The South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA) is the regional film archive for the South West of England. Established in 1993, SWFTA's core collection comprises of the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and TSW (Television South West). The archive also cares for a significant number of donated film collections, both amateur and professional, dating back to the early 1900s.
This film is part of Free
Driving Dartmoor
A passenger films from the seat of a car crossing Dartmoor
From the collection of:
Overview
Amateur film captured from the front seat of a car travelling across Dartmoor National Park and taking in Postbridge, Princetown and Hound Tor. The hamlet at Postbridge has a listed clapper bridge over the river believed to have been built in the 13th century to enable pack horses to cross the river and carry tin to the stannary town of Tavistock. Stannary towns were administrative entities with a monopoly over the sale of tin.
Princetown developed in the late 18th Century after moorland was leased by Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt from the Prince of Wales. It is the site of Dartmoor Prison built between 1806 and 1809 for prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars and American prisoners from the War of 1812. It is now a low category closed prison. Hound Tor is a granite outcrop with nearby vestiges of Hundatora, a deserted village dating back to 13th century. Dartmoor has the largest concentration of Bronze Age remains in Britain.