Essential Dartmoor
Aqueduct
An artificial channel to carry water over something, probably a stream on Dartmoor but might be over a road or some other obstacle. See leat.
Blowing House
A site where the smelting of Tin took place. The metal was extracted from the ore with the use of a furnace, and cast into ingots.
Boundary Marks
Parish Boundaries, established in the 12th Century, sometimes follow streams or other natural features, sometimes use manmade objects such as standing stones or cairns, but also used boundary stones. Some of these may be much later, marking railway, mining or water works boundaries.
Boundary Work
Low walls or earth banks marking boundaries, and dating back to the bronze age - perhaps 1500 BC. Also known locally as Reaves. The boundaries may have been tribal territories, settlements or even enclosures, but some later ones may have marked tinners' bounds.
Burial Chamber
Another name for a Cist.
Cairn
Basically a large pile of rocks with varying interpretations for their use. Some authorities say they are associated with Cists and burials, others that they are boundary or way marks. Some are undoubtedly ancient, perhaps Bronze Age and some may have been barrows.
Childes Tomb
An old burial site, marked by a relatively modern cross replacing an earlier one. Reputedly deriving its name from Childe the Hunter, of Plymstock. Childe, meaning young Lord, is believed to have been Ordulf, son of Ordgar, Anglo Saxon Earl of Devon in the 11th century. Lost and separated from his hunting party, he killed his horse and disembowelled it, creeping inside for warmth and shelter, but still died of exposure.
China Clay
China Clay or Kaolin is formed by the gradual degradation of the Feldspar in the Granite into clay, which left some very deep deposits on Dartmoor, particularly in the South West. Although most obviously used in making China, china clay is also used in paper, paint, pharmaceuticals, plastics and textiles. Apart from the still active works, remains of spoil tips, settling tanks and other associated works remain.
Cist
Also Kist or Kistvaen. A four sided stone "chest" bounded by 4 flat stones set vertically, usually sunk into the ground and sometimes with a cover stone still evident. Large enough for a crouched burial, perhaps 1.5m x .6m, believed 2300 - 1400 BC (Bronze Age).
Clapper Bridge
Basically a bridge using available material - large slabs of granite - to create the crossing. Postbridge, with three slabs, is one of the best known.
Clitters
An area composed of fragments of rock debris from erosion, scattered down the hill sides - (known as screes in the mountains).
Cross
These served various uses - as village or preaching crosses, route markers, perhaps shrines and some were adopted as boundary markers.
Fox Tor Cafe
In Princetown, good coffee and food and a not unknown haunt of support teams whilst waiting for progress reports from the walkers. Also has a bunkhouse for overnight stops.
Fox Tor Mire
One of the best known Dartmoor mires (or bogs) suggested as being the model of Conan Doyle's "Grimpen Mire" in the famous Sherlock Holmes story, "The Hound of the Baskervilles" set on Dartmoor
Granite
A volcanic or igneous rock, made up mainly of crystals of Feldspar (or Felspar), with sparkling specks of Mica, intermingled with Quartz. Other minerals may also be present. On Dartmoor, the molten rock welled up from under the upper layers of bedded rock to produce a "blister" (if you can think of Dartmoor as a blister). The more slowly Granite cools, the larger the crystals. The upper rocks later eroded, exposing the granite.
Hut Circle
A circular stone wall, now often little more than a bank, but possibly showing two larger stones representing an entrance. The walls are believed to have supported a conical roof, thatched with heather or other local materials. Age perhaps back to the Neolithic period.
Leat
Artificial water courses providing a supply of water for tinning, mining and for drinking. Plymouth and Devonport's supplies came from Dartmoor - Plymouth Leat was built in the late 1500's under the guidance of Sir Francis Drake and was 18.5 miles long; the Devonport Leat around 1800, 27 miles long. Leats generally follow the contours to provide a steady flow. They cross streams on aqueducts and sometimes go through tunnels to shorten the route.
Letterbox
Going back originally to the 1850's, the idea of finding hidden boxes and keeping a record of them has grown so there are now hundreds of "letterboxes" on Dartmoor and an eager group of enthusiasts collecting a records of their visits.
Long Stone
Long Stones or Menhirs are tall individual standing stones. They may be associated with other features such as rows or circles, or isolated. No one really knows why they were erected but they are believed to be Bronze Age.
Menhir
See Long Stone (above).
Mound
I suspect this is a term used when the Ordnance Survey do not know what the particular lump is.
Nun's Cross
(Siwards Cross) Origin of the name uncertain, dating back to at least 1240, possibly a marker for an old monastic way, a "cross roads" for the Abbott's Way and the Monk's Path. Siward may have been an Anglo Saxon Earl around 1050, Lord of the Manor of "Tavei".
Peat Pass
Old tracks worn down by pack horses, particularly over difficult areas of the moor - on the easier areas there was no need to stick to a particular route. In the 1900's a number of new passes were cut at the expense of Frank Phillpotts, a keen local horseman and huntsman, still to offer easier routes in difficult terrain. A number of these are marked by granite posts, each with a bronze plaque.
Pillow Mound
Burrows, Buries or Warrens, these were artificial mounds built probably from the 1500's although possibly earlier, for "farming" rabbits as a valuable source of food and fur. By raising the mounds above the normal ground level they gave the rabbits a relatively dry habitat to breed. Predators around the buries would have been trapped. Rabbits were also known as "Conies".
Prison
Building began in 1806 and the first prisoners arrived in 1809 - French prisoners of war, joined in 1812 by American prisoners of war. The prison was then empty apart from a brief use as a factory until 1850 when the first convicts arrived.
Rock Basin
These, despite lurid tales of Druid rites, are almost certainly natural formations caused by weathering, particularly trapped water and frost. They can sometimes be seen away from the natural horizontal position where the stone containing the basin has fallen from its original site.
Standing Stone
See Long Stone.
Stannary Towns
The affairs of the Tinners in Devon and Cornwall were decided in Stannary Parliaments. Tavistock, Ashburton and Chagford were Stannary towns in Devon. From 1494 there is a record of a Stannary Parliament being held on Crockern Tor.
Steps
Sometimes used on Dartmoor as a name for stepping stones.
Stone Rows
Associated with the circles and standing stones, probably late Neolithic (2000+BC) Over 70 exist on Dartmoor, single, double and some multiple. The longest is the Dancers on Stall Moor - over two miles long.
Tin Workings
Tin is known to have been extracted since at least the 12th Century and probably earlier. Cassiterite (tin ore) was formed in veins in the Granite The first exploitation was from ore washed down the streams, and then later the larger stone was worked, being broken down in various types of mill, sometimes powered by water brought by a leat.
Tinners Huts
The ruins of various dwellings and buildings used by the Tinners.
Tor
The Tors are (usually) exposed Granite, which is a very hard rock and resistant to erosion, but does have planes of weakness which cause the characteristic shapes and rock formations.
Tumulus
Yet another name for an unidentified "hump" on the landscape. See Mound
For further information try http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk or "Thurlow's Dartmoor Companion" by George Thurlow, published by Peninsula Press.
Thanks go to Alan Dempster for the above content