A royal forest was an area reserved by the king for hunting, and William the Conqueror introduced the concept of forest law in England in the 11th century.[1] Until 1204 the whole of Devon was a royal forest, but in that year King John agreed (subject to the payment by the county's commonality of a "fine" of 5,000 marks) to disafforest all of Devon "up to the metes of the ancient regardes of Dertemore and Exmore, as these regardes were in the time of King Henry the First". In other words, all of Devon except for Dartmoor and Exmoor was freed from forest law.[2]
This disafforestation was confirmed by King Henry III in 1217,[3] and in 1239 he granted the Forest of Dartmoor (and the Manor of Lydford) to his brother, Richard, Earl of Cornwall. From that date it technically became a chase, not a forest, though the name did not change.[4] The next year, in a writ dated 13 June 1240, the king directed the Sheriff of Devon and twelve knights of the county to perambulate the Forest to record its exact bounds. This was because Richard had been in dispute with four knights who owned land adjoining the forest. The perambulation (known ever since as "the 1240 Perambulation") took place on 24 July 1240.[3] It was around this time that the first of the Ancient Tenements, such as Babeny, were founded within the Forest.[5]
Although the original document detailing the route of the 1240 Perambulation has been lost, a number of near-contemporary copies still exist, differing only in spelling.[3] A modern transcription of the places mentioned is as follows:[7][8]
Original text of 1240 (alternative spellings in brackets)
Modern placename
Notes
…ad hogam de Cossdonne
Cosdon
A prominent hill on the northern edge of Dartmoor
et inde linealiter usque ad parvam hogam que vocatur parva Hundetorre,
Hound Tor
et inde linealiter usque ad Thurlestone,
Watern Tor
et inde linealiter usque ad Wotesbrokelakesfote que cadit in Tyng,
Hew Lake Foot
et inde linealiter usque ad Heigheston (Hengheston)
The Longstone on Shovel Down
A Bronze Age standing stone
et inde linealiter usque ad Langestone (Yessetone)
The Heath Stone
et inde linealiter usque per mediam turbariam de Alberysheved (Aberesheved)
et inde linealiter usque at vadum proximum in orientali parte capelle Sancti Michaelis de Halgestoke
Halstock Chapel
et inde linealiter usque ad predictum hogam de Cossdonne in orientali parte
Return to Cosdon
There was another perambulation of the forest bounds in 1608 which introduced a number of changes and added boundary points between the existing ones.[11] The exact boundaries continued to be unclear or disputed until the later 19th century.[12]
Brewer, Dave (2002). Dartmoor Boundary Markers. Tiverton, Devon: Halsgrove. ISBN1-84114-172-0.
Milton, Patricia (2006). The Discovery of Dartmoor, a Wild and Wondrous Region. Chichester: Phillimore. ISBN1-86077-401-6.
Somers Cocks, John (1970). "Saxon and Early Medieval Times". In Crispin Gill (ed.). Dartmoor. A New Study. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. ISBN0-7153-5041-2.