Shilstone – A Story of Dartmoor in Microcosm

Shilstone Tor is a mediocre little outcrop merely metres from the road in the North East corner of the moor, between Gidleigh and South Zeal. It is tucked away, down miles of narrow lanes, away from the popular spots on the main moorland thoroughfares. I only visited the tor as part of my quest to visit all the tors on Dartmoor in 2020. And whilst it is an unassuming place, piecing together the evidence about Shilstone‘s history reveals a story that epitomises so much of the narrative of Dartmoor. It is a story of ancient settlers and the making of livings from farming, tinning, and quarrying. And it is a story of how these activities have been both constructive and destructive, leading to, for better for worse, the Dartmoor environment we know today.

As a place, Shilston is first documented in the 1352 Subsidy Rolls¹ in relation to the farmstead that still stands at this spot today. Later, in old accounts relating to Shelston Venn, the warden of St Michaels of Chagford notes the receipt of 3s “pro stanno Shylestone Venne at Rodemas” (3rd May, 1539), with other entries for tin duties recorded up to 1580². These accounts map onto the peak dates for tin production on Dartmoor in the late 1520s to early 1530s, followed by a rapid decline by the end of the 16th Century³. The overgrown and farm-softened gerts from Shilstone hill, down into the valley are a geomorphological relic of the booming and lucrative mining phase that saw tinning go into overdrive in Tudor times, as evidenced in the openworks that gash the slopes and valleys of the moor.

Reaching back in time, before the historical record, the common ground above Shilstone (or Shellstone as it appears in most 19th C texts) was once home to what Rowe expressed in 1848 as “one of the most remarkable specimens of aboriginal architecture to be found on the moor”. In his Perambulation⁴ Rowe describes descending from Raybarrow Pool to Clannaborough Common, about one mile west of Throwleigh Church, to an area about 500m north of Shilstone Tor. He had previously investigated the site in the summers of 1827 and 1828 as part of an early antiquarian investigation. In his Perambulation he details that:

“It was called a Pound by the moormen, but from the small area enclosed and the description of walling, it appears to have been erected for purposes different from those contemplated in the cyclopean* structures popularly comprehended under the general designation of Pounds. Much more regularity of design, and exactness of construction than we have noticed in any other instance was exhibited in the wall, yet it was evidently of aboriginal character. This wall remained in an unusually perfect state, and the stones of which it was formed, instead of being thrown together as in the vast amphitheater of Grimspound and in other similar enclosures, were laid in courses in several parts of the wall where they were of comparatively small size; while in others, huge blocks occupied the whole height of the wall, standing from two feet and a half to four feet above the ground. The average thickness of the wall thus formed was above seven feet, and on the western side it was built against the slope of the hill. The area was remarkably free from ruins, and appeared to have been hollowed out.”

Rowe (1896) p88

*The term Cyclopean was commonly used by Rowe and denotes masonry structures made of massive irregular blocks.

Rowe’s description is quite specific about where this pound was situated and about the details of its construction. However, we will never know how it compared in quality and age to other archaeological pounds as it is no longer there. The pound was untouched in 1848 when the first edition of the Perambulation was published, but by the time the 3rd edition was published in 1896 the text states that ‘not a vestige remains’.

Page (1889)⁵ sheds more light on this destruction, recounting an exchange with a local farmer:

“It will be useless to inquire here for Shellstone pound; they ‘never heard tell of such a place,’ …. and the excuse of the Moor farmer who was remonstrated with as one of the parties contributory to its effacement is worthy of being quoted, instancing as it does the consideration with which these sons of the soil regard ‘ancient monuments.’ ‘Whatever,’ he said, ‘the Almighty had put in the country was meant to be used in the towns*, so ‘twas only right to take them.“

Page (1889) p 91

*Page makes clear that town is being used in the moorland vernacular to describe a solitary farm or a couple of cottages as opposed to a town as we would think of one.

What is being witnessed here in the loss of this extraordinary archaeological site is the impact of the Dartmoor newtakes, part of the enclosure movement of the 18th and 19th C to privatise and improve land previously held in common. The marginal uplands of high Dartmoor were some of the last to be enclosed (roughly 1820s to 1898)⁶. As we can see here from our Shilstone story, the Shilstone pound disappeared some time between 1848 and 1889. Walking the walled moorland road adjacent to the site of the pound, we are probably looking at the very stones that came out of the fabled pound. Sadly this story is repeated over and over in the Dartmoor records and is not unique to Shilstone. We can only imagine what treasures were lost, so close to the cusp of a society that was beginning to value its archaeological heritage.

Is there anything left at all of the Shilstone pound? Only some overgrown remnants of reaves and hut circles, almost indiscernible even in Crossings day. What Crossing does note, as picked up on by Hemery⁷ , is how large some of the remaining hut circles are:

“the most massive of the huts appears to have been built up and reinforced during, perhaps, medieval times for use as a small pound. The suggestion is certainly supported by its traditional name among the moormen, ‘Roundy Pound’. …. On the lowest slope of the Hill below the road where the wall recedes to form a bay, is the lowest-placed of the huts on the open moor; With a diameter of 39 feet 5 inches it exceeds that of the hut at the head of Easdon Combe by 5 inches”.

Henery (1982), p805

The loss of the stones from the late bronze/early iron age site of Shilstone is not the only thread of our story of destruction at Shilstone. The tor itself is no longer what it used to be as Hemery indicates (p804):

“a pile ruthlessly attacked not so long ago by quarrymen and stone-masons: even the summit slab has been drilled … the war-time erection of a military flag-pole caused disturbance and the possible toppling of a characteristic slab. A quarrymen’s cart-track leads to the very heart of the tor, and bore-holes and stone-pits are legion”

Hemery (1982). p804

Hemery links the quarrying of the rock at Shilstone Tor to his ideas about the origin of the name Shilstone. He quite reasonably speculates that the “quarryman’s vandalism” may likely have destroyed a “prominent rock jutting from the major pile“. This would have been the shiel stone. He cites other Dartmoor places whose appellation relates to such rock formations – Shelstone Tor (W. Ockment) which has two logan stones; Hangershiel (Erme) which has prominent ‘poised’ slabs; and at Shiel Top (Plym). Infact, only about 5 miles NE of Shilstone is another place called Shilstone, this one with a cromlech known as Spinster’s Rock, from which the place is thought to get its name – the shiel stone of the cromlech. Whether a long-gone cromlech or, more likely, a jutting stone from the tor, we will never know; but it’s origin relating to a shelf-like stone is a strong probability.

And finally in our story of Shilstone, let us return to the farmstead that we first started with. Higher Shilston, as it appears on the OS map is a Grade 1 listed historic building of national importance because it is considered perhaps the finest example of a Dartmoor longhouse on the whole of the moor. Whilst appearing in records as early as 1352, the building dates to the late 15th/early 16th Century, with major improvements later in the 16th C and 17th C. It is hard not to walk by without being an architectural voyeur, trying to glimpse the cobbled courtyard, the mullioned windows, and the passage door inscribed with the date 1656 with its ‘lugged spandrels enriched with carved oak leaves’. For those who are interested, a detailed description is given by Historic England⁸. Taking us full circle, I wonder if the riches of the Tudor tin industry provided the wealth for the family at Higher Shilston to improve their home and farm; to build the walls that we walkers peek at, and which still serve the current inhabitants as a working farm?

So there we have Shilstone; a modest place of not-so-very-much on first appearance. Yet, by looking closer, it is an intriguing location – a microcosm of Dartmoor history.

1. Heritage Gateway – https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MDV22086&resourceID=104
2. Ormerod, G. Wareing (1866). Transactions of the Devonshire Association, pp110-115 https://devonassoc.org.uk/devoninfo/on-the-traces-of-tin-streaming-in-the-vicinity-of-chagford-1866/
3. Worth, R. Hansford (1994) Worth’s Dartmoor. Spooner, G.M. and Russell, F.S. (Eds) 2nd Edition, Newton Abbott: Peninsula Press.
4. Rowe, S. (1896) Edited by J. Brooking Rowe. A Perambulation of the Antient [sic] and Royal Forest of Dartmoor and the Venville Precincts. Exeter: James G. Commin, London: Gibbings & Co.
5. Page, J. L.W. (1889). An Exploration of Dartmoor. London: Seeley & Co. Ltd.
6. Dartmoor National Park Authority – Farming on Dartmoor Factsheet. https://www.dartmoor.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/72095/lab-farming.pdf
7. Hemery, E. (1982). High Dartmoor. London: Hale.
8. Historic England Higher Shilstone Farmhouse including Stables and Garden Walls Adjoining to South. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1307205