Arsenic and Fish Weirs on the Edge of Dartmoor

Ramblings

BBC

Science, Nature, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.6 • 732 Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2024

⏱️ 25 minutes

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Summary

Clare explores the Lower Tavy Valley in Devon with Sharon Gedye a physical geographer who's spent years discovering how the area's rich history has shaped its landscape and people.

Sharon takes Clare on a circular walk starting on West Down, on the western edge of Dartmoor, heading down towards the River Tavy and eventually reaching Double Waters, the confluence of the Tavy and Walkham. On the way they see evidence of arsenic mines, copper workings and discuss long forgotten but fascinating fish weirs. One of these, Sharon discovered with the help of court records, was the focus of an unlikely battle in 1280.

Sharon is also interested in how humans shape landscape and how landscape shapes us. Thinking of her grandfather, she says: He was a quarry-man on Dartmoor and by picturing him working and polishing the granite, I feel closer to how he experienced the world.

Also on the walk are two of Sharon's friends who bring their own areas of expertise to their interpretation of the area: archeologist Chris Smart, and heritage consultant, Andrew Thompson

Sharon writes a blog which you can find at www.awalkinenglishweather.com They met at WhatThreeWords: grin.tend.negotiators / Grid Ref: SX479708

Presenter: Clare Balding Producer: Karen Gregor

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I want to tell you why I love podcasting.
0:04.7	Hi, my name's Tommy Dixon, and I make podcasts for the BBC.
0:08.4	I'm a big fan of stories, always loved a good book.
0:11.4	But when I started commuting for my first job, I discovered podcasts.
0:15.4	I was blown away by how a creative idea and the right mixture of sounds could take you into
0:19.2	a whole new world full of incredible stories. You know, the type that make you go, wow. And that kind of inspired me to
0:25.2	give it a go myself, which to cut a long story short led to a BBC training scheme and a whole
0:30.0	new career giving other people that exact same feeling. So if you want to hear amazing stories
0:34.2	that make you go wow like I did, they're just a tap or click away on BBC sounds
0:38.5	BBC sounds music radio podcasts the lightest sprinkle of dew is making the downland turf sparkle in the
0:52.0	sunshine and it's really springing underfoot.
0:55.2	I've come to Devon. I'm on West Down at the end of a single track Dead End Road to talk about
1:01.9	fishwears and arsenic. And I'd suggest that's a combination you wouldn't get on any other
1:07.0	programme. So welcome to a new series of ramblings on Radio 4 and BBC Sands. The experts
1:12.7	who are going to be telling me all about this are sharingedi, Chris Smart and Andrew Thompson. I can
1:18.2	see them in the distance. You can hear the rumble of a tractor. It's clearing bracken up here.
1:24.7	It's a lovely day. quite a fresh autumn wind.
1:28.4	You can hear the leaves on the trees just swaying gently
1:31.3	and birds singing our arrival
1:33.9	and the grass all around looks green and lush.
1:38.2	So many trees.
1:39.6	Just north of Plymouth and south of Tavistock.
	...

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