Bodmin Moor

Coordinates: 50°33′45″N 4°36′48″W / 50.5625°N 4.6132°W / 50.5625; -4.6132

Brown Willy, highest point in Cornwall

The Cheesewring, a granite tor on the southern edge of Bodmin Moor

Bodmin Moor (Cornish: Goen Bren^[1]) is a granite moorland in northeastern Cornwall, England. It is 208 square kilometres (80 sq mi) in size, and originally dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. The name "Bodmin Moor" is relatively recent, being an Ordnance Survey invention of 1813. It was formerly known as "Fowey Moor", after the river which rises within it.^[2]

Landscape features

Dramatic granite tors rise from the rolling moorland: the best known are Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall at 417 m (1,370 ft),^[3] 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.^[4] Most of the moor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and has been officially designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), as part of Cornwall AONB.^[5]

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 (see Rivers, below).

Parishes

Church in St Neot

The parishes on the moor are as follows

• Advent
• Altarnun
• Blisland
• Bolventor
• Camelford
• Davidstow
• Lewannick
• Linkinhorne
• North Hill
• St Breward
• St Cleer
• St Clether
• St Ive
• St Neot
• Warleggan

Rivers

The moor is the source of a number of the county's main 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.^[6]

The River Tiddy rises near Pensilva and flows south east until it joins the river Lynher. The Lynher is one of the tributary streams of the Tamar: it flows generally south-east until it joins the Hamoaze near Plymouth. The River Inny also flows into the Tamar.

The River Camel rises on Hendraburnick Down and flows for approximately 40 km (25 mi) before joining the sea at Padstow.^[7] 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)^[8]

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.

Colliford Lake, Siblyback Lake and Crowdy reservoirs supply water for a large part of the county's population. Various species of waterfowl are resident around these waters.^[9]

History and antiquities

Prehistoric times

King Arthur's Hall.

10,000 years ago, in the Mesolithic period, hunter-gatherers wandered the moor when it was wooded and had a temperate climate. There are several documented cases of flint scatters being discovered by archaeologists, indicating that these hunter gatherers practiced flint knapping in the region.^[10]

During the Neolithic era, from about 4,500 to 2,300 BCE, people began clearing trees and farming the land. It was also in this era that the production of various megalithic monuments began, predominently 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.^[11]

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.^[12] More than 200 Bronze Age settlements with enclosures and field patterns have been recorded.^[13] 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.^[14]

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.^[15]

Medieval and modern times

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).^[16] Granite quarrying only became reasonably productive when gunpowder became available.

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.

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.^[17] Another legend relating to the pool concerns Jan Tregeagle.

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

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.^[18]

See also

• Geology of the United Kingdom
• List of topics related to Cornwall
• Brown Willy effect

References

• Weatherhill, Craig (1995) Cornish Place Names & Language Wilmslow: Sigma Leisure. ISBN 1850584621

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bodmin Moor

• Cornwall AONB