Dartmeet

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title: "Dartmeet" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["dartmoor", "river-dart"] description: "Confluence of East and West Dart in Devon, England" topic_path: "general/dartmoor" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartmeet" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Confluence of East and West Dart in Devon, England ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/River_Dart_at_Dartmeet..jpg" caption="The East Dart at Dartmeet"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/AfterDartmeet.jpg" caption="Immediately below Dartmeet"] ::

Dartmeet is a popular tourist spot in the centre of Dartmoor, Devon, England at .

It lies at the end of the B3357 road, about 4.5 mi east of Two Bridges. From here, the road continues eastwards as a minor road with restrictions on the size of vehicles,{{cite web | title = Coach Drivers' Handbook for the Dartmoor Area | publisher = Dartmoor National Park Authority | url = http://www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/41920/vi-coachdrivershandbook1.pdf | accessdate = 2011-10-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120529223734/http://www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/41920/vi-coachdrivershandbook1.pdf | archive-date = 2012-05-29 | url-status = dead

As the name suggests, Dartmeet is the meeting point of the two major tributaries of the River Dart: the East Dart and West Dart. The road bridge, built in 1792,{{cite web |url=http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/dart_meet.htm |title=Dartmoor's Legendary Dartmeet |publisher=Legendary Dartmoor |accessdate=2009-07-10 |last=Sandles |first=Tim}} spans the East Dart; just above it, at the side of the large carpark is an earlier, possibly medieval, clapper bridge, now partially collapsed. The actual confluence of the two rivers is just downstream of the bridge. Dartmeet is the official put in for the Upper Dart section of the River Dart for whitewater kayakers and canoeists.

History

Dartmeet is at the centre of an internationally important archaeological landscape mainly due to its prehistoric field systems, delineated by reaves, which are among the best preserved in north west Europe.{{cite web |url=http://www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/index/lookingafter/laf-landmanagement/laf-moorfutures/premier_archaeological_landscapes/la-pals-dartmeet.htm |title=la-pals-Dartmeet |publisher=Dartmoor National Park Authority |accessdate=2009-07-10 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091126092152/http://www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/index/lookingafter/laf-landmanagement/laf-moorfutures/premier_archaeological_landscapes/la-pals-dartmeet.htm |archivedate=2009-11-26

Dartmeet was one of the boundary points mentioned (though not by name) in the 1240 Perambulation of the Forest of Dartmoor, the boundary coming down the East Dart from the Wallabrook, and continuing up the West Dart to the foot of the O Brook. The first documentary reference to the name (as Dartameet) was in a Duchy of Cornwall document dated 1616.{{Cite journal | author = Gover, J.E.B., Mawer, A. & Stenton, F.M. | journal = English Place-Name Society. Vol Viii. Part I. | title = The Place-Names of Devon | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1931 | page = 198

Halfway up Dartmeet Hill, close to the road, lies the Coffin Stone on which coffins would be placed to allow the bearers to take a rest on the way to taking bodies for burial at Widecombe-in-the-Moor. The rock is split in two, along its length. Local legend has it that the body of a particularly wicked man was laid there. God took exception to this, and struck the stone with a thunderbolt, destroying the coffin and splitting the stone in two.{{cite web |url=http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/coffin_stone.htm |title=The Coffin Stone |publisher=Legendary Dartmoor |accessdate=2009-07-10 |last=Sandles |first=Tim |archive-date=11 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711095611/http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/coffin_stone.htm |url-status=dead

References

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::