By: Blonde One

 

Blonde Two and I often visit this part of East Dartmoor. It’s close to home and has lots to offer. It is a great area to tackle in poor weather as there are many features to help navigate, but in fine weather there is even more to see here. Apart from the normal kist and cairn, tors and handy tracks, there are old settlements that contain an interesting history. I have been familiar with Foale’s Arrishes for a long time. Foale was a Dartmoor inhabitant and an arrish is a name for a stubble field. Mr Foale was thought to have grazed his horses in the fields which are now seen (in low vegetation seasons only) with the remains of a few of the boundary walls.

It was only recently that I found out that there used to be a public house in next to the road to the east of Foale’s Arrishes. Foale was the landlord of the Newhouse Inn. At approximately 1876 the pub was burned down much to my dismay. Blonde Two have often arrived at this point in the evening after a quick post-work walk and wished there was somewhere we could get some dinner and a pint of Jail Ale. What a shame we are about 150 years too late!