| Covering an area ten miles by ten miles, Bodmin Moor is an
area of bleak but beautiful granite moorland. Designated as an Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty it is the source of many rivers including the River Fowey.
Originally forest land, mankind started clearing the land 10,000 years ago
and by the Bronze Age most of the forest had been cleared. Remnants of fields,
farms, megalithic chambers, burial places, stone rows, circles and standing
stones all survive forming a wealth of archaeological remains. Evidence
of man's later activity can be seen in the eastern end of the Moor with
the 18th Century ruins of tin and copper mining. These ruins centre on the
village of Minions and around the area of Caradon Hill, the site of a present
day television mast. All of Bodmin Moor is privately owned by landowners
known as the 'Lords of the Manor' and, unlike Dartmoor, the moor is without
many Public Rights of Way. At the centre of Bodmin Moor lies the village
of Bolventor in which you will find "Jamaica Inn". Cornwall's
highest peaks, Brown Willy and Roughtor, lie to the north and Dozmary Pool
to the south of Bolventor. |
