Information
- Distance: 6 miles, walked by Keith Ryan and transcribed by Simon Avery
- Grade: Strenuous
- A GPX route of this walk is available: Download GPX
- Directions to Car Park
- What Three Words
monkey.farms.companies
Map
Notes: The GPX file is an approximation only and should not be relied upon. Additionally, the given map was an accurate log of safe walking, it was several years ago and paths in mires do move around.
Warning: DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WALK IN THE WINTER OR AFTER HEAVY RAIN
This route includes crossing the Foxtor Mire. It can be dangerous even in summer, and care must be taken. There is also a river crossing of the Swincombe. Again, during winter, this can be surprisingly steep.
You can avoid the crossing the mire by walking around the Western edge of the Mire and rejoin us at Goldsmith’s Cross - it adds about a mile to this walk but should be accessible in all weathers
Introduction
Few areas on Dartmoor include such a deep amount of historical, farming, religious, mining and legend as the Whiteworks area of Dartmoor. This walk takes us past mineshafts and directly across Foxtor Mire to the Goldsmith’s cross, then along to Childe’s Tomb - a burial site with a legendary tale. Then a walk up Foxtor itself, around to the ruined remains of Foxtor Farm, visits some Bronze Age Cairns, crosses a river and passes the hut circles of an ancient village on our return.
Whiteworks Mining
Whiteworks was one of Dartmoor’s largest Tin mines, and possibly the longest active with records indicating work as early as 1180.
The name “Whiteworks” comes from kaolin, the white clay that lies in this natural bowl, formed from degraded granite. Cassiterite - Tin Ore - was found within the clay, and working it coated everything and everyone white.
The vast majority of visible remains of buildings and shafts are from the 19th Century when this was a very industrialised area. A Google Maps satellite view shows long lines of open cast pits, which were dug down by hand to expose a seam of ore. Later, as the easier pickings were used up, shafts and mines were dug
Mining activity gradually declined and finally ceased at Whiteworks in 1914, when the remaining men were drafted for the First World War. As with many mines on Dartmoor and throughout Britain at that time, they never reopened.
Foxtor Mire
The distinction between “Mire” and “Bog” is that bogs are fed by rainfall, and mires are fed by groundwater springs.
The exact depth of the mire is disputed. There are stories that the Army drove a tank into it and it disappeared never to be seen again! That’s probably just a story, but it is certainly deep enough to drown a person, and the author has personally poked a stick in at least six feet over large parts of it. It will also grow and ebb depending on recent rainfall like a large sponge. Although it’s fed by springs, it’s also fed by surface water and slows the passage of water down the Swincombe valley.
There was a railway sleeper laid across the river to aid crossing roughly in the centre of the mire and this is marked “FB” on Ordnance Survey Maps.
Please be aware that the safe path across Foxtor Mire moves around each year as livestock moves around to graze. It is not possible to rely on maps or GPX tracks.
Once safely across the mire, you should be fairly close to Goldsmith’s cross.
Goldsmith’s Cross
This cross is named after Lt. Goldsmith R.N. who rediscovered it in 1903, after it had been lost for many years. He found it when out on his favourite walk whilst on leave from serving on HMS Imperial, then moored at Plymouth. On stopping for lunch, he happened to notice a rectangular hole cut into the large boulder on which he was sitting. Further investigation amongst the heather revealed the head and then part of the shaft. He later returned and arranged the reconstruction as you see it today.
Although the exact origin and date of the cross is unknown, it is thought that the cross was used to guide travellers across the mire, and indeed it is approximately where the current path.
A short walk Northeast of Goldsmith’s cross will take you to…
Foxtor Mire Cairn and Cist (The Gold Box)
Not far from Childe’s Tomb lies an ancient tomb or kistvaen which dates back to the Bronze Age, this is known as ‘The Gold Box’ and was said to have contained treasure belonging to a long dead chieftain.
Walking due East will take you towards Childe’s Tomb
Childe was a wealthy Saxon lord who loved hunting. The legend says that one winter he became trapped by a violent snowstorm and was disoriented. He made the decision to kill and disembowel his horse and climbed inside the stomach cavity to take what shelter he could. However, this was insufficient and he was found frozen to death inside.
The first mention of the tomb was in the 1600’s but the story may be much older.
The stone of the tomb was robbed by workmen building the nearby Foxtor Farm in 1812.
In 1885, Mr Tanner of the Dartmoor Preservation Association directed the restoration of the tomb and cross as you see it today.
Head due South and climb the hill to Fox Tor
If you wish to avoid the climb, you can skip Fox Tor and walk North East to the ruined Foxtor Farm
Fox Tor
When ready, head Northeast
This girt is an artificial valley dug by men searching for tin, probably in the 1700s or 1800s. They would redirect water down from the top to help wash out the granular tin which would settle in temporary dams at the bottom. Tin being heavier than the mud and soil, it would form a layer once left to settle which could be dug out.
Foxtor Farm
These ruins are possibly what’s left of Sam Parr’s house.
Sam Parr was a labourer who worked at the nearby Fox Tor Farm in the mid 1800s. He had a wife and two children who were baptised in Princetown.
The ruins have also been identified as a blowing house for turning tin ore into ingots - there are certainly many remains of tinworkings and several tinner’s huts nearby, and it’s possible that Sam turned it into a home.
On the inner face of a large flat slab in the southeast corner of the building is an inscription “IC 1753”.
In the early 1800s, there were efforts to “Improve” Dartmoor for agricultural purposes - led largely by Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt who was responsible for much of Princetown’s growth. The farm was build with locally sourced granite, including some stone robbed from the nearby Childe’s Tomb.
The farm was only occupied for 50 years, with David Gray being recorded as the main occupant and farmer. It was a sheep farm, and others tried to turn a profit here through the nineteenth century. But conditions were harsh and the remote location ultimately led to it being abandoned.
Foxtor Farm was used by Eden Phillpotts as one of the main settings of his 1904 novel The American Prisoner, and in a subsequent early “talkie” film, made in 1929.
Follow the gradient almost due North
Ter Hill Cists
This incongruous item is about 10m from the following cist. It’s possibly an old test bore hole from the 1970s when there was a proposal to flood the Swincombe Valley for a new reservoir. Such bore holes were used to establish the underlying nature of soil and rocks, and for building dams, how stable and strong the resulting barrier would need to be.
An alternative crossing point is at Headweir Ford (Harvey map), somewhere near SX 62270 70980, where there is a path back to Whiteworks.
DPA Stone
Dartmoor Preservation Association strongly opposed the proposed flooding of this valley. In 1970, a parliamentary committee ultimately decided against the scheme.
In 1985, the DPA used funds from a bequest to acquire 50 acres of land to try and prevent a similar scheme in the future. These stones mark its boundary.
Once you’ve cross the river, there is a settlement marked on the map with several hut circles, dating from the Bronze Age. Once visited, we conclude our walk by heading back to Whiteworks over the open moor
Parking
The posted coordinates are for a small parking area just where the Devonport Leat crosses under the road. Sometimes this gets full, but if so, returning a short way back towards Princetown there are several other parking areas a short distance.