Swaling - Farm practices in Dartmoor

Swaling is the annual burning of the gorse and scrub in order to thin out the old vegetation in order to allow new grass shoots to grow thus providing grazing for the livestock. The first recorded instance of the word 'swaling' comes from a poem written in around 1205AD by Layamon called Brut, it is suggested that the actual word comes from the Anglo Saxon word - Sw�lan meaning to burn. Copyright: www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk