Whortleberry (Hurt) Picking

The fruit that is a blaeberry in Scotland, a whimberry in Wales and a bilberry in much of England is a whortleberry in Devon and a 'hurt' on Dartmoor. For centuries moorfolk went 'pickin' urts' between July and early September, the women and children setting out early with baskets. It was treated as a sort of holiday, and the berries were also a wild crop to sell.

Named picking grounds include Hook Lake, Stony Bottom, Omen Beam, Doe Tor Brook, Fox Holes and Hare Tor, and parties of up to 500 pickers were once seen at Omen Beam. On the southern moor pickers filled a small quart can and tipped it into a large basket, and sold by the quart. On the northern side they filled a large basket and weighed it at home. Most went to local markets, especially Tavistock.

Prices quoted by the article run from 4 pence a quart in the 1890s to 1 shilling a quart in 1914, and about 2 shillings and 6 pence a pound by the mid-1940s. Whortleberry pie was a traditional local dish, and the berries also went into tarts, jams, jellies and a 'hurt gin' made like sloe gin. People still pick them each summer, but nothing like the numbers of the past.