The Forest of Dartmoor is an ancient royal forest

Royal forest

A royal forest is an area of land with different meanings in England, Wales and Scotland; the term forest does not mean forest as it is understood today, as an area of densely wooded land...

 covering part of Dartmoor

Dartmoor

Dartmoor is an area of moorland in south Devon, England. Protected by National Park status, it covers .The granite upland dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. The moorland is capped with many exposed granite hilltops known as tors, providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The...

, Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, England.

A royal forest was an area reserved by the king for hunting, and William the Conqueror introduced the concept of forest law in England in the 11th century. Until 1204 the whole of Devon was a royal forest, but in that year King John

John of England

John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...

 agreed (subject to the payment by the county's commonality of a "fine" of 5,000 marks

Mark (money)

Mark was a measure of weight mainly for gold and silver, commonly used throughout western Europe and often equivalent to 8 ounces. Considerable variations, however, occurred throughout the Middle Ages Mark (from a merging of three Teutonic/Germanic languages words, Latinized in 9th century...

) to disafforest all of Devon "up to the metes of the ancient regardes of Dertemore and Exmore, as these regardes were in the time of King Henry the First". In other words all of Devon except for Dartmoor and Exmoor was freed from forest law.

This disafforestation was confirmed by King Henry III

Henry III of England

Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...

 in 1217, and in 1239 he granted the Forest of Dartmoor (and the Manor of Lydford

Lydford

Lydford, sometimes spelled Lidford, is a village, once an important town, in Devon situated north of Tavistock on the western fringe of Dartmoor in the West Devon district.-Description:The village has a population of 458....

) to his brother, Richard, Earl of Cornwall. From that date it technically became a chase

Chase (land)

In the United Kingdom a chase is a type of common land used for hunting to which there are no specifically designated officers and laws, but there are reserved hunting rights for one or more persons. Similarly, a Royal Chase is a type of Crown Estate by the same description, but where certain...

, not a forest, though the name did not change. The next year, in a writ dated 13 June 1240, the king directed the Sheriff of Devon and twelve knights of the county to perambulate

Beating the bounds

Beating the bounds is an ancient custom still observed in some English and Welsh parishes. A group of old and young members of the community would walk the boundaries of the parish, usually led by the parish priest and church officials, to share the knowledge of where they lay, and to pray for...

 the Forest to record its exact bounds. This was because Richard had been in dispute with four knights who owned land adjoining the forest. The perambulation (known ever since as "the 1240 Perambulation") took place on 24 July 1240. It was around this time that the first of the Ancient Tenements

Ancient Tenements

The Ancient Tenements are the oldest surviving farms on Dartmoor, in England. They have been established here since 14th century, and possibly earlier....

, Babeny

Babeny

Babeny is a village in Devon, England....

 and Pizwell, were founded within the Forest.

Richard's son, Edmund

Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall

Edmund of Cornwall of Almain was the 2nd Earl of Cornwall of the 7th creation.-Early life:Edmund was born at Berkhamsted Castle on 26 December 1249, the second and only surviving son of Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall and his wife Sanchia of Provence, daughter of Ramon Berenguer, Count of Provence,...

 inherited the forest, but when he died in 1300 with no heir, the forest reverted to The Crown

The Crown

The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...

. King Edward II

Edward II of England

Edward II , called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...

 granted it to his favourite

Favourite

A favourite , or favorite , was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In medieval and Early Modern Europe, among other times and places, the term is used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler...

, Piers Gaveston

Piers Gaveston

Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall was an English nobleman of Gascon origin, and the favourite of King Edward II of England. At a young age he made a good impression on King Edward I of England, and was assigned to the household of the King's son, Edward of Carnarvon...

, in 1308; on Gaveston's beheading in 1312, it reverted to The Crown again. Then in 1337 King Edward III

Edward III of England

Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...

 granted the forest to Edward, the Black Prince

Edward, the Black Prince

Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Aquitaine, KG was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and his wife Philippa of Hainault as well as father to King Richard II of England....

, at the same time as he created him the first Duke of Cornwall

Duke of Cornwall

The Duchy of Cornwall was the first duchy created in the peerage of England.The present Duke of Cornwall is The Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning British monarch .-History:...

, and today, the forest still belongs to the Duchy of Cornwall

Duchy of Cornwall

The Duchy of Cornwall is one of two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch inherits the duchy and title of Duke of Cornwall at the time of his birth, or of his parent's succession to the throne. If the monarch has no son, the...

.

The "Perambulations"

Although the original document detailing the route of the 1240 Perambulation has been lost, a number of near-contemporary copies still exist, differing only in spelling. A modern transcription of the places mentioned is as follows:

Original text of 1240 (alternative spellings in brackets)	Modern placename	Notes
…ad hogam de Cossdonne	Cosdon	A prominent hill on the northern edge of Dartmoor
et inde linealiter usque ad parvam hogam que vocatur parva Hundetorre,	Hound Tor
et inde linealiter usque ad Thurlestone,	Watern Tor
et inde linealiter usque ad Wotesbrokelakesfote que cadit in Tyng,	Hew Lake Foot
et inde linealiter usque ad Heigheston (Hengheston)	The Longstone on Shovel Down	A Bronze Age standing stone
et inde linealiter usque ad Langestone (Yessetone)	The Heath Stone
et inde linealiter usque per mediam turbariam de Alberysheved (Aberesheved)	The marsh at the head of the Metheral Brook
et sic in longum Wallebroke		Acknowledged to be a scribe's error
et inde linealiter usque ad Furnum regis	King's Oven
et inde linealiter usque ad Wallebrokeshede	The head of the Walla Brook
et sic in longum Wallebroke usque cadit in Dertam,	Along the Walla Brook to its confluence with the East Dart River East Dart River The East Dart River is one of the two main tributaries of the River Dart in Devon, England.Its source is to the west of Whitehorse Hill and slightly south of Cranmere Pool on Dartmoor...
et sic per Dertam usque ad aliam Dertam,	Dartmeet Dartmeet Dartmeet is a popular tourist spot in the centre of Dartmoor, Devon, England at .It lies at the end of the B3351 road, about east of Two Bridges. From here, the road continues eastwards as a minor road with restrictions on the size of vehicles, past Poundsgate and over Holne Bridge and New Bridge...
et sic per aliam Dertam ascendendo usque Okebrokysfote,	Up the West Dart River West Dart River The West Dart River is one of the two main tributaries of the River Dart in Devon, England.Its source is near Lower White Tor 1.5 km north of Rough Tor on Dartmoor. It flows south to Two Bridges, then south east past Hexworthy to meet the East Dart River at Dartmeet...  to the foot of the O Brook O Brook The O Brook is a short tributary of the West Dart River on Dartmoor in Devon, England. It lies near the village of Hexworthy, and the lower part of the stream forms the boundary between the parishes of Holne and Dartmoor Forest...
et sic ascendendo Okebroke usque ad la Dryeworke,	Up the O Brook to Dry Lake	A tinner's gulley
et ita ascendendo usque ad la Dryfeld ford,	The Sandy Way
et sic inde linealiter usque ad Battyshull (Cattyshill, Gnattishull)	Ryder's Hill Ryder's Hill At 515 m, Ryder's Hill is one of the highest points on the southern part of Dartmoor, Devon, England. On its summit there are two standing stones and a low cairn, on top of which is a triangulation pillar....
et inde linealiter usque ad caput de Wester Wellabroke	The head of the Wella Brook
et sic per Wester Wellabroke usque cadit in Avenam,	Down the Wella Brook to its confluence with the River Avon River Avon, Devon The River Avon, also known as the River Aune, is a river in the county of Devon in the south of England. It rises in the southern half of Dartmoor National Park in an area of bog to the west of Ryder's Hill. Close to where the river leaves Dartmoor a dam was built in 1957 to form the Avon reservoir...
et inde linealiter usque ad Ester Whyteburghe	Eastern Whittabarrow	A large cairn Cairn Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...
et inde linealiter usque ad la Redelake (Rodelake) que cadit in Erme	The confluence of Red Lake and the River Erme River Erme The Erme is a river in south Devon, England. From its source on Dartmoor it flows in a generally southerly direction past some of the best-preserved archaeological remains on the moor. It leaves the moor at the town of Ivybridge and continues southward, passing the settlements of Ermington, Modbury...
et inde linealiter usque ad Grymsgrove	The head of the River Erme
et inde linealiter usque ad Elysburghe	Eylesbarrow
et sic linealiter usque at crucem Sywardi	Nun's Cross
et inde usque ad Ysfother	South Hessary Tor
et sic per aliam Ysfother	North Hessary Tor North Hessary Tor The North Hessary Tor is a hill 517 metres high just above Dartmoor Prison, in Princetown within Dartmoor Forest civil parish, which is located in the borough of West Devon, Devon, England...
et inde per mediam Mystor (Mistmore)	Great Mis Tor
usque ad Mewyburghe	White Barrow
et inde usque ad Lullingesfote (Hullingssete)	Limsboro Cairn
et inde usque ad Rakernesbrokysfote,	The confluence of the Rattle Brook and the River Tavy River Tavy The Tavy is a river on Dartmoor, Devon, England. The name derives from the Brythonic root "Taff", the original meaning of which has now been lost...
et sic ad caput ejusdem aque	Up the Rattle Brook to its head
et deinde usque ad la Westsolle	Stenga Tor
et inde linealiter usque ad Ernestorre	High Willhays High Willhays High Willhays or, according to some authors, High Willes is the highest point on Dartmoor, Devon, at 621 metres above sea level, and the highest point in Great Britain south of the Brecon Beacons.-Toponymy:...	Some sources say this is Yes Tor Yes Tor Yes Tor is the second highest point on Dartmoor, Devon, South West England, at above sea level. Together with nearby High Willhays they are the only two peaks above south of the English Peak District National Park....
et inde linealiter usque at vadum proximum in orientali parte capelle Sancti Michaelis de Halgestoke	Halstock Chapel
et inde linealiter usque ad predictum hogam de Cossdonne in orientali parte	Return to Cosdon

There was another perambulation of the forest bounds in 1608 which introduced a number of changes and added boundary points between the existing ones. The exact boundaries continued to be unclear or disputed until the later 19th century.