Bodmin Moor is a wonderful place – not least, because there’s hardly anyone there to make a mess of it (well not in recent times, anyway). Not even the lack of National Park status has encouraged anyone to build anything of any significance here for at least the last century. There should be more places like this.
But to see Bodmin Moor as an expanse of natural wilderness is to seriously misunderstand this remarkable place. The moor has been a hive of human activity since the dawn of recorded history. The ancient village of Temple, with its Templar connections, dates back to at least the 12th century. Yet this part of the moor had been occupied by people who had passed over the horizon of history long before the Knights Templar made their fleeting mark.
In a swathe of unprepossessing moorland overlooking Temple, lies a vast array of granite lines and circles, which are the traces of a civilisation that flourished in the area over 4000 years ago. The actual occupation dates dowsed only to be between 2500 and 2200 bce – the age of the erection of the many of the stone rows, circles and monoliths of the West Country – and bearing a close comparison to the official archaeological view.
