Bellever and Lakehead
The Setting
Bellever and Lakehead is an extensive Bronze Age landscape dating from 1,500 years BC. Unfortunately the area was forested around 1930 and a vast amount of evidence has been destroyed.
Proceeding from the north there is an area of habitation – Kraps Ring – with a burial or ceremonial area on the crest of Lakehead Hill. On the northern and eastern slopes of Bellever Tor there are more settlements but a large field system has been destroyed by forestation. Beyond Bellever there is another important area of settlement and burial to the west of Laughter Tor
Postbridge has a reasonable pub with drinkable beer and edible lunches. Over the East Dart river is a good clapper bridge and about two miles downstream at Bellever there is another clapper bridge which has suffered some damage. (It wasn't us - we haven't been there yet) At the same location is a pleasant picnic area with toilets and ample parking. (Ample is a word only used in travel programmes or guides)
Postbridge
Bellever
Picnic Area
The Dartmoor National Park Information Centre is 50m up the hill from the bridge with a car park and toilets.
The walk will take 2 1/2 to 3 hours. We could have a picnic lunch or if we finish around 1.30 we could have a pub lunch. We can please ourselves. We could make a plan and then change our mind. We are free and answerable to no one except our wives.
We will see an enclosed settlement, cairn circles, cists or kistvaens, hut circles and a stone row.
On the home journey we could make a detour of a few miles to look at the cairn and cist at Soussons.
Resources
Audio Walk covering part of the walk - produced by Dartmoor National Park.
Audio files:-
If you do not have Google Earth on your computer you are missing a treat. It is a free download from here. If you do install it you can download and run this file which gives an aerial view of the proposed walk.
If you would like to see how an obsessive personality deals with idle time in retirement the following google earth files will interest you.
Dartmoor Features - including Tors
Dartmoor National Park Leaflets
| The Archaeology of the Open Moor | Prehistoric Archaeology of Dartmoor |
| Dartmoors Past Tin Industry | Bogs and Wetlands |
| Geology and Landforms | Tor Formation |
Much of the detail on the walk page is based on Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities. Volume two. Jeremy Butler.
There is a great website called http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk which has a section on Bellever but he also has nicked his info from Butler and pinched his maps as well. However he has got some pages on legends of the area which are worth reading. One is about a character called Tom White who became Pixie Led. The first time I went to Bellever I somehow missed my way and it took me an hour to find the right path so I too believe I was Pixie Led.
The road to the west of the Tor is the dwelling place of the Hairy Hands and Bellever Tor is connected to a story of a Hobby Horse.