Dartmoor Granite

See Foggin’s Tor quarried to a hollow for stone.

Imagine railways run on granite rails, carrying quarried rock and spoil.

A thriving community with three schools and cottages, all made of stone.

London Bridge, made from this.

Find the Monks' Path, marked by medieval crosses.

Stone chipping treading underfoot.

Whether imposing tor or igneous outcrop.

Or abbey down to stone flagged church.

It’s granite. Tough as old boots.

Stumble where tinners mined metal,

Spewing spoil-heaps like rampant worms.

Marvel at the Merrivale Antiquities.

Pre-history.

The Longstone and double stone rows.

The cairns. The kists.

All granite, marking life and death from Bronze Age settlement to now.

Layer upon historical layer,

From the granite core of the moor.

A Moorland Pilgrimage

Here is a sequence of images from medieval Nun’s Cross to prehistoric Drizzlecombe. If ever there is a place deserving pilgrimage, this is it.  The River Drizzle fizzles into the Plym Valley and then is forgotten. But the Bronze Age monuments marking its course are lasting forever. Go touch the Menhirs. Walk the triple stone rows. Here is a place which radiates sanctitude and bestows reverence. Come with me.

The wilderness may promise broad horizons but be careful where next you tread.