 |
 |
 |
|
Discover Bodmin Moor - a land steeped in history!
Bodmin Moor is an exceedingly rich and important historic landscape which has been occupied since prehistoric times. A wealth of prehistoric remains, and the numerous myths and legends associated with the area, combine with the wildness of the moorland and its weather to create a mysterious landscape of ancient character. In the Bronze Age, when the climate was warmer and soils more fertile, hundreds of thatched stone round houses stood on the lower slopes of Rough Tor. The remains of these settlements and their ancient fields can still be seen today. Cultivation of the moorland took place in both prehistoric and medieval times, leaving a legacy of ancient, abandoned, field enclosures as a reminder of the days when the moors were full of people.
The landscape was cleared of most woodland at an early date. The high ground was covered in megalithic tombs, cairns, standing stones and other monuments which today form a 4,000-year-old ritual landscape. Although there are many prehistoric field systems most of the area was open grazing land and the history of the landscape since prehistoric times has been farming and mining. Most of the present day features around Minions are the remains of the large-scale mining expansion that began in the 18th century. Tin, bronze and china clay have been worked and the granite have been quarried. Reminders of this industrial past are widespread but occur particularly on the southern fringes of the moor in the Liskeard area, where the remains of mine engine houses are still visible.
The dramatic scenic landscape of Bodmin Moor has attracted the attention of numerous writers and artists and the mystical quality of the landscape is reflected in numerous myths and legends. Dozmary (or Dozmare) Pool,is also known for myths relating to King Arthur.
'Dozmare has many moods. It is still and limpid on a summer's day, tempting to the paddler, but once a whisper of a breeze ripples the surface the colour changes to a slaty grey, ominous and drear, and little wavelets splash the shore, peddled with brown stones and peaty mud. Then we forget that it is only five feet deep, and look for the rising hand to break the surface, reaching for Excalibur'. - Daphne du Maurier.
Not far from the pool is the pub now known as 'Jamaica Inn', which inspired the novel of that name by
Daphne du Maurier and caused the building to be re-named after the book.
There are hardly any houses on the open moorland. At the edges of the moors, the farms and hamlets occupy the most sheltered sites so that the land can appear to be very sparsely populated. On these more sheltered sites and better land, modern farm buildings tend to dominate the older dwellings. villages are linked by narrow, winding lanes.The farming is overlaid by groups of miners'cottages and small villages, some recent, others of medieval origin with buildings clustered around the square-towered granite churches. Older buildings are almost universally of granite with slate roofs and some slate-hanging. The granite occurs throughout the landscape in walls, clapper bridges, crosses, standing stones,stone stiles and rock exposures.
The landscape of Bodmin Moor is it's attraction. Visitors to the area can enjoy the varied environment knowing they are following in the footsteps of ancient man. The Moor houses the highest peaks in Cornwall - Roughter and Brown Willy - walking up those and viewing Cornwall coast to coast is to be savourerd. And then there's the myths and legends - King Arthur, Cornish Wreckers and the Beast of Bodmin Moor - let your imagination run wild!
