Celebrating the granite heritage of Bovey Tracey

Tuesday 28 June 2016

A Granite Legacy

The Bovey Tracey Parishscape Project, Granite Elements, is uncovering more than the magnificent stone tramway that ran from Hay Tor to the navigable Stover Canal.  A walk led by Albert Knott from Natural England, and Barry Green , an expert countryman, illustrated the many skills that local people use to exploit and manage the land adjacent to the tramway route.  The walk had many notable views and first we looked across the rolling Devon countryside criss-crossed with hedges and the hills topped with trees.  This old pattern has changed in many places as the hedges were ripped out to create larger fields for modern machinery and this has affected the wildlife who use the hedges as corridors.  Some field boundaries are very ancient indeed going back to the Bronze age.
We continued through a wood where we stepped across a stream channelled by an appropriated piece or tramway - it's always easier to use what's around than cut your own!  We looked at the flora and fauna of felled areas, admired the industry of ancient coppicing, saw the damage that larger animals can cause to trees but how this in turn can produce an airy parkland environment.  We were shown the points of good fencing and the styles of stone wall building.  We followed the track through Yarner Wood where  volunteers, as elsewhere along the route,  are making  the tramway more visible.  We discussed how the granite was cut and shaped to make the tramway and the simple tools and incredible labour of the men who made it   Contemplating  all that effort for something that  was only used for about 20 years added to the  effort over centuries of those who maintain the land made us all feel thirsty and luckily Ullacombe Farm  cafe was our final destination.

I attended a second walk on the art and ecology of the Tramway that was equally enjoyable and illuminating so look out for others and discover the many elements of this exciting project.
Philippa Wood Walk participant 

Thursday 23 June 2016

Monday 20 June 2016

Creative Walk around Haytor

Thank goodness the rain cleared and the sun came out by the end of the walk around the Quarry and along the newly cleared Granite Tramway (we were all very impressed by all the hard work that has gone into that)
It was led by Amanda Pellatt and there was so much to experience, awakening all our senses throughout the afternoon. We are so lucky to live here !!
Newly cleared Granite Tramway

Haytor Quarry


Great Walk on the Granite Tramway

We had a great walk on Friday with Barry Green and Albert Knott the magical duo full of so much information about Rural Skills and how that heritage affects the landscape, the fauna and flora and us humans. 

Looking forward to the next walk now !