Merrivale, Dartmoor 27 June 2013

 

From Foggintor to Merrivale...

I did not know what to expect of Merrivale as we drove from Foggintor through Princetown.  We parked in the small, shaded Four Winds car park just off the B3357 and made the roughly 10 minute easy walk to the site. It is a completely open and exposed area with views in every direction. 

 

Stretching out before you are two sets of stone rows.  Our approach was from the east so these photos show the view facing west with one row ‘south’ (left) and the other row ‘north’ (on the right). In-between them is a small man-made stream called a leat.

 

I don’t like to read too much about the places I visit before hand so that I can get my own feeling for them but from what I have read since, the site has had a varied past from pre-history through to modern day. Over the centuries many of the stones that once lined the rows and covered the graves have been moved;a common practice on the moors over the centuries as these granite artifacts have been re-used for other purposes. Fortunately many remain undisturbed and give us a glimpse as to their true purpose.  There is much speculation out there as to why the rows and burials are aligned as they are and how these 'primitive' people managed to calibrate them so exactly without the modern technology we have today. I like to think that some of it was that these people were much more in tune with their surroundings than we are today and instinctively knew about such things.  When you stand there – what will you think?

The remains are scattered and because it is relatively flat you need to give yourself time to explore the surroundings more thoroughly – a lot of history in a compact area. I spent a lot of time just wandering around, lying amongst the stones to get the view from the ground and trying to put them in perspective.

The view from here to the north includes both stone rows, the leat and across to the round houses which to the uninformed eye, look very much like the surrounding moor landscape.  I had a hard time photographing them because the area was so flat.  

(You can just make them out in the photos here). 

 

 

There are two burial cists the larger was the first I had seen where the cover stone was in place, although it has had a piece removed- according to my English Heritage brochure on the site, this was used for gate posts (which left me wondering why with all the stones on Dartmoor they had to use that one). There were no remains found when it was uncovered understandably due to the soil content being very acid.  It was however very interesting to be able to look inside the chamber. The stone is a little over 6 feet in length and lies on an east/west plain. 







 

As I was walking around I could hear a lone bird singing, the wind howling around me and the soft bubbling sound of the leat.  I decided to explore this last sound more closely.  I sat within the edges of its banks and for me the sound of the water as it poured over the rocks within had a peaceful quality – I found it very relaxing.  The water as you can imagine was crystal clear and cold.  The bank edges are deep enough to get out of the wind allowing me to record the sound that I heard and in doing so the bird that was singing can also be heard more clearly. I could not see where the bird was when I looked around for it but in this open landscape  the sound carries very nicely across the moor.

 

(It is most likely that the bird heard in this video is a skylark which are know to fly very high - hence the reason I could not see it - a very small bird with a big big voice!)

 

 

 And so to a final interesting fact about life in and around Merrivale. There was a point when it appears it wasn’t so ‘merry - according to English Heritage’s brochure ‘Merrivale – An Archaeological Landscape’ the area ‘was once known as the Plague or Potato Market… dates to 1625 when the Bubonic Plague was rampant...’. It goes on to say that during this time food was left here for those afflicted and ‘payment …was left in a jar of vinegar which was thought to have acted as an antiseptic’. It must have been very lonely out here during times like the plague or the long winter months. I have said to Maggie many times that I forget that this is an island - when you are in the middle of the vastness that is Dartmoor it is hard to believe you are not that far from the sea - it feels like the land goes on forever.

 

Still, Merrivale is one place I will have to return to in order to explore its entirety.  It would definitely be somewhere I would love to see in winter and at sunset / sunrise. It is staggering to think that man has been a part of this landscape from 2500 BC to now and it has not changed that much since the first people hunted, worshipped, lived and died here.  Each century has left its mark but somehow it has survived the onslaught of subsequent ages so that today we can enjoy it’s beauty and mysteries.

 

Our modern day materials keep us warm and dry, our cars allow us to travel great distances within a day,  phones help us stay in touch and GPS signals keep us from getting lost.  But sometime I would like to spend a night on the moor, in a tent with no lights and just a fire for company to learn its secrets, watch the stars and experience a sunrise as it creeps its way along the grass, rocky tors and silence. 

 

 

We continue on next time with a church on the very tip of a Tor on a misty, foggy and cold morning. It was a life changing experience for me... St Michael de Rupe, Bren Tor