Moor than meets the eye

has now been running for

almost 18 months. We were

given permission to start on

August 18th 2014 and almost

all of our 28 projects are now

under way.

We have undertaken bat

studies, are helping to

conserve haymeadows and

uncovering important

archaeology revealing more

about Bronze Age and

Medieval life on Dartmoor with

the help of dedicated

volunteers. This newsletter

gives a taste of what has been

going on. For more information

visit our website

www.moorthanmeetstheeye.org

Discovering the Dartmoor Story

J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 6 Y E A R 1 2 0 1 4 - 2 0 1 5

Scheme

news in

brief:

81 registered

volunteers

1,130 days

volunteered

MTMTE team

in post

Over 1,000

people

attending

events and

activities

Dartmoor

Haymeadow

Seed

Marketing

Group is being

developed

Hameldown

Geophysics

project

completed

Moor boots

project– 39

awards made

www.moorthanmeetstheeye.org

Moor than meets the eye

Newsletter

Uncovering Medieval Dartmoor

The Moor Medieval project got off to a great start and was

launched with a symposium in February last year.

Specialists gave a range of talks about aspects of Medieval

life and the focus was shone on the iconic Dartmoor

longhouse. This has led to the formation of a Moor

Medieval Study Group which meets on a monthly basis to

develop community research.

A community archaeological dig was held in July to try to

find more clues to the precise location of the old North

Hall Manor in Widecombe. The dig uncovered pottery,

window glass and tiles and some walling which could be

part of the old manor house. 25 volunteers took part in the

dig contributing almost 100 volunteer days and over 100

school children visited the site and took part in

archaeological activities such as washing the finds. The

dig was finished off with a public open day on the

Saturday as part of the Festival of British Archaeology

Just a few of

our highlights

over the year

Lichen Lovers–

volunteer group

in action

Heavy horse

extracting

timber from

Hisley Wood

History Hunters

–volunteer

group

Traditional

Charcoal

Making

Discover the

Dartmoor Story

– Interpretation

board

Wildlife

Discovery Day

Whitehorse Hill

Community

Play

Path

improvements

Fernworthy

Reservoir

Repairs to the

Lustleigh Tithe

Map

Discovery of a

new stone

circle near

Sittaford Tor

Pupils

conserving

historic walling

Improvements

to Brimpts Tin

Mining Trail

For information about all our projects go to www.moorthanmeetstheeye.org

1 2

3

4

6

8 9

11 12

New hut circle

illustrations

Geophysics

survey at

Hameldown

Heritage Trails

web map

Woodland

lantern walk

Monitoring

invasive

species-skunk

cabbage

Works to

Higher

Uppacott

including

rethatching

Bridge works

to Wray Valley

cycle way

New boundary

stone between

North Bovey

and Lustleigh

Carving the

new boundary

stone at North

Bovey

2

5

7

10

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20 21

Developing the skills to look after

Dartmoor into the future

www.moorthanmeetstheeye.org

Contact

Details

Moor than meets

the eye Landscape

Partnership

The Old Duchy

Hotel, Tavistock

Road, Princetown,

PL20 6QF

Community Officer

Andy Bailey

01822 890903

andy@moorthanm

eetstheye.org

Restoring ancient boundaries and pounds

We have set up a

programme to help

people develop their

practical skills to

manage wildlife. We

took on 4 placements

last year and one of

them has already

managed to get a job.

Whilst based at Yarner

Wood they have also

been involved in

projects across the

scheme using their new

skills. The next four

placements are due to

start in April.

We are also working with lots of community volunteers and are

helping to develop new skills. Last summer we ran an introduction

to LIDAR mapping for volunteers to learn more about this

technology and test it out in the field. We also ran an introduction

to the Devon Heritage Archives. We plan to develop this

programme supporting volunteers across all our projects this year.

Our Partners:

The first year of this project is now drawing to a close with

4 out of the 5 walling agreements completed and

inspected. These included :

- 120 metres from Hemsworthy Gate towards New House

which is an old newtake wall dating from around 1700 and

running alongside a busy road.

- 90 metres and gateways at Babeny, one of the moors

ancient tenements and adjoining the site of an old mill and

on a well used footpath.

- 100 metre repair over a 500 metre stretch at Postbridge

being part of an ancient driftway and alongside a busy

footpath

- 75 metre repair over 150 metre stretch and the

reinstatement of 2 stone gateways at Postbridge alongside

the ancient driftway

Parishscapes Parishscapes is helping local communities to come together to

explore their parish landscape and discover the heritage within it.

We are currently working with 10 of the 14 parishes to develop

projects that celebrate, care for and increase understanding of

and improve the heritage of the parish-landscape.

•Lustleigh tithe map conserved, Pethybridge Woods Management

Plan written

•North Bovey Taster Day, Dickford Bridge boundary stone

installed

•Medieval Ashburton research: River, roads buildings and

watercourses, wide range of school and community groups

engaged in a diverse range of projects

•Moretonhampstead: Life in the Manor of Doccombe-in

development

•Buckland: Ten Commandment Stones Project