The environmental collapse that turned a thriving farmland into a wild moor
In short: Dartmoor is often viewed as a pristine wilderness, but its rugged beauty is actually the result of an ancient ecological disaster. Thousands of years ago, it was a bustling agricultural hub—until human farming practices triggered a dramatic shift in the landscape's geology and climate.
During the Neolithic period (c.4000 to 2300 BC), early farmers began transforming Dartmoor by clearing dense woodland to create pasture for livestock. This era saw the rise of communal structures, including burial chambers like Spinsters’ Rock and monumental landscapes at Merrivale featuring stone rows and circles built to commemorate the dead. As the population grew from about 2500 BC, these communities expanded their reach across the lower moors, marking the land with long boundary walls known as reaves.
By the Bronze Age (c.2300 to 800 BC), farming intensified significantly. Communities built large villages of roundhouses, such as Grimspound, one of the largest on Dartmoor. However, this success came at a heavy environmental cost. By clearing the woodland from the granite upland, farmers exposed fragile soils that were not suited for intensive agriculture. This over-exploitation led to severe soil degradation.
From about 1000 BC, these depleted soils became waterlogged, causing peat bog to blanket the land. The environment could no longer support a year-round farming population, leading to the abandonment of settlements and fields. Dartmoor transitioned into a seasonal summer grazing area until around AD 950, when improving climates and a growing population allowed for a brief return to medieval hamlets.
Today, archaeological remains like those in the Upper Plym Valley remain hidden within this landscape. They serve as physical evidence of how human intervention can permanently alter an ecosystem, turning a productive forest into a characteristic moorland through a cycle of cultivation and collapse.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Hidden Landscapes: Prehistoric Dartmoor
- Also: Dartmoor’s Historic Landscape
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