Dartmoor's ancient landscape, revealed from the air. Thousands of years of human activity are written into the moor's surface, but most of it hides under grass, heather and bracken. This map shows Dartmoor as a laser-scanned model of the bare ground, where old boundaries, settlements and burial mounds rise back into view.
Open the full-screen LiDAR map →
What is LiDAR?
LiDAR is a survey made by firing laser pulses at the ground from an aircraft and measuring what returns, building a detailed model of the land surface. Shaded like a relief map, it exaggerates tiny bumps and hollows, so a low bank you would walk straight past becomes an obvious line on the screen. The data here is the official national survey, published as open data.
What you can see on Dartmoor
Hut circles and settlements
The round stone footings of Bronze Age homes, often in clusters behind an enclosing wall.
Reaves and field systems
The long, straight prehistoric land boundaries that stripe the moor, and the faint grids of the ancient fields they divided.
Cairns and barrows
Burial mounds, frequently set on ridges and skylines.
Later features
Mine workings, leats, rabbit warrens and the earthworks of lost farmsteads.
How to explore it
Zoom in and switch between LiDAR and the normal map to place what you are seeing. Every listing pin stays on top, so you can open a site's page as you go. Try Grimspound, the reaves around Rippon Tor, or the deserted medieval village below Hound Tor. See the full Our Dartmoor map →
LiDAR imagery © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right, Open Government Licence v3.0. Our Dartmoor is a community project built with the help of AI.
