Bodmin Moor: Difference between revisions

'''Bodmin Moor''' ({{langx|kw|Goon Brenn|label=[[Cornish language|Cornish]] [[Standard Written Form]]}})<ref>[http://www.magakernow.org.uk/default.aspx?page=520 Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515091028/http://www.magakernow.org.uk/default.aspx?page=520 |date=15 May 2013 }} : [http://www.magakernow.org.uk/idoc.ashx?docid=79ba408d-7c02-499e-8cd6-b18dd48de58d&version=-1 List of place-names agreed by the MAGA Signage Panel] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515071635/http://www.magakernow.org.uk/idoc.ashx?docid=79ba408d-7c02-499e-8cd6-b18dd48de58d&version=-1 |date=15 May 2013 }}. [[Cornish Language Partnership]].</ref> is a [[granite]] [[moorland]] in north-eastern [[Cornwall]], England, United Kingdom. It is {{convert|208|km2|sqmi}} in size, and dates from the [[Carboniferous]] period of [[geology|geological]] history. It includes [[Brown Willy]], the highest point in Cornwall, and [[Rough Tor]], a slightly lower peak. Many of Cornwall's rivers have their sources here. It has been inhabited since at least the [[Neolithic]] era, when early farmers started clearing trees and farming the land. They left their megalithic monuments, hut circles and cairns, and the [[Bronze Age]] culture that followed left further cairns, and more stone circles and stone rows. By medieval and modern times, nearly all the forest was gone and livestock rearing predominated.

Bodmin Moor is one of five [[granite]] [[pluton]]s in Cornwall that make up part of the [[Cornubian batholith]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://petrology.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/3/571|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713063826/http://petrology.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/3/571|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 July 2012|author=Charoy, B|date=1986|title=''Genesis of the Cornubian Batholith (South West England): the example of the Carnmenellis Pluton''|publisher=Journal of Petrology; Oxford: OUP|access-date=27 November 2014}}</ref> The [[intrusion]] dates from the [[Cisuralian epoch]], the earliest part of the [[Permian]] period, and outcrops across about 190 square km. Around the pluton's margins where it intruded into [[slate]]s, the [[country rock (geology)|country rock]] has been [[hornfels]]ed. Numerous [[peat]] deposits occur across the moor whilst large areas are characterised by [[blockfield]]s of granite boulders; both deposits are of [[Holocene]] age<ref>{{cite web|title=Geoindex Onshore|url=https://mapapps2.bgs.ac.uk/geoindex/home.html|publisher=British Geological Survey|access-date=20 June 2020}}</ref> (see also [[Geology of Cornwall]]).

Dramatic granite [[tor (rock formation)|tor]]s rise from the rolling moorland: the best known are [[Brown Willy]], the highest point in Cornwall at {{convert|417|m|ft|abbr=on}},<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/|title=GENUKI: Cornwall|publisher=Genuki.org.uk|access-date=27 November 2014}}</ref> and [[Rough Tor]] at {{convert|400|m|ft|abbr=on}}. To the south-east [[Kilmar Tor]] and [[Caradon Hill]] are the most prominent [[List of hills of Cornwall|hills]].<ref name=OS/> Considerable areas of the moor are poorly drained and form marshes (in hot summers these can dry out). The rest of the moor is mostly rough pasture or covered with heather and other low vegetation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bodminmoor.co.uk/features.html|title=Bodmin Moor: Landscape and features|publisher=South Penquite Farm|access-date=13 August 2016}}</ref>

The moor contains about 500 holdings with around 10,000 beef cows, 55,000 breeding ewes and 1,000 horses and ponies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bodminmoor.co.uk/history.html|title=The Bodmin Moor Pages ~ The History|publisher=Bodminmoor.co.uk|access-date=27 November 2014}}</ref> Most of the moor is a [[Site of Special Scientific Interest]] (SSSI), ''Bodmin Moor, North'',<ref>{{cite web|title=Bodmin Moor, North|url=http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1002227.pdf|publisher=[[Natural England]]|access-date=26 October 2011|year=1991|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024211818/http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1002227.pdf|archive-date=24 October 2012}}</ref> and has been designated an [[Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty]] (AONB), as part of [[Cornwall AONB]].<ref>[http://www.cornwall-aonb.gov.uk/documents/12_bodmin_character.pdf]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130127131041/http://www.cornwall-aonb.gov.uk/documents/12_bodmin_character.pdf|date=27 January 2013}}</ref> The moor has been identified by [[BirdLife International]] as an [[Important Bird Area]] (IBA) because it supports about 260 breeding pairs of [[European stonechat]]s as well as a wintering population of 10,000 [[Eurasian golden plover]]s.<ref name=bli>{{cite web|url=http://www.birdlife.org|title=Bodmin Moor|access-date=19 April 2013|work=Important Bird Areas factsheet|publisher=BirdLife International|year=2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630122358/http://www.birdlife.org/|archive-date=30 June 2007}}</ref> The moor has also been recognised as a separate [[natural region]] and designated as [[national character area]] 153 by [[Natural England]].<ref name="naturalengland">{{cite web|url=http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/publications/nca/bodmin_moor.aspx|title=NCA Profile:153 Bodmin Moor - NE415|website=naturalengland.org.uk| date=7 October 2014|access-date=15 January 2022}}</ref>

The [[River Camel]] rises on Hendraburnick Down and flows for approximately {{convert|40|km|mi|abbr=on}} before joining the sea at [[Padstow]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cornwallriversproject.org.uk/geography/camel.htm|title=Cornwall Rivers Project - Geography - Camel and Allen|publisher=Cornwallriversproject.org.uk|access-date=27 November 2014}}</ref> The River Camel and its tributary the [[De Lank River]] are an important habitat for the otter, and both have been proposed as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bodminmoor.co.uk/rivers.html|title=The Rivers of Bodmin Moor - The Bodmin Moor Pages|publisher=Bodminmoore.co.uk|access-date=27 November 2014}}</ref> The De Lank River rises near [[Roughtor]] and flows along an irregular course before joining the Camel south of Wenford.<ref name=Rivers/>

On the southern slopes of the moor lies [[Dozmary Pool]]. It is Cornwall's only natural inland lake and is glacial in origin. In the 20th century three reservoirs have been constructed on the moor; these are [[Colliford Lake]], [[Siblyback Lake]] and [[Crowdy Reservoir|Crowdy reservoir]]s, which supply water for a large part of the county's population. Various species of waterfowl are resident around these rivers.<ref>Bere, Rennie (1982) ''The Nature of Cornwall''. Buckingham: Barracuda Books, pp. 63–67</ref>

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In the 1980s, there was a big problem with the water supply in Camelford. Many people had medical issues after this and some died.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.irwinmitchell.com/client-stories/2009/july/camelford-water-pollution-case | title=Camelford Water Pollution Case }}</ref>

The Beast of Bodmin <ref>{{Cite web |title=HI-tech search for Beast of Bodmin |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/518673.stm |access-date=2023-06-16 |date=13 November 1999 | work=BBC News}}</ref> is an instance of sightings of a [[British big cats|British big cat]]. Searches for physical "evidence" to support such a claim has typically been found to have far more ordinary and less sensational origins. In the case of the Beast of Bodmin, when a skull found in the River Fowey was presented to the [[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]] as proof of its existence, it was found to have been cut from a leopard skin rug.<ref name="Regal">{{cite book |last1=Regal |first1=Brian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c6PACQAAQBAJ&pg=PA21 |title=Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia |date=2009 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-35508-0 |page=21 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Dictionary2">{{cite book |last1=Simpson |first1=Jacqueline |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iTcdvd1iRXsC&q=exmoor&pg=PT17 |title=A Dictionary of English Folklore |last2=Roud |first2=Stephen |date=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-210019-1 |language=en}}</ref>

==Film==

British/Australian author Brand King sets much of his second novel, ''A Cornish Spring<ref>{{cite book |last1=KIng |first1=Brand |title=A Cornish Spring |date=18 December 2023 |publisher=Sweeney & King |isbn=9781738487301 |pages=340 |url=https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-cornish-spring/brand-king/9781738487301 |access-date=11 February 2024}}</ref>'' on Bodmin Moor. The novel evokes the ghost of murdered 19th century farmgirl [[Charlotte Dymond]] to drive its narrative.<ref>{{cite news |last1=New Valley News |title=Tisbury based author releases new novel |date=9 February 2024 |url=https://www.newvalleynews.co.uk/news/tisbury-based-author-releases-new-novel/ |access-date=11 February 2024}}</ref> Her monument features on the book's cover.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cornish-Spring-Brand-King-ebook/dp/B0CS2N1WSF?ref_=ast_author_mpb | title=A Cornish Spring | date=10 January 2024 | publisher=Sweeney & King }}</ref>