Iron Age Dartmoor (0700 BC – 0043 AD)
As the Iron Age approached, Dartmoor’s population was on the move again and many communities moved down from the highest reaches of moorland to its edges. This move was partially prompted by climate change but social factors also played a part and, as settlements started to require protection from marauding neighbours, hill forts were built.
Saxon Dartmoor (0600 AD – 1066 AD)
The time after the Roman’s had left Britain was a time of turmoil that saw major changes, including the conquering of Devon by the European Saxons. Most of Dartmoor’s existing communities were invaded and replaced by the villages that we know and love today.
Middle Age Dartmoor (1066 AD – 1500 AD)
During this time Dartmoor was once again affected by climate change and warmer weather saw farming communities settling in longhouses on the higher edges of the moor. Towns also prospered as Dartmoor’s ability to provide both tin and wool saw the emergence of lucrative industries. Both of these industries had significant impact on the appearance of the moorland with sheep grazing changing the vegetation and tin streaming requiring the digging of trenches and redirection of water. As you walk across Dartmoor, most of the bigger dips and troughs you see in the land are the result of tin streaming and later, deeper digging.
Dartmoor’s Developing Industries
Tin continued to shape the landscape of Dartmoor, and underground mines eventually replaced deeper surface tin workings. The last working tin mine on Dartmoor was Golden Dagger Mine, which closed in the 1930s. Farming became more formalised and dry stone walls enclosed more and more areas as requirements for better grazing increased. As Britain moved into the Industrial Revolution and Victorian Eras, new industries thrived. Evidence can be found across the moor of: