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Summary

'Sandpath' peat pass of 230 metres to the north-east of Whitehorse Hill. A turf and stone causeway measuring 4 metres wide and 1.5 metres above present ground surface. A peat pass providing a drier path through the blanket bog. This pass predates the passes constructed between 1895-1905 under the direction of William Francis Phillpotts.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX68NW88
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 966987

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CAUSEWAY (Constructed, Post Medieval - 1540 AD (Between) to 1750 AD (Between))
• PEAT PASS (Constructed, Post Medieval - 1540 AD (Between) to 1750 AD (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1953-1969, 1953-1969 National Grid OS A edition imperial (Cartographic). SDV352727.

SX 62208523 to SX 62178544. Undescribed pecked feature marked on 1986 edition of the mapping.

Hemery, E., 1983, High Dartmoor, 779 (Monograph). SDV249702.

Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England, 1987-1993, Duchy Farms Project Survey Visit, S. Probert (Report - Survey). SDV350839.

(02/09/1993) SX 62268523 to SX 62168543. The Sand Path (Hemery, 1983). A turf and stone causeway formerly crossing an area of marsh and peat cuttings on the eastern flank of Whitehorse Hill. The now ruinous feature measures on average 4.0m wide and remains about 1.5m above the present ground surface. It consists mostly of peat with some stone used in the construction chiefly to pave the top surface. This feature has been breached in several places and now only exists as a series of isolated lengths of bank running roughly 220m south east to north west. Hemery gives no indication of the antiquity of this feature.
The remains of a probable peat cutter's shelter (SX 68 NW 34) lie near the southern end of this feature.

Butler, J., 1991, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Two - The North, 111, Map 34 (Monograph). SDV219155.

This peat pass predates those arranged by Phillpotts (1837-1909) cut to facilitate huntsmen on the moor.

Probert, S. A. J. + Newman, P., 2003-2004, Measured survey North Dartmoor Military Range Okehampton Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey, S. Probert (Report - Survey). SDV350801.

(20/10/2003) This feature remains as described in 1993.

GeoInformation Group Ltd, 2010, 1:625 2010 Colour aerial photography for Dartmoor (12.5cm resolution) (Aerial Photograph). SDV346026.

Route of the peat pass can be traced on the aerial photograph.

Sandles, T., 2014-2019, Legendary Dartmoor, Accessed 2015 (Website). SDV356498.

The Sand Path peat pass (SX621854 – 622852)
From north to south this 201 metre cut is another ancient path constructed before the Phillpotts Peat Passes. It runs off at almost 90 degrees to the Whitehorse Pass which is some 165 metres to the north-west.

Ordnance Survey, 2015, Ordnance Survey 1:25000 Digital Colour Raster Map (Cartographic). SDV319717.

'Sand Path Peat Pass' is depicted on the large scale Ordnance Survey mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8409 - Dartmoor Royal Forest Project
• EDV8679 - Okehampton Range: Management Survey
• EDV8291 - Okehampton Range: Monument Baseline Condition Survey
• EDV8695 - Survey of Okehampton North Dartmoor Military Range
• EDV8423 - Duchy Farms Project

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