The Dartmoor sun shines on the fabulous five from Everything Everywhere

Last Wednesday five more intrepid volunteers from Everything Everywhere left their desks behind for the day and ventured out onto Dartmoor. They joined a team of regular DPA volunteers clearing gorse and other scrub from around the Bronze Age archaeology on Leeden Hill.

The site is between Princetown and Yelverton, on the south-western side of Dartmoor, 1,200 feet above sea level. We have been working here for several seasons, gradually clearing around a series of round houses, walls, and pounds on the hillside, that had become totally smothered in gorse. All of these are Scheduled Ancient Monuments and are an important part of our past, but had become an invisible part of our present.

The Everything Everywhere volunteers were rewarded for coming out with a beautiful spring day – early mist cleared to glorious sunshine. The team helped clear a section of ancient wall and finished clearing an area of pound.

They worked  hard all day and got really stuck into the gorse.

A bit different to the usual day in the office

The site is beginning to show up much more clearly from the road and will be able to be enjoyed by many more people.

As ever the team were sustained throughout the day by copious supplies of cake, for which thank you to Val and Sylvia and thank you for  planning and organising the day’s work to  Bob and Bill. We’d like to say a big thank you to the Everything Everywhere volunteers for all their hard work and we hope they enjoyed their day helping keep Dartmoor special.

Another good day on Devonport Leat – our 15th

Dear Folks – What can I say? Today was simply another excellent day of conservation work on Dartmoor, preserving the archaeology of Devonport Leat for future generations.

This was our 15th work day, Fri 24th Feb, and I want to thank Barbara & Roger, Barry & Tanya, Bill, Chris, Derek, Elaine & John, Helen, Ian, John, John & Rachel, Kathy, Keith, Nigel, Stephanie, Sylvia and Val, who with myself, made a total of 21 willing souls.

It was almost perfect except that “you know who” forgot to take his camera so there is no photograph today to show you all the smiling faces.

We removed scrub trees that have grown in the leat and on its close banks since it stopped running in 1898, that was when the reservoir at Burrator came into use. The leat has been little managed since then, although some trees have been cut before and have regrown as multi-stemmed “clumps”. The new pathway for walkers away from the road is coming along very well and, once again, a group of passers-by complimented us on our efforts.

Incidentally, in case you were unaware, as I was, the leat, that started running in 1801, was built during the reign of George III (1760-1820). You can say “Its Georgian!”

Another “thank you” goes to Stephanie for bringing a choice of three menu items for refreshment – chocolate cake, date & walnut cake and some rather tasty biscuits. It just gets better and better on the leat – I don’t think it can go on this way!

This was the last day of our season where we were pressing ahead, going along the leat towards Yelverton. Our next session will be spent cutting about 90 yards of gorse back on the golf course, where Barry & Tanya made a good start today cutting the brambles that were such an impediment to our intended activities in this section. The last day will be spent on a tidy-up walk along the whole length that we have worked on to date.

Depending on circumstances, our last day may involve reclaiming logs left by the residents to turn into longer-term habitat piles of hardwood logs for the benefit of wood-boring insects that so far have not benefited so much from our activities.

After the day of work, complete with morning, lunch and afternoon breaks, we repaired once again to – guess where – The Rock Hotel at Yelverton. At one point I counted 18 of us, all enjoying a really sociable time! If you would like to sample what we get up to, volunteers are always welcome – just make contact via the DPA web site Contact us page.

A magnificent seven get blown around Dartmoor

Today, of all days, we had a walk around the tors and archaeology above the River Dart valley. Amazingly six people turned up, so with me that made the magnificent seven.

We started from Bel Tor Corner car park and headed off to Sharp Tor, one of several with that name on the moor. As we headed up the eastern slopes we saw several reaves, clearly visible amongst the gorse and bracken. Derek headed up to the summit where the wind was so strong that we beat a hasty retreat and headed off between the two rock piles, skirting around the head of the Row Brook valley, visiting several hut circles on the way. A quick visit to Easdon Cott, down in the valley was rewarded by a break from the wind and then we headed back up the slope to see the magnificent Bronze Age roundhouse that sits just below the Ashburton to Two Bridges road.

From there we crossed the road and up to the summit of Yar Tor. I had thought we could have a coffee break out of the wind in the spiral cairn at the top but I had reckoned without the strength of the wind today. We made it into the centre of the spiral, but were still being buffeted by the wind so decided to head down to take shelter amongst the rocks below. By this stage the gusts of wind were so strong that at times it was all we could do to keep our feet as we scrambled down!

Whilst we had our quick coffee  we kept watching the summit of Corndon Tor, our next destination,  disappear and then reappear in the worsening weather! Not a very reassuring sight. As the quickest way back to the start was that way anyway we headed off, passing the Money Pit kist and the more modern Cave-Penney cross on the way.

We had planned a lunch stop on Corndon Tor, but by this time the weather had really set in so it was a quick yomp down the side of Corndon and across Sherberton Common back to the cars.

It was a shame that a walk with such magnificent views lost that aspect today, but I was as impressed as ever with our members’ determination not to let a little bit of rain spoil their day. Only this time it was rather a lot of rain and coming at quite a speed. There should have been some photgraphs of the landscape in this spectacular part of Dartmoor to go with this posting, but it was not a day for stopping to take pictures.

Needless to say my house, like several others I can think of, is still festooned with dripping waterproofs, or not so waterproofs. And the forecast for tomorrow is dry and warm – bother!!

A Farewell to Ale

No 4 in an occasional series about raising funds for the DPA.

Almost a month since my last post – too long ! This blog entry is dedicated to Tessa, my most recent sponsor. She must have read my previous post and thought that the results of this project would be modest and therefore sponsored me for a handsome amount to become my most generous sponsor.

Happy Sunday – more fun than the gym and we don’t charge. Dartmoor Preservation Association volunteers continue conservation work on Hawns and Dendles

A dozen of Dartmoor Preservation Association’s most committed archaeological conservation volunteers spent Sunday 5 February strimming, cutting and raking around five Bronze Age hut circles on Hawns and Dendles, north of Cornwood village on south Dartmoor.  The weather was just right.

This task followed on from similar work to the ruined post-medieval farmstead carried out last November.  The archaeology is now easier to see – the farmstead is just south of the wall at about SX615626 and the hut circles are scattered just north of the same wall.

The site is some distance from a parking area, so volunteers walked in from Higher Hele, with tools carried in by four-wheel drive.

Thanks to strimmers John W and Nigel, to Bob who marked out the work site, Adam who took the photos, Derek and Chris for organising and transporting the tools, Elaine for the cake and John V, Rachel, Hilary, Stephane and Sylvia, for lopping, slashing, pulling and raking.

Also thanks to the farmer for allowing parking in his farmyard and to the Cornwood Inn for use of their car park and providing a welcome refreshment break after work.

Summer will include a day on Hawns clearing tracks.  There is more archaeology to investigate and clear later in the year.

New volunteers are always welcome – details are on the website.

Hey! Hey! What a gorgeous day on Devonport Leat!

Devonport Leat with a cleared walkway on the left ....... Click image for larger version

Friday 2nd February was our 14th day of conservation work on Devonport Leat and what an absolute beauty of a day it was! Sometime, the fates are bound to look less kindly on us, however, today was a real blue sky Dartmoor day, although it was very cold.

I saw -2°C recorded on the car instrumentation but after we started work I took off the old Barbour jacket and an old fleece – leaving just a winter shirt and a long-sleeved thermal polo-neck! I was not going to be cold, no matter what weather came along.

My many, many thanks to Bill, Bob, Chris, Clive, Derek, Elaine & John, Helen, Jack, John & Rachel, Kieran, Keith, Paul, Roger, Stephanie, Steve, Sylvia and Val who with myself made twenty volunteers.

A special “Thank-you” goes to Sylvia who brought (wait for it) two sorts of cake! This time we had great fruitcake AND orange chocolate bars. Someone told me the bar pieces were good – but I already knew that!

Another special “Thank you” also to our hero who is often taken for granted – Derek. He brings our tools religiously and takes them back again but there is a lot of work in between – checking, cleaning, servicing, etc. Its bad enough doing your tools at home – today Derek brought tools for twenty! I’m saying this particularly because I had a taste of it last week!

The photograph above shows the leat with little growth in it – what there was is removed. There is a cleared 2-metre walkway on the left and the road on the right. A number of logs are visible on the right bank ready for residents to collect.

After the work was finished, several of us retired to The Rock Inn at Yelverton, where a period of welcome refreshment ensued, interspersed with sociable conversation. If you would like to join this happy band then contact the DPA via the web site, clicking on “Volunteering” or “Conservation – Devonport Leat”.

Everything Everywhere brave the elements to help Dartmoor

On Wednesday 25th January, our usual band of volunteers were joined by 24 visitors from Everything Everywhere making 38 of us altogether. We had a busy day clearing gorse and scrub vegetation from the Bronze Age hut circles and reeves (walls) on Leeden Hill. At 1,200 feet above sea level it is one of the more exposed sites we are working on at the moment.

The weather was hardly what we would have chosen, low cloud was a bit of an understatement – it seemed to be reaching all the way down to ground-level in places! With extra wet weather clothing supplied from Val’s stocks we all set to work undeterred. Bob and Bill had planned out our tasks the day before so there was plenty to keep us busy.

We owe a big thank you our visitors for working so hard and remaining cheerful despite the conditions. Some even said that they were enjoying themselves! In our usual tradition, we encouraged them with plenty of cake.

Getting to grips with the gorse

Now that's what I call getting stuck in to the job

Beats being stuck at the desk all day

We hope that they will come again on a nice, sunny day. Thanks also to so many of our own volunteers for turning up for work on such a damp day.