swuklink.com: Dartmoor National Park

Dartmoor National Park covers an area of 954 square kilometres (368 square miles) in the centre of the county of Devon, consisting of a landscape characterised by bleak moorland with wooded valleys and exposed granite hilltops (known locally as "tors"), with a rich and diverse wildlife as well as a wealth of archaeological remains. Approximately 33,000 people live in the park which also recieves about 10-million visitors a year. The land of the park is still privately owned, much of it, by the Duchy of Cornwall.

Bibliography

Birds

China Clay Mining

Dartmoor National Park Authority

Dartmoor differs from other National Parks in England and Wales in the provisions for access to its land. Since an Act of Parliament of 1985, much of it has been designated as 'Access Land' with no restrictions on where walkers and horse-riders can roam.

The footpaths in these areas of the park are for guidance and convenience but do not have to be adhered to and are generally not waymarked.

The Access Land is edged in purple for easy reference on larger scale Ordnance Survey maps of Dartmoor (1:25,000).

Other parts of the Park are accessed via the usual network of footpaths and bridleways - park contains 966 km (600 miles) of public rights of way.

These access arrangements in the Park are not connected with the Labour government's Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which in due course will establish similar rights in other rural parts of the country. Because of the existing arrangements, Dartmoor will be largely unaffected by this new legislation.

Dartmoor National Park Authority

The National Park is rich in prehistoric relics including stone circles, kistvaens, stone rows and cairns.

The morr is alsorich in industrial archeology including the remains of its tin industry and long-abandoned farmhouses.

Access

Bibliography

China Clay Mining

Dartmoor National Park Authority

Although breeding is influenced by changes in the weather from year to year, most birds breed between the beginning of March and the middle of July. Any disturbance which forces the bird to leave its nest, even for a short period, may lead to loss of the brood as the eggs or young chill and die very quickly or may be taken by predators.

YOU can help by:-

Keeping to paths and tracks during the breeding season.

Keeping your dog on a lead (lambing takes place at about the same time).

Avoiding young birds, aprticularly on the ground, or distresses parent birds; walk around the area and move away quickly to allow the parents to return.

Avoiding activities in large groups during the breeding season.

Spreading the message to others so that they can help as well.

Curlew

Numenius arquata

Nationally, the species has declined by about 30% in the last 30 years of the 20th century. With between one and three pairs, it risks becomming extinct on Dartmoor.

Dartford Warbler

Sylvia undata

Having recently expanded its range across southern Britain to include Dartmoor, the 50 or so pairs which nest in the park are a nationally significant population.

Dunlin

Calidris alpina

Nationally in decline, the 12 or so pairs which nest in the park are the most southerly-nesting members of the species in the world.

Golden Plover

Pluvialis apricaria

A nationally declining species, only between 1 and 3 pairs nest in the park and are in danger of becomming extinct there.

Lapwing

Vanellus vanellus

Lapwings are declining nationally but particularly so in the south-west. Less than 20 pairs now nest in the park, representing a decrease of 70% over the last two decades.

Meadow Pipit

Anthus pratensis

The park contains an internationally important population of about 20,000 pairs of this, the its most common bird on the moorland.

Ring Ouzel

Turdus torquatus

With about 35 pairs, Dartmoor is main area in southern England where this upland species which is rapidly declining nationally breeds.

Skylark

Alauda arvensis

In recent years the skylark has declined rapidly in lowland Britain, with about 13,000 pairs nesting on Dartmoor, this trend makes the Park's population particularly significant.

Snipe

Gallinago gallinago

Following a dramatic decline in lowland Snipe, the 150 or so pairs in the park are probably the only breeding birds remianing in the county.

Stonechat

Saxicola torquata

Nationally declining, numbers on dartmoot have incresed to about 1,600 pairs in recent years making the population internationally significant.

Wheatear

Oenanthe oenanthe

The park contains a nationally important population of about 3,000 pairs.

Whinchat

Saxicola rubertra

Dartmoor's population of these small birds is of national importance.

Dartmoor National Park Authority

The notorious high security Dartmoor Prison stands in the town of Princetown in the park. It was built in this bleak and remote location by, and to house, prisoners of war during the Napoleonic Wars. It had a reputation as being escape-proof although this is now no longer the case, not only because of the buildings, but because of its isolated location on the moorland.

Dartmoor National Park Authority

There has been an army presence on Dartmoor since the Napoleonic Wars of the late 18th and early early 19th century. The northern part of Dartmoor is still used by the British army for manoeuvres and live-firing exercises.

In the latter part of the 20th century the army's use of the moor has been challenged by a number of groups, including the Open Space Society and the Dartmoor Preservation Association.

Access

Bibliography

Birds

Dartmoor National Park Authority

Dartmoor National Park Authority

The moor, eerie even in mid-summer, has been used as a setting for the works of several writers including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1901), Eden Phillpotts (author of many novels, plays and poems about Dartmoor) and the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould (best known as the author of the hymn "Onward, Christian Soldiers").

Dartmoor National Park Authority

Dartmoor is the birthplace of the strange passtime of "letterboxing" - messages are left in waterproof containers, "letterboxing", buried in public places with the clues on where to find them published in other letterboxes or on the Internet.

Dartmoor National Park Authority

Dartmoor National Park Authority
Parke,
Bovey Tracey,
Newton Abbot,
Devon TQ13 9JQ

tel: +44 1626 832093
fax: +44 1626 834684

eMail: hq@dartmoor-npa.gov.uk

web-site: www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk

Dartmoor National Park Authority

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1951		Creation of the Dartmoor National Park
	BAAAGBMJ BAAAGCEI

Dartmoor National Park Authority

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Dartmoor National Park Web-Site

Dartmoor National Park Authority

Links to Other Pages on this Site

Access

Birds

China Clay Mining

Dartmoor National Park Authority

Tales of the Dartmoor Pixies: Glimpses of Elfin Haunts and Antics
by William Crossing, 1890

Walking on Dartmoor: National Park and Surrounding Areas
The "Cicerone Guides" series
by John Earle, 2002

Dartmoor 365: An Exploration of Every One of the 365 Square Miles in the Dartmoor National Park
by John Hayward, 1991

Dartmoor and Exmoor National Parks, Maps and Gazetteer

Walks in the Dartmoor National Park

Walks in the Dartmoor National Park: The Dart Valley

The Dartmoor and Exmoor National Parks: Changes in Farming Structure, 1952-1972

Dartmoor National Park Plan

The Dartmoor National Park (Restriction of Agricultural Operations) Order 1991: Countryside (Statutory Instruments: 1991: 1616)

National Park Guide: Dartmoor
The "Pevensey National Park 50th Anniversary Guides" series

Dartmoor Seasons
by Elizabeth Prince

Great Walks: Dartmoor and Exmoor
The "Great Walks Series" series
by John Weir and Brian Lemessurier

Walks and rides on Dartmoor
by HD Westacott

Dartmoor and Exmoor
The "Great Walks" series
by John Weir, et. al.

Dartmoor : a report by Lady Sharp G.B.E. to the Secretary of State for the Environment and the Secretary of State for Defence of a Public Local Inquiry Held in December 1975 and May 1976 into the continued use of Dartmoor by the Ministry of Defence for Training Purposes
by Evelyn Adelaide Sharp

The Environment: Principles and Applications
by Chris C. Park

Crossing s Guide to Dartmoor
by William Crossing

The Dartmoor Worker
by William Crossing

Dartmoor s Early Historic and Medieval Remains
by William Crossing

Leaves from Sherwood, etc.
by William Crossing, publisher Plymouth, 1868

The Ancient Crosses of Dartmoor; with a Description of their Surroundings
by William Crossing, publisher Exeter, 1887

Amid Devonia s Alps, or, Wanderings and Adventures on Dartmoor
by William Crossing, publisher Plymouth, 1888

Crockern Tor and the Ancient Stannary Parliament
by William crossing, publisher Exeter, 1892

The Hound of the Baskervilles
The "Sherlock Holmes" series
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1901

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Dartmoor National Park Authority

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