status as Dartmoor National Park, it covers 954 square kilometres (368 sq mi). Dartmoor is managed by the Dartmoor National Park Authority, whose 22 members are drawn from Devon County Council, local district councils and Government. Parts of Dartmoor have been used as military firing ranges for over 200 years. The public are granted extensive land access rights on Dartmoor (including restricted access to the firing ranges) and it is a popular tourist destination. Dartmoor is known for its tors – hills topped with outcrops of bedrock, which in granite country such as this are usually rounded boulder-like formations. More than 160 of the hills of Dartmoor have the word tor in their name but quite a number do not. Dartmoor has a resident population of about 33,000, which swells considerably during holiday periods with incoming tourists. The largest settlements within the National Park are Ashburton (the largest with population about 3,500), Buckfastleigh, Moretonhampstead, Princetown, Yelverton, Horrabridge, South Brent, Christow and Chagford.
Until the early 19th century Dartmoor was not considered to be a place worth visiting: in the 1540s John Leland wrote in his Itinerary that “Dartmore is muche a wilde Morish and forest Ground”, and even by 1789 Richard Gough‘s opinion was that it is a “dreary mountainous tract”. At the turn of the 19th century John Swete was one of the first people to visit Dartmoor for pleasure and his journals and watercolour paintings now provide a valuable historical resource. The oldest leisure pursuit on the moor is hill walking. William Crossing‘s definitive Guide to Dartmoor was published in 1909, and in 1938 a plaque and letterbox in his memory were placed at Duck’s Pool on the southern moor. Parts of the Abbots Way, Two Moors Way and the Templer Way are on Dartmoor. Letterboxing originated on Dartmoor in the 19th century and has become increasingly popular in recent decades. Watertight containers, or ‘letterboxes’, are hidden throughout the moor, each containing a visitor’s book and a rubber stamp. Visitors take an impression of the letterbox’s rubber stamp as proof of finding the box and record their visit by stamping their own personal stamp in the letterbox’s logbook. A recent related development is geocaching. Geocache clues make use of GPS coordinates, whereas letterboxing clues tend to consist of grid references and compass bearings.
Whitewater kayaking and canoeing are popular on the rivers due to the high rainfall and their high quality, though for environmental reasons access is restricted to the winter months. The River Dart is the most prominent meeting place, the section known as the Loop being particularly popular. Other white water rivers are the Erme, Tavy, Plym and Meavy. Other activities are rock climbing on the granite tors and outcrops, some of the well-known venues being Haytor, Hound Tor and The Dewerstone; horse riding, which can be undertaken on any of the common land; cycling (but not on open moorland); and angling for wild brown trout, sea trout and salmon—although much of the river fishing on Dartmoor is privately owned, permits are available for some stretches. The park’s main visitor centre is located in Princetown and features exhibits about Dartmoor’s history, culture and wildlife, as well as changing displays of local art. The visitor centres located in Postbridge and Haytor feature information, maps, guidebooks and items for exploring the area.
