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History of Dartmoor  

The following are some selected dates in the history of Dartmoor.

About 295 million years ago Magma intruded into the Earth's crust pushing through much of the area
we now know as Devon and Cornwall. This cooled to form granite and Dartmoor came into being.

c2500BC Neolithic people began building chambered tombs.
c2000BC Prehistoric people erecting Standing stones, rows and circles and burying dead beneath cairns.
c1500BC Stone huts were built. Dartmoor divided into territories and fields by boundaries known as reaves.
c600BC Iron Age people build hillforts around Dartmoor fringes.
cAD900 Lydford founded as a burgh, or defended settlement, by Saxon kings of Wessex.
976 A Royal Mint established at Lydford until 1016.
898 Tavistock Abbey founded.
997 Viking invaders attack Lydford, unsuccessfully, and Tavistock, destroying its first abbey.

1086 The Domesday Book records a castle at Okehampton and implies another at lydford.
1156 First written record of tin extraction on Dartmoor.

1195 Stannary courthouse and gaol built at lydford.
1201 Stannary Charter (tin) issued by King John.
1239 King Henry III granted the the Forest of Dartmoor to his brother Richard
1240 First known attempt to set down the boundary of the Forest of Dartmoor.
1262 Peat cutting rights set out in a Charter of Henry III.
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272 Trowlesworthy rabbit warren set up.
1278 Buckland Abbey founded.

1305 Ashburton, Chagford and Tavistock created as Stannary Towns.
1328 Plympton becomes a stannary town.
1337 Edward III created the Duchy of Cornwall. The Black Prince was therefore the first Duke of Cornwall.
1348 'The Black Death arrived in England. Many Dartmoor settlements deserted.
1494 First recorded Great Court of tinners held on Crockern Tor.
1560 Water supply via leat to Plymouth from River Meavy, near Sheepstor, proposed.
1591 Drake's leat completed.

c1700 Inscribed stones marking the route between Ashburton and Tavistock set up.
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755 Ashburton Trust administered local turnpike road.
1760 Okehampton Trust administered local turnpike road.
1762 Tavistock Trust administered local turnpike road.
1765 Potato market existed at Two Bridges.
1772 Moretonhampstead Trust administered local turnpike road.
1780 Large newtakes began to be created on Dartmoor.
1780 Last wild deer hunted on Dartmoor.
1789 John Andrews became the first known visitor to be guided to Cranmere Pool.
1791 Estimated 80,000 sheep were summered on Dartmoor.
.1793 Devonport water supply leat began.

1806 Princetown Prison foundation stone laid by Thomas Tyrwhitt on 20 March.
1810 William Wordsworth stated that the Lake District should be '... a sort of national property
1820 Haytor granite tramway opened.
1823 The Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway, Devon's first iron railroad, opened.
1830 Lee Moor Pit opened to extract china clay.
1846 Tramroad to Zeal Tor opened.
1849 South Devon Railway reached Plymouth.

1854 James Perrott of Chagford set up first letterbox on Dartmoor at Cranmere Pool.
1858 Official opening of the Lee Moor Tramway.
1858 Railway reached Moretonhampstead.
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861 Tottiford Reservoir completed.
1864 Abraham Lincoln signed Act of Congress to set aside the Yosemite Valley to be used as a public park.
1871 London and South Western Railway reaches Okehampton.
1872 The world's first National Park established at Yellowstone, Wyoming, USA
1874 Railway reached Lydford.
1875 War Office established a permanent camp at Okehampton.

1883 Dartmoor Preservation Association (DPA) formed.
1883 Railway reached Princetown.
1884 Kennick Reservoir completed.
1888 Hansford Worth presented a paper to Plymouth Institution advocating Dartmoor to be a Public Park.
1889 The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) formed.
1893 Dartmoor Exploration Committee formed and began archaeological excavations at Grimspound.
1893 Work began on the construction of Burrator Dam.
1895 Duchy of Cornwall granted licence to military.
1895 The National Trust formed.
1898 Burrator Reservoir completed.

1901-1902 The Hound of the Baskervilles,by Arthur Conan Doyle.
1907 Venford and Trenchford Reservoirs completed.
1911 Day excursion trains from London to Dartmoor
1919 The Forestry Commission created.
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925 Dartmoor Pony Society formed.
1926 The Council for the Preservation of England was founded
1930 Golden Dagger, the last tin mine to be worked on Dartmoor, closed.
1936 Work began on the construction of Fernworthy Reservoir Dam.

1942 Fernworthy Reservoir completed.
1945 National Parks in England and Wales (Dower Report) proposed Dartmoor as a national park.
1947 Committee on National Parks delineated the area of Dartmoor to become a National Park.
1950 There were estimated to be about 30,000 ponies on Dartmoor moorland.
1951 Planning permission granted to allow china clay extraction at lee Moor.
1953 Dartmoor Commoners' Association came into being.

Extracts from - Dartmoor National Park "The History of Dartmoor, Dartmoor Factsheet" 2001