as early as 1344-5, from which it appears that they were then forty-four in number. In 1346 the forty-four tenants depastured no less than 4700 oxen and thirty-seven steers, a very respectable total, and one showing that the favoured spots in the forest some five and a half centuries ago carried considerable herds of cattle.
The names of the ancient tenements are: Hartland, Merripit, Runnage, and Warner; Dury, Pizwell, Believer, Reddon, and Babenay; Princehall, Dunnabridge, Brounberry, Sherberton, Hexworthy, Huccaby, and Brimpts.
Formerly all these tenements were held as customary freeholds or copyholds, but many of them have been purchased by the Duchy.[1]
Where the miners lived in the old times, when tin mining was in vigour on the moor, is not very clear, as very few ruins of quadrangular buildings remain that could have served as houses, and it is quite certain that they did not inhabit the hut circles, as they have not left their traces therein. They, in all likelihood, lodged in the farmhouses and their out-buildings during the week, and returned to their homes for the Sundays.
In 1806 the vast range of prisons was erected at Princetown, on the bleakest and one of the loftiest sites on Dartmoor, for the accommodation of French prisoners of war. From 18 16, when peace was proclaimed, the buildings stood empty till 1850, when they were converted into a convict establishment,
- ↑ For a full account of them see Burnard (R.), Dartmoor Pictorial Records. Plymouth, 1893.
