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Chagford Common

Chagford Common is a great place to visit. It contains Kes Tor - one of Dartmoor's most substantial and iconic tors; and Shovel Down - an important, ancient ritual Dartmoor landscape. Chagford Common is easy to walk around once you've got there and parked up. There are great views from Kes Tor over the heights of north Dartmoor - the overall prospect is most impressive. Shovel Down contains a lot of Bronze age remains. There are a lot of Bronze Age reaves, one or two directly abut onto the tor which says a lot about how our forebears saw the relationship of tors with their farming land. Unfortunately, over the last 15 years some of the common land has been allowed to overgrow and so some of the ancient remains are now not so easy to find.
Park at Batworthy Corner (SX 662865) and head off eastwards to Kes Tor. You can't miss this huge tor. Then walk SE towards Middle Tor and Frenchbeer Rock. Then contour westwards towards the Long Stone and from there take whatever path you wish to take. There are a number of Bronze Age remains to check out. Finally, back to the car park.
This 3 mile walk should give the walker no problems. It is straightforward and well marked with obvious trackways. No military areas.
 
The carpark at Batworthy Corner - SX 662865. Not too much room for cars here. The road on the left leads up to the private grounds of Batworthy Farm.
Walking up towards Kes Tor SX 663864. The grassy line is the overgrown line of a Bronze Age reave. Reaves are thought to denote field patterns and are probably analagous to modern day walled hedges.
The imposing silhouette of Kes Tor from SX 665864.
Looking east from the top of Kes Tor - SX 665863. A Bronze age reave lines up almost meeting the tor. This shows that the tor was once an integral part of the farming landscape around 3500 years ago. It could be that the tor was a revered marker stone.
The Kes Tor rock basin filled with ice. Rock basins are hollows that are gradually enlarged as frosts and ice manage to loosen small fragments of granite. Rock basins are found on a number of Dartmoor tors but this seems to be the largest one.
The view from Kes Tor. The green trees in the middle ground are part of Batworthy. On the left is part of Shovel Down whereas straightahead on the horizon lie the rocks of Watern Tor, with Wild Tor and Cosdon Hill towards the right. On the left are the snowy heights of Whitehorse Hill - one of the highest points of Dartmoor (and southern England).
Kes Tor from SX 666862
Middle Tor - SX 669858. Middle because it lies midway between Kes Tor and Frenchbeer Rock.
The southerly view from SX 669857.
Frenchbeer Rock - SX 671854. Despite it's name this is a tor.
This is the NW view (taken from SX 670855) as we come away from Frenchbeer Rock and head back towards Chagford Common. The stone walls enclose Thornworthy Tor.
Thornworthy Tor is a flat and reasonable extensive tor - SX 665852. Fernworthy Reservoir lies behind.
The logan rock of Thornworthy Tor - SX 665851
On the northern edge of the Thornworthy wall - SX 662854
The Longstone - SX 660857. This is one of Dartmoor's ancient menhirs - or standing stones. It forms part of the prehistoric landscape of the area and is a blocking stone of a double stone row which lies behind it and goes up the hill. Unfortunately the other stones of the stone row are much much smaller than the menhir. DC (Duchy of Cornwall) is marked on this side of the stone.
Part of one of the double stone rows of Shovel Down - SX 660859. This row is associated with the Longstone.
The NW view from the highest point of Shovel Down - SX 657857. Unfortunately the ground around here is now overgrown enough to obscure many of the extensive Bronze Age remains that lie around here. Watern and Wild Tor are on the horizon.
A double stone row from SX 659860. There are a number of double stone rows on Shovel Down and their purpose is unclear. They may have something to do with a processional ceremonyespecially since they are usually associated with cairns at the end of the row.
A double stone row taken from SX 660860
A view of Kes Tor from Shovel Down taken at SX 657865
Kes Tor with the iconic Dartmoor pony from the edge of Batworthy Corner.
Round Pound at SX 664868. This is probably a large Bronze Age enclosure which includes a central hut. A reave and passageway form part of the outside wall so it seems to have been a dwelling that was an integral part of the reave landscape. Legendary Dartmoor has a good page on this.
The entrance to the large central hut of Round Pound. Excavations made here in 1952 found evidence of iron working which suggests to some that this may have been an Iron Age structure or may have contained an Iron Age furnace. There is current scepticism on this and some say this was the remains of subsequent medieval iron working. Regardless, this would have been a comfortably large family dwelling.
 


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