Skip to content

← Back to the directory · Dartmoor Map

Antiquities

Vermin trap 350m south west of Great Trowlesworthy Tor forming part of Trowlesworthy Warren

Devon

This small stone structure on Trowlesworthy Warren is a vermin trap, one of several built across the warren to protect the rabbits that were farmed here as a valuable food source. Such traps date from the medieval period onwards, when warrens were carefully managed commercial enterprises on Dartmoor. The trap would have been designed to catch foxes, badgers and other predators that threatened the warren keeper's stock.

Today it remains as a modest but tangible reminder of how the moor was actively worked and managed for centuries. The site sits within the broader landscape of Trowlesworthy Warren, south west of Great Trowlesworthy Tor, where the scattered evidence of warren life still marks the moorland surface. It is a scheduled monument, protected for its archaeological importance to understanding Dartmoor's medieval and post-medieval economy.

Explore further

Recommended online resources for heritage sites on Dartmoor:

Photo: Guy Wareham (CC BY-SA 2.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Kind words

Be the first to leave kind words for Vermin trap 350m south west of Great Trowlesworthy Tor forming part of Trowlesworthy Warren.

Leave kind words

Run a Dartmoor business, group or service like this one? Add yours to the directory, it is free.

Suggest a listing