William Rees Jeffreys (1871 to 1954) was born in London, the eldest of four children of William George and Mary Ann (nee Garratt) Jeffreys.  He was privately educated and, in 1891, joined the Board of Trade as a clerk in their Commercial, Labour and Statistical Department. He was also a keen cyclist and joined the Cyclists' Touring Club, where he toured Scotland and Ireland as well as his native England.  He was very keen on the British road system, becoming a key figure in the UK highways system.  Later, he became Honorary Secretary, and then the Chairman, of the Roads Improvement Association.  He was an early advocate for a ring road around London and helped instigate the British road numbering system.  In 1937 Jeffreys was described by former UK Prime Minister David Lloyd George as "the greatest authority on roads in the United Kingdom and one of the greatest in the whole world."

On his death, in 1954, his extensive and valuable art collection was auctioned off at Christies, with the proceeds going to the charity he had set up four years earlier - the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund.  The aim of the charity is to provide financial support for education, research and road improvement projects.  It was with money from this charity that the Rees Jeffreys Car Park was built out of an abandoned quarry at the side of the road, about ½ mile to the west of the entrance to Merrivale Quarry.  A small square area of the top of a substantial rock at the back of the car park has been smoothed off and the following words have been recorded in this area: 'THIS VIEWPOINT PARKING AREA HAS BEEN CONSTRUCTED BY THE REES JEFFREYS ROAD FUND'.  Although the words are currently very difficult to read, the photo, to the left, was taken in March 2013 when the words appeared a lot clearer. (Source: Wikipedia and other websites).

2)Grimstone & Sortridge Leat (SX540/748 to SX515/717)

Details of this, well maintained, Grimstone & Sortridge Leat were covered previously on our walk in July 2015.

3) Heckwood Tor Worked Stone - (SX5391/7375)

The large rectangular worked stone beside the track at Heckwood Tor was also covered in our walk in July 2015.

4) Sampford Tor Quarry Crane Bases (SX5309/7311)

It seems as though Sampford Tor, which is also known as Little Pew Tor, has been used for extensive quarrying over the years.  Unlike Pew Tor, which was given protection against the stone being quarried from on and around the immediate area of the tor, Sampford Tor had no such protection and has yielded up a substantial amount of granite over the years.  There is a fair-sized quarry to the west of the tor and just to the south of the quarry entrance there are two large concrete blocks with retaining bolts set into their upper surfaces.  Although I'm not able to find any confirmation, I believe these blocks would have been used as crane bases, on which the cranes would have been used to lift the worked blocks of granite onto carts for onward transmission. I understand that most of the quarried granite went to Tavistock for the building of their Pannier Market.  The carts would have taken the stone blocks direct from the quarry down to Tavistock, a distance of about 4 miles. (Source: Maurice & Dartmoor Cam website).

Windstrews on Dartmoor are very rare with only two examples that I know of; one amongst the settlement at Whittenkowles Rocks and a much finer example at Longstone Manor (SX5564/6851) on the banks of the Burrator Reservoir.  Essentially, a Windstrew is a raised threshing platform with a flat surface supported by a dry-stone wall all the way around.  Typically, the upper surface would measure around 36 feet by 15 feet.  Farmers would harvest their fields of corn by hand, of course, and the stooks (bundles of corn) would be brought to the windstrew on a cart for threshing.  The threshing process involves beating the heads of the corn stalks with a stick to separate the grain from the straw.  As this is done on the raised platform (windstrew) the wind would blow any chaff away from the grains of corn.  The straw would be used for animal bedding and, in some cases, animal fodder.  The grain would be ground down into flour by use of a quern for small quantities or a millstone for the larger quantities.  (Source: Maurice).

Notes on the Sourton Ice Works were written up in August 2019, to which two of Bob W's photos from our July 2022 walk have now been added. 

2) Sourton Apple Crusher (abandoned) - (SX5464/8960)

Lying just a few yards east of the junction between the track from Sourton Ice Works and the boundary ditch running south west from Vellake corner is an abandoned half of an apple crusher (mill stone).  The stone which has a diameter of 7 feet 6 inches and a trough depth of 7 inches, was worked a short distance to the west of its current site.  This stone was deliberately fashioned as a half section, but was apparently abandoned after it suffered damage during transportation off the moor.  It seems the majority of these stones were made in two halves and clamped together around the outside for use.  Sometimes the trough would be made deeper by heightening the rim with wood, as was probably the intended case for this stone. 

Apples would be crushed by pouring them evenly around the trough of the mill stone and a round upright granite stone (wheel), fixed to an axle, would be rolled around the trough by a horse fixed to an harness.  Apple mills were not designed to produce a smooth ground pulp, but one where the cellular structure of the fruit was thoroughly broken up.  To achieve this, the floor of the trough, and sometimes the tread of the upright wheel, would be corrugated radially.  This would ensure that that the wheel would bob up and down, rather than progressing smoothly around its course.  This process was known as 'pounding' the apples, rather than 'grinding', and the process was not considered complete until all the pips were found to have been crushed as well.  (Source: Richard Hansford Worth 'Worth's Dartmoor' - pages 384 - 386).

3) Iron Catch Gate - Sourton Downs - (SX5446/8951)

There is no evidence of a gate ever being placed at this spot, although William Crossing (Crossing's Guide - page 59) refers to a place named 'Iron Gates' further up the hill, on the col between Sourton Tor and Corn Ridge, and which formed the bond mark between the Sourton and Okehampton commons.  A boundary stone now marks the spot of Iron Catch Gate.  This stone shows a 'B' on its eastern face and what looks like 'ꟼ O' on the western face.  The 'B' represents the boundary of Bridestowe.  As for the reverse side, Dave Brewer, in his Dartmoor Boundary Markers book, page 174, confirms the inscription as 'ꟼ O' and attributes it to the boundary of the Okehampton Parish, although I see no reason why it should appear as 'O P' in reverse.  To add a bit of confusion to this boundary stone, Jeremy Butler (Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities, Volume 2, page 224) states that the inscription on the stone is BS / 9° (Bridestowe/Sourton / ??). Firstly, the eastern face is clearly showing only a 'B' in the centre of the stone and there is no sign of there having been an 'S' beside it, although there could have been one below it which is now buried in the ground.  Although the 'O' on the western face is somewhat smaller than the 'P' it looks far too big to me to be showing as a 'Degree' symbol and Butler doesn't offer any explanation as to why it should be a 'Degree' symbol, rather than an 'O'.

There is an interesting story attached to site of Iron Catch Gate.  Legend has it that many years ago, the body of a dead man was discovered at this spot which was, of course, on the boundary of the Bridestowe and Okehampton Parishes.  Although the body was lying just on the Bridestowe side of the boundary, The commoners of Bridestowe and Sourton refused to give him a proper burial.  This led to the parishioners of Okehampton stepping in and arranging for his interment.  The parishioners of Okehampton then claimed the piece of land on which the body lay for their own parish.  This, in turn, led to years of squabbles between the two sets of parishioners especially during their beating of the bounds.  It was not until fairly recent times that Bridestowe have finally come to terms with conceding the boundary line with Okehampton.  The piece of land, which is bounded by the King Way and the ancient boundary ditch from Iron Catch Gate to Vellake, on which the body was found is now known as 'The Triangle'.   (Sources: Dave Brewer's 'Dartmoor Boundary Markers' - page 174, Eric Hemery's 'High Dartmoor' - page 928, William Crossing's 'Guide to Dartmoor' - page 59 & Jeremy Butler's 'Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities - Volume 2 - page 224). 

4) Flying Fortress Crash Site - Tiger Marsh - (SX5515/8842)

On Christmas Day in 1943, a military Boeing B17-G (nicknamed the Flying Fortress) airplane had been on its way back from a meteorological mission off Cornwall to its base, at Cheddington, Buckinghamshire, when it suffered an overheating engine and came in to St Eval, Cornwall, for repairs before continuing its flight.  The engine required a new oil filter to be fitted and the plane had to be refuelled.  The staff at St Eval offered to put them up overnight so that they could continue on their journey the next day.  The only Englishman in the crew, Basil Browne, wanted to take them up on the offer but the other seven crew were American and wanted to get back to their base so that they could enjoy the rest of Christmas Day with their fellow countrymen.

The plane took off again at 11.30 and, on reaching Dartmoor, was flying at a height of around 1200 feet.  Young Sergeant, Basil Browne, who was sat in the nose of the plane was using his recently acquired map reading skills and noticed that parts of Northern Dartmoor reached heights of around 1800 feet, a good 600 feet above their current height.  He sent a message to the pilot, via the navigator but the pilot didn't seem to be too concerned as visibility at that time was quite good.  Shortly afterwards, the plane ran into a bank of cloud and, although the Pilot tried to raise the height of the plane, it didn't react quick enough and struck the top of a hill.  The impact ruptured the fuel tanks and set the plane on fire.  It flew/bounced on for about another ¾ mile before coming to a halt at Tiger Marsh, close to Lyd Head.

Of the eight crew members five died in the crash, the Pilot (1 Lt. Ernest Patterson) and the Co-Pilot (2 Lt. Raymond Coats) were able to escape form the crashed plane uninjured, apart from suffering burns.  Sergeant Basil Browne, who had been sat in the nose cone, was catapulted out of the plane through the perspex nose and was left unconscious on the ground.  He also caught his left arm on something which broke his wrist and ripped his wristwatch clean off his arm.  The Pilot and Co-Pilot, despite suffering from their burns, were able to walk off the moor and raise the alarm.  Two local men drove up to the crash site in their Jeep to investigate the damage and found the unconscious Basil Browne.  They brought him off the moor in their vehicle and, despite the burns and injuries, all three men made a full recovery from the crash.

In 1983, some 40 years after the crash, a Mr Hatcher found a watch near the crash site but just assumed it was lost by another walker on the moor.  It wasn't until 1994, after hearing a radio interview with Graham Lewis about another crash on Dartmoor that he thought any more about the watch.  Graham Lewis has done a lot of research and written a book about all the airplane crashes on the moor.  Mr Hatcher made contact with Graham Lewis over the watch he'd found and Graham agreed to make some investigations.  He soon found out that watch belonged to Basil Browne, who was then a retired School Teacher, and had several conversations with him about the crash.  Although the watch was loaned to Basil for that mission and was supposed to have been handed in afterwards, he asked Graham to look after it and it is now on display at the RAF Memorial Museum at Davidstow in Cornwall.  

There are still a few pieces of wreckage to be found at the site and, until recently, there was a metal plaque, attached to a short stake, which acted as a memorial to the crash and its victims.  More recently a fine wooden memorial had also been placed at the site.  However, in 2022, a large granite monument has been  installed as a more permanent memorial to this tragic accident and the previous two memorials removed.  Unfortunately, there is a spelling mistake on this monument as Basil Browne appears to have lost the 'e' off the end of his surname, hopefully a mistake that will soon be corrected.  (Source: Graham Lewis's book on Dartmoor Plane Crashes).

A scanned copy of Graham Lewis's pages on the Flying Fortress Crash can be found here, as a .pdf file (Please ignore pages 122 & 129).  

5) Liberator Crash Site - West Okement Valley - (Memorial - SX5656/8832)

Details of the Liberator airplane crash are covered in the Research Notes for April 2015, to which a photo of the recently erected granite monument has now been added.

Information about the Leather Tor Metal Cross can be found on our Dartmoor Crosses website. (Due to the fact that other similar crosses on the moor have been either stolen or damaged, we have decided not to publish the exact location of this cross).

Information about the Traveller's Ford Metal Cross can be found on our Dartmoor Crosses website. (Due to the fact that other similar crosses on the moor have been either stolen or damaged, we have decided not to publish the exact location of this cross).

There has been a continuous settlement on Challacombe Down since at least the Bronze Age, 3,500 years ago.  At this time, the main settlement was probably based at Grimspound, but they would also have farmed the land on the other side of the West Webburn, on Challacombe Down.  The animals were taken out into the fields to graze by day and brought back into the pound at night to keep them safe from prowling wolves and bears.  In later times, a medieval settlement was built at Challacombe and evidence can still be clearly seen of the lynchettes (small strip fields) running down the valley sides.

The manor of Challacombe is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as being held "by a certain knight Roger, from Nicholas the Crossbowman, who also held Buckland-in-the Moor". Records show that the medieval village dates from the 13th Century and consisted of a five separate houses, lynchettes on both the steep eastern side and more gentle southern slopes of the Down. The houses remained in use until 1880, when, presumably, the current farm was built to replace the village.

As well as farming, the area has been heavily worked for tin over the years.  There is evidence all down the valley of the mining remains where the tinners excavated a number of gullies in their search for this precious metal.  There is also evidence of a Blowing House and possible Blacksmith's Shop in the Challacombe Farm area.  We did see a couple of abandoned tinners' mould stones on our walk and we also searched for a mortar stone, which has been reported as being at the farm, but without success. The neighbouring farm, Headland Warren, was, as the name implies, a large breeder of rabbits of which the meat was used to feed the miners working in the area.  In addition, there was vast mining activity in the neighbouring valley with the Golden Dagger and Vitifer Mines, with the former working some of the Challacombe Farm land.

Challacombe Farm is now owned by the Duchy of Cornwall and is run organically to conserve and enhance its archaeology and wildlife.  The cattle, Welsh Black and North Devon, have been chosen for the way they graze with a ripping action which not only enables them to graze the boggy rhôs pasture in the valley bottoms but allows wild flowers, like orchids, to thrive in this type of pasture.  The sheep, Shetland crossed with Icelandic Rams, are light on their feet and nibble the grass down tight.  They are also very good at keeping the gorse under control which helps a number of different species as well as protecting the archaeology.  The livestock are out on the grass all the year around, but are able to come inside during really bad weather during the winter, when their diet is supplemented with hay harvested from the flower-rich meadows during the summer months.  The farm has twice won the Duke of Cornwall's Habitat Award Scheme, in 1996 and 2005.  The farm welcomes visitors and allows walkers to roam anywhere on their land to the western side of the road.  (Sources: Hemery's 'High Dartmoor' pages 639-642 & three signboards distributed around the farm).

Although on the Royal Forest of Dartmoor boundary line (between Ysfothere - North Hisworthy/Hessary and the middle of Mystmore - Great Mis Tor) the Perambulations of 1240 and 1609 do not mention Rundlestone. Also recorded as Rendlestone the name appeared for “a great stone called Roundle” in 1675 and as “Rundle Stone/Rundlestone” in other 18th century references.  RH Worth attributed a large boulder (roundel) on Rundlestone Tor (situated on the “Forest” boundary) as bearing the title, it having two unique rock basins. Wm Crossing (and Hemery), however, link it to a boundary stone that was recognised in 1702 and sited on the south side of the Tavistock road near the two cottages that face one another. The demise of “Crossing’s” stone began with its use as a gatepost, then to be seen lying on the ground and disappearing after 1881; the belief it was wantonly broken up and used in nearby wall building. Crossing measured it in the year mentioned as 7 feet in height above its set stones and 4 feet in girth: on one side near the top the letter R was cut in relief 7 inches high.

It would seem dwellings appeared near Rundlestone with the development of Princetown at the turn of the 19th century. A small hamlet formed which Crossing described as miserable huts, “which the ruins of some still attest”, JLW Page wrote of them as “somewhat poverty stricken in appearance”. A sketch map from Kath Brewer for the late 19th century shows the dwellings of eight families along the stony track leading from Rundlestone towards New Forest Corner: the remains of Mistor Farm (Mount View on OS maps of 1888-1913) being found at SX5710/7552. South of the Tavistock road near and below Rundlestone Tor were two dwellings whilst north of Hollow Tor was a quarry and tin mine named Wheal Lucky (operational between 1797 and 1871). Hemery refers to the remains of “ruined farms” and at a guess the majority of these unfortunate abodes would have fallen into disrepair about the turn of the 20th century; those of better quality remaining today.

At Rundlestone Corner, upon turning into the Princetown road, the Rundlestone Inn once stood on the left. Originally a farmstead and depicted on an 1838-1848 mosaic Tithe Map, the inn appears for the first time in records dating to 1814, under licensee Richard Hall and most likely to serve the needs of local labourers. It closed in 1854 with the opening in Princetown of the Prince of Wales Inn and was converted in 1861 for use as prison officers’ quarters into two, two-storey cottages. Each cottage had a living room, sitting room and lean-to scullery on the ground floor with two bedrooms on the first floor. There were no mains services. RAF aerial photographs of 1946-1949 show the cottages still roofed though they became derelict as photographs taken in 1958, prior to demolition; show the roof mostly gone. The entrance gate posts can still be seen in the boundary wall alongside the road at SX57639/74935 from where an area of level ground is also visible. (Sources: K Brewer, J M Collingwood, Wm Crossing, R Ebdon, E Hemery, heritagegateway.org.uk, S Rowe & R H Worth).

2) Omen Beam Tramroad  - (SX5753/7687 to SX5843/7421)

The tramroad dates from 1846 when the British Patent Naphtha Company rented the old war prison infirmary to produce naphtha and other by-products from peat. With conversion to a retort house a horse-drawn tramroad was also constructed out to a granite wharf at approximately SX5753/7687 (1.4m high, 12m long and 5.5m wide) that was connected to Yearlick (Greena) Ball’s turf ties by packhorse. There is evidence to suggest a branch tramroad went off eastwards, just south of Fice’s Well, towards a probable wharf in Long Plantation on Omen Beam linked to other turf ties there. Not far from the tramroad’s access off the B3357 The Touchstone is passed on the left.

At a cost of £19,000 the naphtha project only lasted a couple of years as it encountered production problems and by 1850 the retort house had become the prison gasworks. Once a gasworks outside the prison walls was opened in 1875 the former infirmary became the convicts’ workshops. (Source: Eric Hemery, DartmoorCam and heritagegateway.org.uk).

3) Fice's Well - (SX5773/7587)

The notes for Fice's Well written up after our August 2013 walk have been updated after further research.

4) Peat Cutting - (No specific Grid Reference)

For centuries peat was a substance valued both domestically and industrially as a fuel. Formed by the decomposition of plant material in saturated conditions of both subsoil and atmosphere true peat does not occur everywhere. Wet ground, moist air and cool temperatures together with decomposing underlying granite are necessary for its development. The largest area of peat blanket bog occurs north of the Tavistock to Moretonhampstead road stretching towards Okehampton.

Peat, capable of retaining a large quantity of water in proportion to the solid material which forms it, absorbs moisture faster than losing it and necessitates considerable drying time before use, not easily achieved in the moorland climate. Although thermally inferior to coal it was indispensable domestically and from medieval times when converted to charcoal, essential to the tin industry.  For domestic use it was customary for a “holding” to have its own turf-tie where an occupier had established appropriation to cut peat, keeping to their own tie and not interfering with anyone else’s.

Cutting occurred between late April and early September. A long strip called a “journey”, commonly 40 yards long, would be cut two turves wide and 18 to 20 inches deep. Successive journeys would be worked parallel with each other with the turf-tie taking on the form of a rectangular pit. Its depth would increase to several feet with the general expectation that depth produced better fuel. A peat tie could be worked for many years, the excavation extending until the individual’s area was exhausted or its limit reached. Once peat had been removed care was taken to replace the top turves to preserve herbage.

Specific and very sharp tools were used. A long wooden handled slitting knife, blade 2½ feet in length and 3 to 4 inches broad to firstly trim the edge of the previous year’s cut before the new season’s work could begin and then to make an initial deep cut into the peat 14 inches from and parallel to the previous year’s edge along the length of the journey. The covering layer of soil and vegetation was then removed, this could be up to 2 feet in depth, with the use of a budding-iron (a flat triangular pointed shovel) whilst standing within the turf-tie. The tool was pushed horizontally into the trimmed face to reach the initial cut so as to lift the top layer away and cast it into the tie for replacement once the journey was finished.

Next the actual task of peat cutting commenced using the turf-iron. This had a blade 7 inches wide with one side formed into an angle of 90 degrees and having a curved cutting edge. It had a socket to take a handle and “shoulder” on which to apply foot pressure for pushing down into the peat. Cuts were made at a slightly slanting angle at two inch intervals working backwards along the journey to produce two turves that were 20in x 7in x 2in, one turve being cast into the previously worked tie whilst the other went onto the uncut ground above. Direction being dependent on whether the worker was left or right handed. It was said that an industrious worker could cut two such journeys in a day!

Once cut, the turves were stood up against one another in pairs to facilitate drying. The longer they’d take to dry might involve them being made into small piles called stooks. Once suitably dry they’d be taken to their place of use and if on a farm made into a rick and thatched. A prolonged spell of wetness could render the turves useless.  Peat cutting for industrial and/or commercial purposes led to larger turves being cut and journeys of greater area worked.  (Source: Wm Crossing and Helen Harris).