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Summary

Peat pass of 220 metres north of Whitehorse Hill with memorial stones at each end, providing a drier path through the blanket bog. This was one of a number of passes constructed between 1895-1905 under the direction of William Francis Phillpotts, to provide better access cattlemen and fox hunters. to It was widened in 1963 when a military track was being made to the new lookout post.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX68NW/13

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• PEAT PASS (Constructed, XIX to Edwardian - 1895 AD (Between) to 1905 AD (Between))

Full description

Le Messurier, B., 1965, The Phillpotts Peat Passes of Northern Dartmoor, 166 (Article in Serial). SDV242771.

Whitehorse Hill. A peat pass with memorial stones at each end. It was widened in 1963 when a military track was being made to the new lookout post.

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

One of the Phillpotts (1837-1909) peat passes cut to facilitate huntsmen on the moor. Nine of these passes were dug around the centre of the moor ranging from over a kilometre to a mere 60 metres. They are now marked by small cairns along their length and by short granite posts at each end. A bronze plaque commemorating Phillpotts is attached to each of the posts.

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

William Francis Phillpotts (1837-1909), knew the blanket bog on Dartmoor well and wished to enable cattlemen and fox hunters more access over the boggy areas. During the summer months of the years 1895-1905, he directed a team of workmen to make 'cuts' or 'passes' through the peat, linking up areas where the peat had been eroded down to the granite bedrock, forming a causeway that would remain drier and safer for men, cattle and horses to traverse. Wooden marker posts were erected which were replaced with granite marker stones with bronze plaques by Phillpotts' brother and son after his death.
Maintenance was an issues, as where the surrounding peat degraded, it blocked the passes.
Whitehorse Hill Peat Pass (SX619854 - 617854)
From east to west this pass runs for some 247 metres. This now is probably one of the better constructed passes as it was cleared with a bulldozer in 1963 when the military were building a new observation post. This also linked up with some firm ground to the military ring road at Hangingstone Hill (Citing Le Messurier).

Ordnance Survey, 2015, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV357601.

The peat pass is used as a footpath and as such is depicted on the modern 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

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