Down Tor

Crazywell Pool or Crazy Well Pool is a large pond situated about 3 km (1.9 mi) south of Princetown just off the path between Burrator and Whiteworks on the western side of Dartmoor, Devon, England at grid reference SX582705. It is about 100 metres (110 yd) long and has a surface area of about 3,500 square metres (0.86 acres). The pool is thought to be the result of excavations by tin miners, and is either a flooded mine shaft, or a reservoir. The presence of tin workings downhill from the pool support this view. The valley of Newleycombe Lake has been extensively worked with many mining remains along its short length. The level of the pool never varies much from its mean—it is maintained by a hidden spring and by subterranean drainage at its lower end. Near to the pool is Crazywell Cross, one of the line of crosses that marked the ancient track between Buckfast Abbey and Tavistock Abbey. In 1998, Nathaniel Burton, a sixteen-year-old recruit in the Royal Marines, died in Crazywell Pool. He was taking part in a routine training exercise and drowned while crossing the icy waters of the pool.

Cuckoo Rock is a tor-like igneous rock outcrop in West Devon. It is located to the east of Burrator Reservoir and to the south east of Down Tor, at a height of 362 m.The origin of the name is disputed. Some claim it is that the shape of the top of the rock, while others say it is as the rock was an ideal point from which to hear cuckoos in spring.Cuckoo Rock is made of granite and was formerly used as a hideaway for smuggled goods, especially liquor.

Yellowmead stone circle near Sheepstor in Devon, England, is a Bronze Age concentric stone circle consisting of four rings of stones set within one another. The largest is 20 metres wide and the smallest, 6 metres. It is located on Yellowmead Down. The circles once encircled a burial cairn although this is now barely visible. To the south west, several possible stone rows lead away, crossed by a post-medieval leat that once served a nearby tinworks. The site was excavated and restored by Rev. H Breton in 1921. In 2008 geophysical surveys and a small excavation were carried out to determine whether the restoration of 1921 had been performed accurately (it had), and to discover whether additional features remain buried in the peat. Fallen stones were found in line with some of the stone rows, suggesting that further features may lie downslope below the leat.

Drizzlecombe or Thrushelcombe is an area of Dartmoor in the county of Devon, England, containing a number of Bronze Age stone rows, cairns and menhirs. There are three principal stone rows each with an associated barrow and terminal menhir. Most of the artifacts are on the southwest slope of Hartor Hill. The tallest menhir, which at 14 ft (4.3 m) high is the largest on Dartmoor, was re-erected by Sabine Baring-Gould, R. Hansford Worth and others in 1893.Drizzlecombe is located on the western side of Dartmoor, about 4 miles (6.4 km) east of the village of Yelverton, to the west of the upper reaches of the River Plym. Nearby is the large but damaged cairn known as Giant's Basin; many of its stones were removed by warreners to build their rabbit-warrens at Ditsworthy, lower down the river. Higher up the slope and overlooking these monuments is a village of stone hut circles, akin to the one at Grimspound. To the north-east lie the extensive remains of Eylesbarrow tin mine and north-west is the concentric Yellowmead stone circle. The area also includes the Neolithic Dartmoor kistvaens, or tombs.

Ditsworthy Warren House is a Grade II listed building near Sheepstor in Devon, England. It is an isolated building on the south-western edge of Dartmoor, and was built for the keeper of the rabbit warren near the house. It was used in 2010 as a filming location for the Steven Spielberg film, War Horse.

The Upper Plym Valley is an area of Dartmoor, Devon, England, particularly noted for a large array of archaeological sites ranging from prehistoric Drizzlecombe to 19th century Eylesbarrow Mine. It contains some 300 Bronze Age and medieval sites, covering 15 1⁄2 square kilometres (6 square miles) of Dartmoor landscape.

Sheepstor is a village, civil parish and former manor on the western side of Dartmoor in the county of Devon, England. In 2001, its population was 53, down from 95 in 1901. For administrative purposes the parish is grouped with the parishes of Meavy and Walkhampton to form Burrator Parish Council, and for electoral purposes it is grouped with the same two parishes to form Burrator Ward. Burrator Reservoir, constructed in 1898, is to the north of the village and forms part of the northern boundary of the parish.The name Sheepstor has evolved considerably since the first reference to a settlement here which was recorded in a pipe roll of 1168 as Sitelestorra. In a document of 1262, it was Skytelestor, Shittestorre in 1474, Shistor in 1547 and in c. 1620 Tristram Risdon called it Shetelstor now Shepstor. The name probably derives from the Old English scyttel(s) meaning a bar or bolt, reflecting the shape of the nearby Sheeps Tor.

Princetown railway station, opened in 1883 was the terminus of the 10.5 mile long single track branch line in Devon, England, running from Yelverton with eventually four intermediate stops, three being halts and one at Dousland as a fully fledged station.

Burrator Reservoir is a reservoir on the south side of Dartmoor in the English county of Devon. It is one of a number of reservoirs and dams that were built over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries in the area now covered by Dartmoor National Park to supply drinking water to the city of Plymouth and other rapidly growing towns in the surrounding lowlands. Burrator Reservoir was completed in 1898, and the reservoir was expanded in 1929. The reservoir was built under the supervision of Edward Sandeman (1862-1959), the Water Engineer for Plymouth. The reservoir has two dams, the Burrator Dam, which is built across the River Meavy at Burrator Gorge at the south-western end, and the Sheepstor Dam built on a dividing ridge between the Meavy and Sheepstor Brook at the south-eastern end. The Burrator Dam was the first of the two to be built, with construction starting on 9 August 1893. It is the more massive of the two dams, constructed of concrete faced with granite blocks. The Sheepstor Dam was built in 1894 and is an earth embankment with a core wall of puddled clay above the original ground level, with a concrete section below ground. The reservoir was officially opened on 21 September 1898.In 1923 it was decided to enlarge the capacity from 668 million gallons to 1,026 million. This was achieved by raising the height of both dams by 10 feet. Work began in December 1923, and a temporary suspension bridge was built near Burrator Dam to carry traffic while the work proceeded. The reservoir was officially re-opened on 12 September 1928. In the 1930s the watershed on Dartmoor for the reservoir was stated to be 5,360 acres. The present-day area of the reservoir at overflow level is about 150 acres. The edges of the reservoir are planted with commercial forests.The reservoir is now managed by the South West Lakes Trust, and is a popular spot for leisure activities including walking, cycling and fishing.

Burrator is a grouped parish council in the English county of Devon. It is entirely within the boundaries of the Dartmoor National Park and was formed in 1973 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972 from the older councils of Meavy, Sheepstor and Walkhampton. The parish has an area of 59.45 km2 (23 sq miles), and is one of the most sparsely populated. The population count in 2001 found that 1,540 people lived in the parish. The parish coincides with the similarly named electoral ward, and at the 2011 census the population had decreased to 1,445. The ward contains the villages of Dousland, Meavy, Sheepstor and Walkhampton, and also Burrator Reservoir which is the main water supply for Plymouth. The parish is twinned with the municipality of Mathieu, in Normandy, France. Burrator Parish Council holds the ownership of the Royal Oak Inn at Meavy, which dates back to the 16th Century. The Inn is leased to a tenant publican and the council's ownership and administration of the Inn is managed by its Royal Oak Inn committee, composed of Meavy parish councillors. The parish of Burrator is named after Burra Tor, a large granite tor that is exposed from the field to the woodland by the dam; located at Grid Reference 553679 at the southern end of the reservoir and about halfway between its two dams blocking the outlets to the River Meavy and the Sheepstor Brook. James Brooke, the first white Rajah of Sarawak, died in Burrator.

Princetown is a village located within Dartmoor national park in the English county of Devon. It is the principal settlement of the civil parish of Dartmoor Forest. The village has its origins in 1785, when Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, then secretary to the Prince of Wales, leased a large area of moorland from the Duchy of Cornwall estate, hoping to convert it into good farmland. He encouraged people to live in the area and suggested that a prison be built there. He called the settlement Princetown after the Prince of Wales. Princetown is the site of Dartmoor Prison. At around 1,430 feet (435 m) above sea level, it is the highest settlement on the moor, and one of the highest in the United Kingdom. It is also the largest settlement located on the high moor. The Princetown Railway, closed in 1956, was also the highest railway line in England: its Princetown terminus was also 1,430 feet above sea level.

Ringmoor stone row and cairn circle (grid reference SX563658) is a prehistoric stone row and cairn circle on Ringmoor Down in Devon. It is located three miles east of the A386, northeast of the village of Shaugh Prior. It is three hundred metres north from Brisworthy stone circle, and is one of the archaeological sites found in the Upper Plym Valley.