Journal
Writing about Dartmoor, gathered in one place for anyone who wants to read it.
There is no grand plan here.
These are articles, about Dartmoor, written by me and some of my friends and colleagues - they have no real purpose other than to inform or entertain.
Make of them what you will, and please feel free to email me your own!
Some of it is history, some of it is folklore, some of it is me thinking out loud about a place I have never quite managed to stop being interested in. The one thing every piece has in common is Dartmoor, in one form or another.
You will find old legends, and the odd attempt to chase down where they really came from. Forgotten people. Quiet corners of the moor’s past. And now and then a piece that is simply something I wanted to say. If any of it leaves you knowing one thing about the moor you did not know before, it has done its job.
Browse by topic, search for something in particular, or just start reading.
If any of this makes you want to argue back, that is what The Moot is for.
- A Vast Solitude A Vast Solitude by Paul Harris - Glavind Strachan Photography A review of "An Exploration of Dartmoor and its Antiquities." in The Morning Post from Monday, Ju…
- Will the real Mary Maria Colling please stand up? Will the real Mary Maria Colling please stand up? (A Dartmoor Story about a lowly Tavistock resident in the Nineteenth Century) by Paul Harris - Glavind Strach…
- Bowerman’s Nose: Legends are like memes in slow motion Bowerman’s Nose: Legends are like memes in slow motion by Paul Harris - Glavind Strachan Photography The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting f…
- Exercise Baskerville Exercise Baskerville by Clive Darke In 1967 there were eighteen deaths from exposure (hypothermia) and frostbite on British hills and mountains. Dartmoor had i…
- In the Footsteps of Francis Drake In the Footsteps of Francis Drake by David J. Hawkings As a boy growing up in Plymouth, I often found myself looking to the north-east, where the hills of Dart…