Grimspound & Hookney Tor

Well-preserved enclosed Bronze Age settlement of 24 round houses within a stone-walled enclosure approx 150m in diameter. Further houses survive outside the enclosure. On open moorland overlooked by the granite outcrops of Hookney Tor. In the care of English Heritage.

  • SX701809
Nearest town:
Ashburton (11km SE)
OS reference:
SX701809
OS sheet:
191
Latitude:
50° 36' 45.82 N
Longitude:
3° 50' 10.41 W

Images

Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by Rhiannon

From ‘The Portfolio’, v20, January 1889, in an article on Dartmoor by J LL W Page.

Image credit: Alfred Dawson and J LL W Page
Rhiannon
Rhiannon May 7, 2016
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by GLADMAN

Apparently (according to Pastscape) there is that most enigmatic of Dartmoor monuments – a tor cairn – here, too. Couldn’t positively identify, though.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 21, 2016
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by GLADMAN

Nightfall, descending to the bed.. well, back of the car. Pausing to reflect that a fine stone row ascends Challacombe across the valley... was nice. Even better to have previously walked it and feel a part of this landscape. Not something that can be accomplished in a short space of time...

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 7, 2016
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by GLADMAN

The enigmatic, legendary Grimspound rises beyond Hookney Tor. Even though it’s much lower...

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 7, 2016
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by GLADMAN

Challacombe with its wondrous stone row can be seen beyond Hookney Tor’s rocky bits.... not quite sure if the remnants of Pastscape’s tor cairn are in frame?

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 7, 2016
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by GLADMAN

The summit crags of Hookney Tor... according to Pastscape there is an example of perhaps Dartmoor’s most enigmatic monument here... the tor cairn... although the OS map cites ‘tumuli’. Whatever the technical details, the vibe here affirms that this is a place humans have come to in order to ‘feel stuff’ for millennia. I was more than happy to return and be a small part of the ongoing story.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 7, 2016
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by GLADMAN

Looking from a chilled out Birch Tor........ the enclosure is centre right (ish) skyline, Hookney Tor to the left.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Feb 17, 2013
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by GLADMAN

Looking down from Hamel Down Tor towards Hookney Tor.... upon perhaps the finest moorland settlement in these Isles.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Feb 17, 2013
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by GLADMAN

Didn’t appear to be any one home.... clearly the entrance.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 17, 2012
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by GLADMAN

Looking across to Challacombe... and its stone row.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 17, 2012
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by GLADMAN

With an hour to ‘kill’ before darkness inexorably calls a halt, what better place to frequent than a decidedy hostile Grimspound... he says? Looking toward Hookney Tor.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 17, 2012
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by Zeb

The entrance to Grimspound. As seen on 04/10/2005 CE.

Zeb
Zeb Oct 5, 2005
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by Zeb

One of the stone huts with Hookney Tor in the background. Grimspound is a hidden treasure. Well worth a visit.
04/10/2005 CE

Zeb
Zeb Oct 5, 2005
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by Moth

One of the better-preserved huts in horrid weather (which seems par for the course, going by the other photos here!)

Image credit: Tim Clark
Moth
Moth Jul 6, 2005
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by Moth

Jane huddles in shelter of south(-east?) entrance as the weather threatens to chase us back to the car

Image credit: Tim Clark
Moth
Moth Jul 6, 2005
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by Moth

Nice hut. Hut 3 in left background & entrance in right background.

Image credit: Tim Clark
Moth
Moth Jul 6, 2005
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by Moth

Jane takes in the gloomy atmosphere & worsening weather. Makes it seem like it must’ve been a hard life up here, though the climate would probably have been better....

Image credit: Tim Clark
Moth
Moth Jul 6, 2005
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by ocifant

Looking North toward Hookney Tor, from just inside the Western Entrance to the compound.

Image credit: Alan S>
ocifant
ocifant Jun 6, 2005
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by pure joy

rock lined stream near grimspound – 22.12.2002 – no idea if this is modern or not, but it makes a nice photo

Image credit: Martin Bull
pure joy
pure joy Feb 24, 2003
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by pure joy

The remains of the south entrance at Grimspound – on a foggy day 22.12.2002

Image credit: Martin Bull
pure joy
pure joy Feb 24, 2003
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by pure joy

One of the best preserved huts at Grimspound – on a foggy day 22.12.2002

Image credit: Martin Bull
pure joy
pure joy Feb 24, 2003
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by pure joy

The remains of one the huts at Grimspound – on a foggy day 22.12.2002

Image credit: Martin Bull
pure joy
pure joy Feb 24, 2003
Image of Grimspound & Hookney Tor by pure joy

The remains of the outer wall at Grimspound – on a foggy day 22.12.2002

Image credit: Martin Bull
pure joy
pure joy Feb 24, 2003

Articles

Grimspound & Hookney Tor

C
CARL Apr 23, 2015

Visited 13.4.15

Directions:
South of the B3212 (sign posted)

Although the site is sign posted from the main road, the appropriate parking place isn’t. Best bet is to follow Pure Joy’s directions.

I wasn’t expecting the stone path up to the site and it was a lovely (and surprisingly easy) walk from the parking area to the site. The weather was fantastic, hot sunshine and blue skies. The children loved messing about in the small streams tumbling down the hillside. The dry, crisp grass crunched underfoot. No need for walking boots or coat today – in fact it turned out I didn’t need them all week!

We soon arrived at Grimspound and what a fantastic place it is! A real ‘wow’!

We walked around the outside of the circular wall and entered the village through what would have been the original entrance. The two stones forming the doorway certainly give you the feeling that you are entering a place – passing from the outside to the inside.

We looked around several of the houses and each picked our favourite one to live in. I was drawn to the large house in the middle of the village – the one with the ‘porch’. I could see myself living here!

A family were enjoying a picnic next to one of the lower houses (a great place to have one) and several people could be seen walking up to Hookney Tor – something I unfortunately didn’t have time to do on this occasion.

Grimspound is an excellent place to visit – particularly in good weather. It is a lot easier to access than you may think (for a moorland site) and is well worth the effort. I can’t recommend Grimspound highly enough. One of the best places I have visited for a long time.
And it’s another English Heritage site ticked off the list!

Grimspound & Hookney Tor

tjj
tjj Oct 20, 2014

On a walking break for a few days in Devon last week. Spent a day (it was never going to be long enough) travelling to and walking on Dartmoor. First walk was to Wistman’s Wood – a place I have long wanted to visit. Ancient twisted oaks dripping with silvery lichen and huge rocks covered in mosses, the place had another-worldly feel.
Later, a quick roadside stop to look at Soussons Common Cairn Circle and then on to Grimspound Bronze Age settlement.
Grimspound is one of the best known prehistoric settlements on Dartmoor, probably dating from the Late Bronze Age, with the remains of 24 houses/hut circles enclosed within a stone wall. A very impressive place to visit as positioned on the steep side of some spectacular moor land. A peaty fast flowing stream runs down past one side of the circular wall.
Text taken from ‘Ancient Dartmoor’ by Paul White says “The most famous of the pound settlements is Grimspound, which is untypical in the immense thickness of its outer walls. It has been calculated that these would have taken 35 man-years to make. Since the site is badly positioned for defence (and the Bronze Age was a remarkably peaceful period) it is hard to see why such a massive structure was needed.” Paul White goes on to say it would be tempting to assume these people were pastoralists, keeping their sheep and cattle on the moor and bringing them in for protection from raiders such as wolves or ‘the wild lads from the next valley’, however, he adds there is no evidence to support these assumptions.

Grimspound & Hookney Tor

postman
postman Nov 12, 2010

Just maggie the black jack russell and me can rustle up excitement enough for the walk round Grimspound, and excited I was too, for we had plenty of time to rummage about in folks houses, to walk the long walk round the walls, to climb the Tor and look down upon ye mighty works of old.
We sat upon the Tor awhile and time just seemed to fly, maggie was looking wistfully down the valley sitting good next to me, but I can tell she wants more walking, the girls playing in the best house have gone now so we now have it and the entire pound to ourselves, but to no avail, we must leave it to the moors for sunset at Scorhill is our last port of calm.

Grimspound & Hookney Tor

faerygirl
faerygirl Apr 30, 2010

A settlement? Some of these “buildings” are not big enough to lie down in, let alone get your family in. Feels more like a graveyard to me. Any guesses why the entrance is so strangely aligned. Facing uphill seemed like the wrong way to be pointed. It did align with the entrance to whatever is on the hill to the north though.

Grimspound & Hookney Tor

Jane
Jane Jul 10, 2005

Just a short five minute walk uphill from the road brings you to this ancient village settlement. Filthy weather prevented us from exploring this site thoroughly as the fine drizzle was blowing at an angle of 45 degrees quite unpleasantly.

The huge low wall which surrounds the long-abandoned settlement maps out the extent of the compound. Despite the looming sense of abandonment it was easy for me to imagine the place in its hayday. As I walked through the ruined ground plans of many houses I imagined the bustle of women working, children playing, goats and sheep corralled, men talking – ordinary things. The layout and size reminded me very strongly of the maasai villages of East Africa today.

Sadly, no African sun here today. Indeed, so bleak did it become that we declared ‘rain stopped play’ and headed back to the car.

Grimspound & Hookney Tor

ocifant
ocifant Jun 6, 2005

Visited 21/5/5

What a fantastic place! From the layby, walk up the steps then keep up the hill till the stream is heard. Keep the stream on the right until a ‘stone path’ is seen. Follow the path to the settlement – the path continues on up to Hookney Tor.

There’s a real sense of loss here – it’s easy to imagine the bustling community that once existed within the encircling wall with its three entrances.

Grimspound & Hookney Tor

Hob
Hob Oct 19, 2003

Much easier to find in good weather.

Accessiblity note: Probably OK for those with sticks, though slightly uphill. Ground too uneven for any but the most rugged wheelchairs.

Grimspound & Hookney Tor

pure joy
pure joy Jan 6, 2003

Grimspound – 22.12.2002

These notes may seem overly detailed, but in the Dartmoor fog, you may need them!!

Grimspound is shockingly not at all signposted from the North (the B3312), or at the nearest place on the minor road that runs past the site (Grid ref – SX697809). And before anyone says ‘well...that’s good because it keeps the crowds away and keeps the site to people clever
enough to find it’, I say this. This is one of the most important settlements in Britain and is a national treasure, not something to keep to the select few. And, anyway, even with a large scale map you may struggle to find it (as I did, in fog and without a map reader in the car!).

From the North (i.e. from the B3212) I can only advise that you take the turning that you think it should be, if you’ve been closely following the OS map. The junction does have a general signpost at its north side (pointing to Tavistock, and Moretonhampstead) but nothing towards Grimspound. If you successfully get this road then on a clear day you may spot Grimspound up on the hill on your left hand side, between Hookney and Hameldown Tors, exactly 2 km south of
the junction. On a less clear day look for the only place along that road where there is quite a substantial tarmaced lay-by (enough for about 4 cars) on the right hand side of the road, very close to the kink in the road where it crosses the stream that comes does from Grimspound. If you reach the road on your right for Headland Warren Farm, you’ve gone too far.

Opposite the lay-by there are 4 stone steps; that’s the way towards Grimspound. If you find the partly paved route to the main West entrance of Grimspound, well done. If not, don’t worry; the other route will take you to the edge of the outer wall anyway.

Grimspound is magical. Amazing. I love settlement sites. At these places my imagination is far more rampant than at other sites. We know people lived here – slept, ate, drank, talked, loved, argued, planned, died; just like we do today. And the big drystone outer wall reminds me in essence (although not in purpose) of Gaho and Gersale, small villages where I used to work in the very dry and dusty Southern Ethiopian badlands where local feuds have led to circular protective walls being built by the villagers.

Sites within 20km of Grimspound & Hookney Tor

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