Lustleigh Cleave
View onto Lustleigh Cleave
Lustleigh Cleave is located in Devon
Lustleigh Cleave
Lustleigh Cleave
Location in Devon
Length2 miles (3.2 km) North West-South East
Geography
Coordinates50°37′16″N 3°44′49″W / 50.621°N 3.747°W / 50.621; -3.747 
RiverRiver Bovey

The Lustleigh Cleave is a steep sided valley above the River Bovey[1] in the parish of Lustleigh on Dartmoor. The cleave has been noted for its beauty since the 1800s,[2][3] and features extensively in guidebooks.[4][5]

Description

The Lustleigh Cleave is a steep-sided valley, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) in length, with the River Bovey flowing at the bottom approximately South-Easterly.[6]

Nothing can spoil the Cleave, where the granite, piled up like giants' castles, crowns the gorge, and is spread all the way to the stream below.

— Cresswell, 1920[7]

The valley is scattered with granite clitter (rocks strewn across the landscape), including rocking logan stones.[8]

Notable features

The cleave contains Hunter's Tor, a granite tor, typical of Dartmoor, and location of an Iron Age settlement, and later Domesday book settlement of Sutreworde.[9][10]

There is regeneration of temperate rainforest on the Lustleigh Cleave, following a reduction in grazing and swaling.[11][12][13][14]

References

  1. ↑ Crossing, William (1914). Guide to Dartmoor; a topographical description of the forest and the commons. Plymouth Western Morning News Co. p. 72.
  2. ↑ Rowe, Samuel (1898). A perambulation of the antient and royal forest of Dartmoor and the Venville precincts, or a topographical survey of their antiquities and scenery. JG Commin. p. 136.
  3. ↑ Nicholls Worth, Richard (1880). Tourist's guide to South Devon. London: Edward Stanford. pp. 76–77.
  4. ↑ A handbook for travellers in Devonshire (9th Revised ed.). London: John Murray. 1879. pp. 143–149.
  5. ↑ Baddeley, MJB; Ward, CS (1884). South Devon and South Cornwall. London: Dulau and Co. pp. 96–98.
  6. ↑ Crossing, William. Gems in a granite setting; beauties of the lone land of Dartmoor. pp. 75–79.
  7. ↑ Cresswell, Beatric F (1920). Dartmoor with its surroundings; a handbook for visitors. London Homeland Association. p. 34.
  8. ↑ Rowe, Samuel; Rowe, Joshua Brooking (1896). A perambulation of the antient and royal forest of Dartmoor and the Venville precincts, or a topographical survey of their antiquities and scenery. Exeter: JG Commin. pp. 136–137.
  9. ↑ "Hunter's Tor (Lustleigh)". Tors of Dartmoor.
  10. ↑ Mortimer, Ian (December 2021). "The Location and Extent of King Alfred's Suðewyrðe". Reports and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the advancement of Science. 153: 227–254.
  11. ↑ Shrubsole, Guy (29 April 2021). "Life finds a way: in search of England's lost, forgotten rainforests". The Guardian.
  12. ↑ Parker, George (16 December 2022). "In search of Britain's lost rainforests". Financial Times.
  13. ↑ Jones, Lucy (17 February 2023). "The plan to restore Britain's lost rainforests". Positive News.
  14. ↑ Shrubsole, Guy (2022). The Lost Rainforests of Britain. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-852795-2.


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