Most of Bodmin Moor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI); here there are important wildlife habitats, nature reserves and areas that are protected for over-wintering birds. The moor is also protected under the Countryside Stewardship scheme, which funds farmers to help protect the landscape and environment.
 

The moor itself is a relatively small area; peaceful and unspoilt.

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We hope you will enjoy visiting and walking here.

Twelve Men's Moor on Bodmin Moor
with Kilmar Tor in the distance

Roughtor and Brown Willy are the highest tors in Cornwall

landscape & wildlife

Moorland ponies, sheep and cattle belonging to the commoners  graze here. Much of Bodmin Moor is in Countryside Stewardship Schemes and other agri-environmental agreements to protect the moorland vegetation and character.

The tors and valleys are hunting ground for buzzards, kestrel and sparrowhawk. You will hear the song of the skylark and the deep call of raven, see stonechats, wheatear and snipe thriving on the grassy hills. In winter months you may be lucky to see golden plover, their white undersides flashing as the flock circle overhead.

There is a wealth of habitats for wildlife; streams and marshes, rough grass, old mine shafts, woodland and high tors. In the valleys are fox, badger, otter, fallow deer and red deer, and bat roosts in disused mineshafts. 

 Across the Moor, often hidden by heather, bracken and mosses, is plenty of evidence of human activity; prehistoric stone circles and cairns, medieval farmsteads and field systems, signs of the tin and copper mining and quarrying. Centuries of activity here has shaped this landscape which is now so fascinating to explore.

history and archaeology  

Bodmin Moor has many prehistoric sites where we see the remains of Neolithic cairns, stone circles and stone rows from more than 6000 years ago. 

We can walk through the fields systems and enclosures of Bronze Age settlements with remains of the clusters of round-houses. Some of these settlements, such as Leskernick, are relatively undisturbed and cover the hillside. The evidence of Iron Age enclosures can be clearly seen at the moorland sites such as the impressive ramparts on nearby Stowe's Hill. 

The medieval manors and farmsteads created a pattern of enclosures and settlements that are still part of our landscape today. Farms on remote hills have become abandoned over the centuries and the remains of the farmhouses and barns can be found across the Moor.

Ancient paths and lanes lead from the hills to surrounding valleys, and many present-day farms are on sites which were occupied long before the Norman Conquest.

Tin stream works are found across the Moor, where valley bottoms were dug for extracting tin gravels. In the 19th century the tin and copper mining became a powerful industry, and along with the granite and china clay quarrying this made a huge impact on the communities and environment.