Wistman's Wood

Here photographed on 7/07/1935, Wistman's Wood is one of the last areas of indigenous oak-wood on Dartmoor. These stunted and gnarled trees -"the most weird and curious wood in England, if not in Europe" - have had their growth damaged by the relentless attacks of the wind. The old moormen obviously thought the wood haunted - the name Wistman's Wood is thought to come from the word "Wisht" which is the moor word for pixie-led.