Robert Burnard was an eminent writer / photographer and established the Dartmoor Preservation Association (DPA) in 1883. In 1887 he published his first paper on Dartmoor’s antiquities. He was the grandfather of Sylvia Sayer, who continued the DPA work at the latter end of the 20th Century
By all accounts, Robert Burnard was very thorough but at the same time quite conscious but the existing archaeological knowledge of Dartmoor was somewhat superficial.
He decided systematically excavate some prehistoric hut circles under a group called the Devonshire Association’s Dartmoor Exploration Committee. More information can be found at:
This blog shows an attempted recreation of one of Robert Burnards pictures from his wonderful pictorial collection at the Challacombe stone row from around 1893. The original picture can be seen at:
https://dartmoortrust.org/archive/record/3444
This photograph is captioned as Headland Warren Row. It is now known as Challacombe Stone Row. The group (left to right) were rev. S. Baring-Gould, rev. Gordon Gray, Dr Prowse and Mr Wilder
Sabine Baring-Gould came from Lew House at Lewtrenchard and met Robert Burnard in the 1880s at meetings of archaeological societies to which they both belonged.
Between 1894 and 1906, Robert, Sabine and others were involved in an intensive programme of excavation and restoration, of settlements and ceremonial sites.
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