This blog however isn’t about that – it is about a little throw away comment that two of my colleagues – Shona and Hannah made in Chagford where we were all based for our Drogo ‘bootcamp’. They told me at a coffee break they were off to see the Tinners Rabbits in the Church in Chagford! What? Well here’s the story of what I found out.

It transpires that there is a ‘boss’ on the roof in the church depicting three rabbits which was the symbol used by the people involved with tin mining on Dartmoor who in the Middle Ages were wealthy people and funded the building of the church. There are 28 church on Dartmoor / Devon where this symbol is found and it is known as the ‘Tinners Rabbits’.

Here is the boss from Chagford Church – its wonderful.

I was really interested in the story so I ‘Googled‘ it and a Da Vinci Code puzzle emerged!

Firstly the image / logo is a clever illusion – each of the three animals has two ears but there are only three ear and secondly these animals are not rabbits – they are hares. Thirdly it emerges that this ‘logo’ was not created by Dartmoor Tinners but has a lineage which dates back 1600 years to pagan times and is not just found in Devon but also in China, Afghanistan and elsewhere in Europe ……

If we step back to Pagan times the hare was a magical / mystical beast. It was associated with female fertility – hares have a gestation period of 28 days – the cycle of the female period which also coincided with the lunar cycle of 28 days. In Saxon times there was a cult of  the hare and there was a Goddess Oestara (oestrous cycle)  or Eostre (Easter) who was said to rule over spring and the dawn.

With the coming of Christianity to England, Paganism declined and was suppressed and the cult of the hare became known as Easter and the hare transformed into a rabbit (the Easter Bunny and the Easter Egg).

The fortunes of the hare also took a downturn – it was not longer portrayed as a magical beat – instead it became a partner of the devil. There are many Dartmoor legends which tell that witches could transform themselves into hares: Bowerman’ Nose, the Witch Hare and the Witch of Dendles Wood.

Make of this all of this what you will but for me it is fascinating. Myths and legends have lineage and are deeply embroiled in ‘spin’!

Why the Dartmoor Tinners adopted the logo remains a mystery -but what a tale. Today the symbol is still used – it is the logo of the wine shop in Chagford – so we return again to rabbit or hare – good or evil. On this one I know where I stand.

Thanks to Legendary Dartmoor for the legwork- a great web site for all things Dartmoor – check it out

Two sets of Acro props were installed in the Scullery this week. Water ingress has rusted the steel beams which make up the fabric of the building. The rusting steel expands and causes cracks in the granite and forces off the plaster work. Note – this damage is happening on the ground floor!

Second set of Acro props.

Chunk of granite forced out by the rusting steel girder from a beam yesterday.

More plaster falling this lunchtime on a stairway to the Scullery.

We submit our Heritage Lottery Fund application in April – a decision will be made in July. If successful we will start the building works late in 2012 and we will Save Castle Drogo!

Fantastic weather. Torquay Boys Grammar School had 35, 45 and 55 mile teams out – National Trust Wild Tribe  had 35 and 45 teams too. Our Senior Ranger Pete for the Upper Plym – lead the 35  milers and I shadowed the 45 milers. Pete got his 35 milers round the whole route in style – the 45 milers struggled a bit with navigational issues in Bellever Forest.

Here are some photos from the day.

A view down the West Dart to Wistmans Wood – a magical place

Higher Whites Tor

Lunch for Wild Tribe below Sittaford Tor

The West Dart Valley below Hartland Tor

Hartland Tor – little visited  - well worth seeing.

Some time later …. looking back to Higher Whites from Huccaby

45ers crossing the Huccaby Steps – Torquay Boys Grammar School’s version on of the Beatles ‘Abbey Road’.

The TBGS 55 mile team romping across the stones - awesome team!

Well done to all today – lots of progress made  - it’s all looking good for the big weekend!

Part of the ‘Saving Castle Drogo – ensuring its a Design for Life!‘ project involves re-instating the granite slabs onto the roof once the works to stop the building from leaking are complete. For more details of the project see the Drogo interactive booklet on the right hand side of the home page of the  National Trust South West blog. You can also support our £1.5m appeal there too!

The original paving slabs are long gone and new ones need to be cut – the National Trust is in the process of buying a supply of granite from Blackingstone Quarry so that the work can go ahead.

Here is the quarry today – it looks wonderful, is now filled with water and is a wildlife haven.

Today there is no active quarrying in progress at Blackingstone but there are plenty of blocks which stone masons can turn into the paving slabs we need. Here is part of a pile of granite we want to buy.

Blackingstone Quarry (there is also more than one way to spell it!) is a private site with no public access but we are hoping that during 2012 we will be able to run  some visits to the site for those who are interested. Details will be available from Castle Drogo later in the year.

Another spectacular feature to look out for is Blackingstone Rock which is adjacent to the quarry – this is open to the public so you can visit this place now.

Finally, there is also a particularly grizzly legend about Blackingstone Quarry involving 3 ravens and a baby …….

National Trust Wild Tribe and Torquay Boys Grammar School were out on the moor for the first 10 Tors Training session of 2012. Between us we had 35, 45 and 55 mile teams in action.

We started at Shilstone Tor just south of South Zeal. My task today along with my co-Team Manager Tony was to ‘check point’ the 45 mile teams. In essence this means we go to a Tor and then wait for the teams to go safely through before yomping off to there next Tor to repeat the process. This meant today we were speed walking across the high moor to ensure we kept ahead of the teams. As I write now many hours after finishing I am aching all over – a hard fast day.

Pete, our Senior Ranger in the Plym Valley was walking with our 35 mile team. When I met up with Pete on Hound Tor – he looked particularly ‘purple’ in the cold – bravely sporting a National Trust fleece minus a coat!

Tony and I headed from Shilstone Tor and headed to Sittaford Tor following the River Teign much of the way. Half way there there are a series of spectacular waterfalls.

Arriving at Sittaford, it wasn’t long before the teams arrived.

The views from Sittaford are pretty expansive!

From Sittaford it is north up to Watern Tor (one of my favourites) – the gap between these two bits of Watern is is called Thirlstone!

From Watern it is north again onto Hound Tor (there are two Hound Tors on Dartmoor – this is the less well know one)

Again there are great panoramic views from Hound Tor – here is the view north up to Cosdon Hill.

And here is the view west over to High Willhay and Yes Tor

One of the 45 teams had a slight ‘navigational difficulty’ coming back from Oke Tor to Hound Tor but eventually everyone got back safely! Whilst looking for the errant team we passed White Moor Stone circle in the fading sunlight.

A good start to the 2012 10 Tors campaign – good job its January as we all need to get fitter and more confident with our navigation – well done to all the teams – two weeks rest and then we’re off out again.

The etherial effect on the water is caused by a 15 second exposure.

This is a variant on the the theme!

And finally here is a panoramic shot of the weir just above Fingle Bridge.

These places are all on the classic walk from Fingle Bridge up the Teign to the Iron Bridge and back – about 4 miles – a Dartmoor classic.

The weather could have been described as challenging – heavy showers and a very keen wind. Hats off to the two road cyclists who went from Bovey Tracey up past Haytor and beyond – how they didn’t get blown off their bikes I will never know – I also bet that when they got onto the open moor at Haytor they wish they had stayed at home ….

Haytor looks very different from different directions.

The ‘classic’ view from near the bottom car park

From the same direction but at the top of the climb

From the east

From the north

From the north west

Very good also to see the Dartmoor National Park Authority visitor centre open on such a wild and windy morning.

The preceding photographs give a rather misleading impression of the weather we and several dozen other people tackled on our walk – the view from inside my car is more accurate.

Get the right clothing on and Dartmoor’s always good for a walk!

From Haytor back to Bovey Tracey and tea and cakes in the excellent cafe at the Devon Guild of Craftsmen.

Lydford Gorge provided the second best visitor experience in the whole Trust – fantastic!

Finch Foundry was in the top 10 – note this is 2nd and 9th out of 180! Brilliant to the teams involved.

Castle Drogo has been  huge part of my life this year as we prepare to submit our grant application to the Heritage Lottery Fund. Fingers crossed – by this time next year the scaffolding will be going up so that we can save Castle Drogo from Dartmoor’s elemental weather. These two photos capture for me the spirit of the place.

One of the real pleasures of my job is working with all of our volunteers – without whom we couldn’t operate. Thank you to each and every one of you. Here is a special moment – Pauline one of our Drogo volunteers – celebrating her 90th birthday.

Drogo has provided me with some really fun moments – here I am meeting Kevin McCloud – showing him around the Teign Gorge under the Castle.

The Walled Garden at Parke continues to develop in partnership with our friends from Bovey Climate Action. Here is a photo of the vineyard we have recently planted.

We have got some really special places on Dartmoor. Here is Hen Tor in the Plym Valley – remember that gorgeous weather we had in April?

And here is the River Dart in Holne Woods in the autumn.

The National Trust’s involvement in the 10 Tors Expedition has been a particular highlight for me. Here is our very own team – ‘National Trust Wild Tribe’ completing their adventure in May.

The Tour of Britain cycle race also came to Dartmoor this autumn. I photographed Mark Cavendish at the start of the stage in Exeter – last night he was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year – fantastic for him and a huge boost for cycling.

My own cycling exploits that day were not so successful as Cav’s – I cycled to Exmouth for the finish and ended up in the middle of the road and narrowly avoided being run over ….. – didn’t tear my Lycra though!

Our own cycling project – the development of a cycle hub and 10km of trails in Plym Bridge Woods proved somewhat controversial! Nearly 1000 people objected to our proposals but amazingly 1000 people actively supported them. We are currently re-working our proposals and will be engaging with all our stakeholders in the new year before we present our new scheme.

Our work and partnerships in Plymouth has really flourished this year – we are now working really closely with Plymouth City Council and with the Forestry Commission in particular. We are involved with them and many others in the Plymouth Green Infrastructure Project, the Plymouth Nature Improvement Area and a Plymouth Landscape Partnership Bid. We had a great meeting in the autumn discussing the Landscape Partnership – wow what a view over Sutton Harbour!

Promoting the National Trust on Dartmoor and our many places is an important part of our work and we are always looking for novel ways to do that. Here we are sponsoring a team in the Devon and Exeter Squash Club’s Summer Team League.

I am an ecologist by profession and this year in one of our woodlands in the Teign Valley – I saw something I have never seen before. The larvae of oil beetles amassing on a lesser celandine flower waiting for a bee to come along to pollinate it. The larvae then attach themselves to the bee and are taken back to its nest where they parasitize the bee’s larvae before emerging as adult oil beetles – amazing.

Finally – a huge thanks to all my staff and colleagues in the National Trust. This has been a tough year for me following the death of my wife Francesca in August 2010 but you have all looked after me brilliantly. Here are James and Dave – ‘my’ Consultancy Manager and Finance Business Partner respectively having a beer with me in the Fat Pig in Exeter.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

]]> http://adriancolston.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/my-2011-on-dartmoor/feed/ 3 acolston DSCN6692-2 DSCN6992 Drogo front panorama Drogo front sun pauline-2 kevin mcC vineyard hen-tor-light riffle1 wild-tribe-finish-moor cav2 ouch sutton-harbour-1 racketball-shirts-back oil-beetle-larvae dave and james http://adriancolston.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/dartmoor-in-2020/ http://adriancolston.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/dartmoor-in-2020/#comments Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:28:30 +0000 Adrian Colston http://adriancolston.wordpress.com/?p=285 ]]> Here is my new introduction to the National Trust on Dartmoor’s Property Business Plan

 Dartmoor in the world

 Dartmoor is of one of the United Kingdom’s last wildernesses. Covering 369 square miles, it is one of only 13 National Parks in England and Wales. Dartmoor is the largest tract of unbroken moorland and open access land in southern England, as well as forming its highest point.

Dartmoor’s special features are set out in its Management Plan[1]. They include broad sweeping horizons, vast skies, huge sunsets and extensive views; weather sculpted granite tors; strong rural communities, with a distinctive dialect and traditions; moorland commons, used for grazing cattle, sheep and ponies; wildlife dependant upon Dartmoor’s distinct habitats; medieval settlement patterns of scattered farmsteads, hamlets, villages and towns; and archaeological landscapes, one of the most important collections in Western Europe.

Dartmoor is ‘an area where it is still possible to find absolute peace, dominated by the sounds of nature – the song of the skylark and the rustle of wind: vast clear night skies and a strong sense of wildness on the open moor.’

 The National Trust on Dartmoor

Our places on Dartmoor are disparate and to a large extent at its edges. Castle Drogo with its spectacular position on the wooded gorge of the Teign Valley; Lydford Gorge which continually delights our visitors; Finch Foundry quietly offering a glimpse into Dartmoor’s industrial past; the Plym Valley linking the moor with the city of Plymouth; the Parke Estate on the edge of Bovey Tracy, which hosts the Dartmoor National Park Authority; our iconic woodlands in the Dart Valley and our presence at the heart of Dartmoor through the shop at Widdecombe-in-the-Moor.

The challenge and opportunity this brings is in making connections – in aligning the Trust’s plan on Dartmoor to a broader Dartmoor vision and playing our part in shaping that vision. We need to make connections between our special places and beyond our boundaries, and act as a bridge to some of the urban communities on Dartmoor’s edge that don’t see it as a place for them.

The changes we are responding to

 Dartmoor is changing. In the medium to long term the shifting economies of farming and tourism and the impacts of a changing climate are key drivers. In the short term, the impacts of public sector spending cuts are driving a realignment of our key partners. This includes a 30% reduction in resources at the National Park Authority, at the same time as the Forestry Commission and Plymouth City Council are reassessing and seeking new ways to deliver priorities. This plan aims to set out a future direction that enables us to grasp and maximise the opportunities that arise.

Partnership is key

Successful partnership working is therefore critical to our success. From the partnership with the Heritage Lottery Fund on Castle Drogo ‘Design for Life!’ project, to delivering cycle trails at Plym Bridge as part of 1 South West; to working with Plymouth City Council to develop a Nature Improvement Area for the greater Plymouth area; to continuing the dialogue with the National Park Authority and the Forestry Commission on models to deliver our shared objectives.

We are committed to getting this right. We still have some way to go to achieve a deeper understanding of Dartmoor’s various stakeholders and their needs. If we are to become more relevant to the communities on and around Dartmoor, we need to find new ways to have a dialogue with them, building on the work we have already done on social media and learning from the audience analysis for Design for Life! and our experiences at Plym Bridge in developing the cycle trails proposal.

 The scale of our ambition

Our vision is to develop a Trust offer that is welcomed and celebrated by the majority of stakeholders; to be experienced by local communities as an organisation that says yes rather than no; and to be recognised as a leading facilitator in helping communities shape Dartmoor’s future.

Where we are making a step change

To achieve this vision, there are four areas where I am driving a step change:

1.      Stopping the castle from leaking and transforming the visitor experience at Castle Drogo through the five year the £11.3 million Design for Life! project, linking the offer at Drogo with the river and woodland of the Teign Valley

2.      Working with Plymouth City Council, local communities, and others to develop the National Trust offer in the Plym Valley, including delivering cycle trails at Plym Bridge and exploring the possibilities offered by the Plymouth Nature Partnership

3.      Transforming Parke from a little known estate to a destination in its own right, through experimenting with different partnerships to broaden and deepen our audience and raise Parke’s profile

4.      Becoming a facilitator of outdoors activities across Dartmoor, working beyond our boundaries to create new opportunities such as the Tors Challenge and exploring opportunities with the National Park Authority and Forestry Commission

What we need to do to support this step change

To deliver this vision, to manage the scale of operation we run on Dartmoor, and the new demands of the step changes above, we need a strong Dartmoor Team to underpin. We have a committed and enthusiastic team and as General Manager I will be continuing to focus on empowering the senior leadership team throughout this plan period.

Conclusion

I’m passionate about the Outdoors. I spend many of my weekends on Dartmoor seeing people experience its wilderness, some for the first time. For me, Dartmoor is a cool place to be – it’s exhilarating. It is this exhilaration on the faces of young people tackling the Ten Tors Expedition or standing on the top of the moor that inspires me. I’m proud that we, the Dartmoor Team and the National Trust, are working to help bring that world alive and conserve and enhance it for future generations.

The scale and ambition of what we are trying to achieve on Dartmoor makes support from people from across the National Trust – its operations, its consultancy, it support services and the Whole Trust – key to our success. If you are reading this plan and want to understand, support and shape what we are trying to achieve then I’d be keen to hear from you.

Adrian Colston
adrian.colston@nationaltrust.org.uk
A Dartmoor Blog http://adriancolston.wordpress.com/

The temperature was 1 degree when we set off and there was a pretty keen wind – the temples on my head began to hurt – hat and gloves left in Exeter …. In places there were little frozen pools of water.

We started near Merrivale and headed for Great Staple Tor and then onto Roos Tor.

On the right hand side of this picture you can see Roos Tor with Great Mis Tor dominating the centre. If you enlarge the picture you will see a 35 mile group coming towards us from Roos.

We had our lunch at Lynch Tor – 15 minutes was quite sufficient as it was pretty cold. We then headed south for Great Mis Tor. We did our first crossing of the River Walkham and then began the massive climb up to the Tor. The view from the top looking north is pretty stunning.

Once at the top and after a breather we had a group photo.

The view looking south towards Plymouth is pretty good too. You can see Burrator Reservoir and Plymouth Sound.

From Great Mis we descended all the way back down to the River Walkham and made another crossing. These can prove pretty tricky and test people’s nerves but everyone got across and no one got wet! From the River we then climbed all the way back up to Roos Tor and then back to Great Stable Tor. These big climbs tested everyone’s legs and lungs but they are good practice for what will follow next year when we get into 10 Tors training proper.

The sun was now getting lower in the sky creating interesting silhouettes over Great Staple.

From here it was an easy descent back to the car park. Thanks to some astute map reading from Wills we went to the correct car park unlike most of the other groups! Back at the car park we have a welcome winter barbecue in the sunshine washed down with some excellent hot spicy berry juice.

A great day with a really nice bunch of lads from Torquay Boys Grammar School. Thanks and well done to Wills who navigated us to Lynch Tor and well done and thanks to Callum who navigated us back. Good one  - see you next time guys.