Dartmoor: A Landscape Study Peter Kamilo Klemen Submitted for the Degree of PhD University College London 1 Declaration “I confirm that all the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis.” 2 Dartmoor: A Landscape Study Focus and aims At the heart of Devon in the southwest of England lies Dartmoor, a large expanse of high moorland and rocky tors. Anyone who has visited Dartmoor or seen photographs and read about it will have their own personal images and feelings for the place, which will be as varied as the landscape. Over recent years landscape approaches have adopted strategies to understand how people experience and perceive the landscape that surrounds them (Ingold 2000, Thomas 1999, Tilley 1994). Phenomenology attempts to reveal the world as it actually is experienced by the subject as opposed to how we might theoretically assume it to be (Tilley 2004a). Writers such as Casey (1996, 2000, 2001, 2008), himself influenced by Merleau-Ponty, consider the body as vital and fundamental in perceiving, understanding and familiarising oneself with the landscape. Issues of memory, place, attachment and cosmology are nested within the landscape and remains of human activity, both past and present. Anthropology has demonstrated how peoples’ understanding and perception of the landscape structures moral codes and practice (Basso 1996) and kinship affiliation and re-negotiation (Gow 1996). Therefore, the focus of this study is to understand how peoples’ experiences in the Bronze Age and in the present were/are structured by the landscape characteristics (topography, geology) of Dartmoor. Applying a ’contextual’ approach to the past and present peoples’ involvements with the landscape, it is hoped that a better understanding of how their embodied experiences were structured by their involvement with the Dartmoor landscape. There are three aspects to the study. One focuses on the Bronze Age remains of two specific areas in Southern Dartmoor to approach the question of prehistoric engagements. Secondly, using structured and unstructured interviews the aim is to understand how Dartmoor as a whole continues to structure peoples’ experiences and how they become embodied. The third aspect considers how the Moor is ‘imaged’ and the contrasting views between different groups. The aim is to demonstrate how peoples’ perception of Dartmoor’s landscape are formed and continued to be structured by its particular characteristics expressed through literature and issues of conservation. 3 Contents Dartmoor: A Landscape Study Introduction 17 Part I: Introducing the Journey 25 Chapter 1 General Discussion of Theory and Method 1.1 Archaeologies of Landscape: Place and Landscape 26 1.2 Phenomenology and the Body 32 1.2.1 Elements for a Phenomenological Study 37 1.2.2 Criticisms of Phenomenology 39 1.3 Methodology 44 1.3.1 Methodological Approach for the Archaeological Study 44 1.3.2 Studying the Natural Features 46 1.3.3 Methodological Approach for the Study of Contemporary Engagements and Representations 49 1.4 Closing Thoughts 52 Chapter 2 Dartmoor: A synthesis of its Landscape Character 2.1 A Diverse Landscape 54 2.2 The Changing Character of Dartmoor 60 2.2.1 Geological Characteristics 60 The Geology of Devon The Geology of Dartmoor The Dartmoor Tors and Granite 2.3 The Ecological History of the Moor 67 2.3.1 Mesolithic Activity 68 2.3.2 Neolithic and Bronze Age Activity 69 2.3.3 Historical Evidence 75 4 2.4 Possible Vegetation for both Study Areas 76 2.5 Concluding Remarks 79 Chapter 3 Dartmoor’s Archaeology: Past work 3.1 Approaches to the Study of Dartmoor 80 3.2 Excavation and Survey 81 3.3 Dartmoor’s Stone Rows and Stone Circles 87 3.3.1 Stone Rows 87 3.3.2 Stone Circles 93 3.4 The Dead and the Living-Cairns and Settlements 95 3.4.1 Relation of Stone Rows and Cairns 95 3.4.2 Settlements 99 3.4.2. Major Field Systems 100 3.4.2. Independent Farmsteads 101 3.4.2. Pounds 102 3.4.2. Field Networks 103 3.4.2. Hut Circles 104 3.4.3 Settlement on Dartmoor: Further Thoughts 105 3.5 Concluding Remarks 106 Part II: Archaeological Methodology, Fieldwork Analysis and Interpretation 107 Chapter 4 4.1 Introduction 108 4.1.1 Survey Method 109 4.2 Outlining the Study Areas 112 4.2.1 The Topographic and Archaeological Context of The Buttterdon Hill-Glaze Brook Valley Area 113 5 4.2.2 The Topographic and Archaeological Context of The Middle Plym Valley 149 4.3 Fieldwork Analysis 183 4.3.1 Cairn Location and Row Orientation to the Cairn 185 4.3.2 Row Orientation 186 4.3.3 Stone Rows in the Landscape 189 4.3.4 Cairns in the Landscape 193 4.3.5 Enclosures in the Landscape 196 4.3.6 The Materiality of Granite 198 4.4 Concluding Remarks 206 Part III: Perspectives on Dartmoor: ‘Affectual’ Engagement: Body and Dartmoor 208 Chapter 5 5.1 Introduction 209 5.2 Materiality and Forming Contemporary Social Relations 210 5.2.1 Embodying Physical Properties: Materiality and Agency/Efficacy 211 5.2.2 Granites Efficacy 213 5.3 Walking, Embodiment and Materiality 216 5.3.1 Learning Though Your Feet: Walking and Inhabiting 217 5.3.2 Getting Started 218 5.4 Place-Making and Body Memory 223 5.4.1 Dartmoor’s Intangible Agency/Efficacy 228 5.5 Archaeological Engagements with Dartmoor 236 5.5.1 Archaeology, Place and Taskscape 239 5.6 Self, Environment and Walking: Emotional Responses 241 5.6.1 Seasons/Weather 243 6 5.7 Conclusion 247 Part IV: Imaging Dartmoor 252 Chapter 6 6.1 Representations of Dartmoor 253 6.1.1 The Dartmoor Image 254 6.2 From Within Dartmoor 265 6.2.1 Swayling as Taskscape 272 6.3 People, Animals and Dartmoor 275 6.3.1 Farmer-Animal Relations 279 6.3.2 Animals as ‘animals’ 282 6.3.3 Animals and ‘Place-Making’ on Dartmoor 288 6.4 Conclusion 295 Part V: Journeys Conclusion: Past and Contemporary Relations with the Landscape of Dartmoor 298 Chapter 7 7.1 Journeys Conclusion: Part and Contemporary Relations with the Landscape of Dartmoor 299 7.1.1 Agency and Materiality 300 7.1.2 From Taskcape to a National Park 302 7.1.3 Body, Walking and Materiality 303 7.2 Concluding Remarks 306 Appendices Appendix A: Dartmoor’s Archaeology 307 Appendix B: Site Data 310 Appendix C: Walking Butterdon Hill Row 323 7 Appendix D: Contested Issues of Access 330 Appendix E: People involved in the unstructured interviews 340 References 341 List of Figures Dartmoor: A landscape Study Introduction 0.1. Location map of Dartmoor and other National Parks (www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk (23/02/2012). 0.2. A distinctive feature of the Dartmoor landscape (by author). Chapter 1. General Discussion of Theory and Method 1.1: Hentor in the Plym Valley showing clitter spread. 1.2: Little Lynx Tor showing lamellar jointing (Worth 1953). 1.3: Watern Tor showing lamellar jointing (Worth 1953). 1.4: Combestone Tor showing Cyclopean weathering and views from the top of the tor (Westlake 1987). Chapter 2. Dartmoor’s Characteristics and Landscape Character 2.1: Litaford Tor showing the horizontal and vertical jointing (Worth 1953). 2.2: Postcard of Haytor (Hinde 1976). 2.3: The Dart Valley with its rounded hills and deep cut sides (Westlake 1987). 2.4: Map of South-west England showing the location of Dartmoor (Gerrard 1997). 2.5: Most of Dartmoor lies above 300m and has contributed to the creation and survival of archaeological landscapes. The inner area represents the National Park boundary as redefined in 1994 (Gerrard 1997). 2.6: The plain white area illustrates high moorland where concentrations of archaeological sites are to be found. The total dotted areas are fringe farmland where flint scatters have been recorded due to ploughing. Black dots represent towns and villages (Gerrard1997). 2.7: Rock basin formed in a boulder of glitter spread crystals. 2.8: Large feldspar characterise course granite. 8 2.9: Wistman’s Wood (420m) demonstrates the context of woodland on Dartmoor at high elevations. 2.10: Present day tree cover in the Dart Valley and possibly comparable to some of the lower altitude valleys during the Mid-Later Second Millennium BCE. 2.11: The Glaze Brook Valley showing the present vegetation cover. 2.12: Showing The Middle Plym and present vegetation cover. Chapter 3. Dartmoor’s Archaeology 3.1: Part of a major Field System (Butler 1997). 3.2: Demonstrates the evolution of Independent Farmsteads from Major Field Systems (Butler 1997). 3.3: From Pound to Field Network (Butler 1997). Chapter 4. Archaeological Analysis 4.1: Digital Elevation Model showing the location of major hills and features mentioned in the text. 4.2: Showing the types and number of sites that are visible from the Tors and major rock outcrops across the study area. 4.3: View to north showing the profile of Sharp Tor and Three Barrows. Hangershell Rock is sited in the middle of the photo. 4.4: Diagram demonstrating how many tors are visible from the Bronze Age remains 4.5: Plan showing the sites spread across the Butterdon Ridge. Contours are at every 10m (After Butler 1993). 4.6: Showing the course of Butterdon Hill row from cairn 2 rising up to and terminating on Piles Hill. 4.7: Terminal Menhir at the northern end of the Butterdon Hill row. 4.8: Terminal Menhir of Butterdon Hill Row demonstrating the change in profile as the body moves around the stone.