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Deserted medieval site near Okehampton camp
Grid ref: SX 5769 9275
On walking routes: West Devon Way
This scheduled monument preserves the landscape traces of a medieval community that once occupied this exposed location on Dartmoor. The site consists of earthwork features, likely including house platforms and field boundaries, typical of the dispersed settlements that existed across the moor during the medieval period before many were abandoned as climate and farming practices changed.
Today the site is subtle and requires patience to read. It sits within the moorland landscape west of Okehampton, part of the wider story of human settlement and retreat that marks Dartmoor's history. The remains offer little obvious drama but reward those interested in how people lived and why some communities were left behind.
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Plate from An Exploration of Dartmoor and Its Antiquities, page 11, 1889“In the afternoon, in service time, there happened a very great darkness... a ball of fire came in likewise at the window, and passed through the church... There were in all four persons killed, and sixty-two hurt...”
Also on Our DartmoorUS Navy Liberator crash site, West Okement Valley — Where US Navy Liberator 63926 hit the ridge above the West Okement valley in cloud on 28 December 1943, killing all ten crew. Debris runs from the ridge top down towards the river.
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