DARTMOOR (named from the river Dart. which rises in the region). A granitic tableland in the southwest of Devonshire, England, remark able for its wild, rugged scenery and cyclopean relics of aboriginal inhabitants (Map: England, C 6). Dartmoor proper (or the ancient forest of that name) and the outlying common lands arc about 20 miles square. This moorland region, encircled by a natural rampart, and moated by sleep valleys, has a considerable elevation above the surrounding country, and culminates in Yes Tor, 2040 feet above the sea-level. Copper is found, and at Wheal, Dimity. and Birch Tor are productive tin-mines. Thu largest kaolin-works in England are at Lee Moor. which is also the seat of a meteorological observatory. The soil is composed chiefly of peat, which in the bottoms has accumulated in some places to the depth of 25 feet, and it rests on a subsoil of fine sand. Many of the well-watered dells and ravines are fertile. while the whole moor affords pasturage for cattle. sheep. and horses. The antiquities in clude the Gray Wethers, a fine specimen below Sittaford Tor, of what is now styled a Druidical temple. the vestiges of a large aboriginal village
aL Grimspotind, the cromlech at Drewsteignton, logans. stone avenues, dolmens. barrows, cairns, rock-pillars, and ancient trarkways.
During the long War with Napoleon, a prison. now' used for convicts, was erected in western Dartmoor for French captives. Prince Town sprang up close by, and soon became a thriving place. During the war with the United States (1812-15), many raptured Americans were con fined at Dartmoor. See DAtrousat MASSACRE, The cast lc, magus, and forest of Dartnnfor were granted by Henry III. to his brother Rich ard, Earl of Cornwall, and since 1337 Dart moor has been, in part. permanently annexed to the Duchy of Cornwall. Dartmoor figures con spicuously in poetry and romance. Consult We, PC/Wm/naafiOn of the .1 orient nail Royal Forest of Dartmoor, etc. ( Plymouth a wr Loudon, 3d ed., 1896).