I, John of Gaunt
Do give and grant
Hatherleigh Moor
to Hatherleigh poor
for evermore.
Take any of the easterly roads out of the town and you will find yourself on the edge of some 500 acres of moor land. These acres were gifted to the people of Hatherleigh during the fourteenth century when the Borough's householders, or 'potboilers' as they were known, were given the right to graze stock and gather gorse for fuel - a right which continues to the present day.
At the peak of the moor, where splendid views across open countryside lead the eye towards the distant misty humps of Dartmoor, there is a monument to one of Hatherleigh's heroes, Lieutenant Colonel William Morris. As a young Captain in the 17th Lancers, Morris led his regiment in the Charge of the Light Brigade. Though seriously injured, he survived this conflict only to die from sunstroke a few years later at the age of 38 whilst serving in Poona during the Indian uprising.
The main part of the moor was cultivated during the Second World War. When the War was over the moor was re-seeded by a Moor Management Committee which was formed to ensure that the land was restored to the people of Hatherleigh. Now it is peaceful grassland again, home of lark, buzzard, snipe and curlew, and grazed by sheep and cattle. Here and there it is slashed by small, winding streams lined with alder, willow and gorse and, in the deep lush grass of spring, there are milkmaids, bog bean and orchids. Part way down one of these streams is St.John's Well from which water used to be taken for baptisms at the Parish Church.
At the foot of the moor, a small, triangular strip once joined to it is now cut off by a narrow lane. This is the Lower Moor - a piece of rare Culm Grassland. Culm is a type of geology found in certain parts of the Atlantic sea board and its grasslands are those which have not been ploughed, drained, sprayed or artificially fertilised. For centuries only traditional summer grazing took place on such land and the consequence is a rich variety of flowers and vegetation which in turn provides homes and feeding grounds for an abundance of insects, butterflies, small mammals and birds. Hatherleigh's Lower Moor is home to dragonflies, dormice, grass-snakes and field voles, whilst the varied bird life includes meadow pipits, stonechats, linnets and tiny gold crests. Bat boxes have been set high in the trees that line the boundary stream and a bird hide has been provided by the RSPB.
To help conserve this piece of land, the Moor Management Committee carry out an annual swale (burn) in late winter. At this time of the year the burn is quick, taking with it the thatch of thick grass but leaving unharmed the emerging summer plants. Only a portion of it is done each year to ensure that animals and birds have a safe haven to which they may escape. Bracken, this land's chief enemy, is attacked by rolling it when and where possible.
Roberts Pond lies on the far side of the Lower Moor. This is particularly special to the town as it is a memorial to another of its heroes. Thomas Roberts was a brilliant man who, having lost both arms at sea in 1781 when he was only ten, invented over the years appliances which served almost every purpose from carving wood to shaving himself. He ran a school in the town for 50 years, during which time he had the pond excavated on the Lower Moor so that his boys could test out the model boats he taught them to make. By the 1950's the pond had become silted up, but it was re-dug in 1996 and is gradually colonising itself. During the summer, it is alive with dragonflies, a kingfisher can occasionally be spotted perching on an overhanging tree and a grass snake will sometimes slide in for a cooling swim.
With such a beautiful piece of moor land on their doorsteps it's hardly surprising that some members of the community still like to quote the following lines:
I, John of Gaunt
Do give and grant
Hatherleigh Moor
to Hatherleigh poor
for evermore.