Shedding more light on Victorian Dartmoor

Around eighty people gathered at Dartmoor National Park Authority’s headquarters at Parke on Saturday 11^th March for the first ever symposium on Victorian Dartmoor. The free event, which was part of the Heritage Lottery Fund-supported Moor than meets the eye (MTMTE) scheme attracted academic speakers from the University of Plymouth, the University of Exeter as well as renowned local history researchers and archaeologists.

MTMTE Community Heritage Officer and event organiser, Emma Stockley explained “the day was inspiring and informative in equal measures and by coming together, we’ve learnt a great deal about how the Victorians viewed Dartmoor through a variety of media as well as looking at their impact on Dartmoor’s archaeology”.

Seven short lectures, with lunch provided by Home Farm Café in between, focused on the impact of capitalism on Dartmoor’s landscape, Victorian tourism, the attraction of Dartmoor as a setting for crime in Victorian fiction as well as Victorian art, agriculture, photography, social life and celebrations.

Tony Clark, Chairman of The Dartmoor Trust commented “the informative presentations by knowledgeable experts revealed Dartmoor’s Victorian heritage to a delighted audience. The event inspired Dartmoor enthusiasts, helping understanding of a long period of peace, prosperity, and national self-confidence for Britain”.

The symposium, which included researchers taking part in the MTMTE In the footsteps of the Victorians research project, sets the scene for an exhibition of artworks at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter which will run from December 2017 to April 2018.

For more information, please visit www.moorthanmeetstheeye.org

Wild and Wondrous exhibition

A new exhibition, Dartmoor: a Wild and Wondrous Region, has opened at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter. This is the first major review of how Dartmoor has been portrayed in art and the largest exhibition of its kind in a generation. The exhibition contains oil paintings, watercolours, early photographs and postcards from RAMM's own collections as well as loans from British museums and private collections. Many of the works have rarely been seen in public before.The exhibition runs until April 1st so there is plenty of time to visit and see how artists helped change peoples perceptions of the moor from 'squalida Montana Dertmore' to a 'wild and wondrous region'. A programme of events has been organised to complement the exhibition with activities taking place at RAMM and across Dartmoor. For more details of the activities taking place visit www.rammuseum.org.uk.The exhibition has been co-curated by Peter F Mason and RAMM, Exeter and has been funded in partnership between Moor than meets the eye and RAMM and sponsored by Dartmoor Preservation Association, Tozers Solicitors and Hawksmoor Investment Management.

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In the footsteps of the Victorians

This project will research the history of the Wray Valley and the surrounding area on the eastern edge of Dartmoor during the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

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Bat Diary part 6

While the sun descended over Trendlebere Down one August evening a small group of naturalists gathered. Along with Andy Carr, bat researcher from the University of Bristol, Barry Henwood and Bob Heckford brought their specialist knowledge of moths. Andy and his team of volunteers has previously revealed some of the foraging habits of the rare barbastelle bats of the Bovey Valley and now he needs to know more about the range and availability of their food. It’s well known that the bats tend to feed on moths but specific information would require further work. A species list of around 20 night flying moths had previously been produced and needed updating.

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Last update: 14 Mar 2017 3:29pm

Shedding more light on Victorian Dartmoor

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