Bodmin Moor

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Geological sketch showing Bodmin Moor in relation to Cornwall's granite intrusions
Rough Tor

Bodmin Moor (Cornish: Goon Brenn)[1] is a granite moorland in northeastern Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is 208 square kilometres (80 sq mi) in size, and dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history.

Bodmin Moor is one of five granite plutons in Cornwall that make up part of the Cornubian batholith[2] (see also Geology of Cornwall).

The name Bodmin Moor is relatively recent, an Ordnance Survey invention of 1813. It was formerly known as Fowey Moor after the River Fowey, which rises within it.[3]

Geography

Dramatic granite tors rise from the rolling moorland: the best known are Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall at 417 m (1,368 ft),[4] and Rough Tor at 400 m (1,300 ft). To the south-east Kilmar Tor and Caradon Hill are the most prominent hills. Considerable areas of the moor are poorly drained and form marshes (in hot summers these can dry out). The rest of the moor is mostly rough pasture or overgrown with heather and other low vegetation.

The moor contains about 500 holdings with around 10,000 beef cows, 55,000 breeding ewes and 1,000 horses and ponies.[5] Most of the moor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Bodmin Moor, North,[6] and has been officially designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), as part of Cornwall AONB.[7] Almost a third of Cornwall has AONB designation, with the same status and protection as a National Park. The moor has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports about 260 breeding pairs of European stonechats as well as a wintering population of 10,000 Eurasian golden plovers.[8] The moor has also been recognized as a separate natural region and designated as national character area 153 by Natural England.[9]

Rivers and inland waters

Siblyback Lake
The De Lank River at Garrow Tor

Bodmin Moor is the source of several of Cornwall's rivers: they are mentioned here anti-clockwise from the south.

The River Fowey rises at a height of 290 m (950 ft) and flows through Lostwithiel and into the Fowey estuary.[10]

The River Tiddy rises near Pensilva and flows southeast to its confluence with the River Lynher (the Lynher flows generally south-east until it joins the Hamoaze near Plymouth). The River Inny rises near Davidstow and flows southeast to its confluence with the River Tamar.

The River Camel rises on Hendraburnick Down and flows for approximately 40 km (25 mi) before joining the sea at Padstow.[11] The River Camel and its tributary the De Lank River are an important habitat for the otter and both have been proposed as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC)[12] The De Lank River rises near Roughtor and flows along an irregular course before joining the Camel south of Wenford.

The River Warleggan rises near Temple and flows south to join the Fowey.

On the southern slopes of the moor lies Dozmary Pool. It is Cornwall's only natural inland lake and is glacial in origin. In the 20th century three reservoirs have been constructed on the moor; these are Colliford Lake, Siblyback Lake and Crowdy reservoirs which supply water for a large part of the county's population. Various species of waterfowl are resident around these waters.[13]

  • Rivers south of Bodmin Moor

  • Rivers southeast of Bodmin moor

  • Rivers northwest of Bodmin Moor

Parishes

Church in St Neot

The parishes on the moor are as follows:

History and antiquities

Prehistoric times

King Arthur's Hall
Kilmar Tor

10,000 years ago, in the Mesolithic period, hunter-gatherers wandered the area when it was wooded. There are several documented cases of flint scatters being discovered by archaeologists, indicating that these hunter gatherers practised flint knapping in the region.[14]

During the Neolithic era, from about 4,500 to 2,300 BC, people began clearing trees and farming the land. It was also in this era that the production of various megalithic monuments began, predominantly long cairns (three of which have currently been identified, at Louden, Catshole and Bearah) and stone circles (sixteen of which have been identified). It was also likely that the naturally forming tors were also viewed in a similar manner to the manmade ceremonial sites.[15]

In the following Bronze Age, the creation of monuments increased dramatically, with the production of over 300 further cairns, and more stone circles and stone rows.[15] More than 200 Bronze Age settlements with enclosures and field patterns have been recorded.[16] and many prehistoric stone barrows and circles lie scattered across the moor. In a programme shown in 2007 Channel 4's Time Team investigated a 500-metre cairn and the site of a Bronze Age village on the slopes of Rough Tor.[17]

King Arthur's Hall thought to be a late Neolithic or early Bronze Age ceremonial site can be found to the east of St Breward on the moor.[18]

Medieval and modern times

Hawk's Tor, north of Temple

Where practicable areas of the moor were used for pasture by herdsmen from the parishes surrounding the moor. Granite boulders were also taken from the moor and used for stone posts and to a certain extent for building (such material is known as moorstone).[19] Granite quarrying only became reasonably productive when gunpowder became available.

The moor gave its name (Foweymore) to one of the medieval districts called stannaries which administered tin mining: the boundaries of these were never defined precisely. Until the establishment of a turnpike road through the moor (the present A30) in the 1770s the size of the moorland area made travel within Cornwall very difficult.

Its Cornish name, Goen Bren, is first recorded in the 12th century.[20]

English Heritage monographs "Bodmin Moor: An Archaeological Survey" Volume 1 and Volume 2 covering the post-medieval and modern landscape are publicly available through the Archaeology Data Service.[21][22]

Monuments and ruins

Roughtor was the site of a medieval chapel of St Michael and is now designated as a memorial to the 43rd Wessex Division of the British Army. In 1844 on Bodmin Moor the body of 18-year-old Charlotte Dymond was discovered. Local labourer Matthew Weeks was accused of the murder and at noon on 12 August 1844 he was led from Bodmin Gaol and hanged. The murder site now has a monument erected from public money and the grave is at Davidstow churchyard.[23]

Legends and traditions

Dozmary Pool is identified by some people with the lake in which, according to Arthurian legend, Sir Bedivere threw Excalibur to The Lady of the Lake.[24] Another legend relating to the pool concerns Jan Tregeagle.

The Beast of Bodmin has been reported many times but never identified with certainty.[25]

See also

References

The Cheesewring, a granite tor on the southern edge of Bodmin Moor
A wild horse on Bodmin Moor
  1. ↑ Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF) : List of place-names agreed by the MAGA Signage Panel. Cornish Language Partnership.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.; p. 72
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ [1] Archived August 8, 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ [2] Archived October 7, 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Bere, Rennie (1982) The Nature of Cornwall. Buckingham: Barracuda Books, pp. 63-67
  14. ↑ Tilley, C. (1996) "The Power of Rocks: landscape and topography on Bodmin Moor", in: World Archaeology; 28, p. 165
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Tilley, C. (1996) "The Power of Rocks: landscape and topography on Bodmin Moor", in: World Archaeology; 28, pp. 151-176
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Clifton-Taylor, A. "Building materials" in: Pevsner, N. (1970) Cornwall. 2nd ed. Penguin Books, p. 29-34
  20. ↑ Weatherhill, Craig (2009) A Concise Dictionary of Cornish Place-names. Westport, co. Mayo: Evertype; p. 6
  21. ↑ Bonney, D., Johnson, N., Rose, P. (2008) "Bodmin Moor An archaeological survey Volume 1: The human Landscape c.1800" English Heritage.
  22. ↑ Giles, C., Herring, P., Johnson, N., Sharpe, A., Smith, J. (2008) "Bodmin Moor An Archaeological survey Volume 2: The industrial and post-medieval landscapes" English Heritage.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Cornish Archaeology; No 34, 1995
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Weatherhill, Craig (1995) Cornish Place Names & Language. Wilmslow: Sigma Leisure ISBN 1-85058-462-1

External links

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