Wistman’s Wood, Devon: The remnant of a vast forest that once covered Dartmoor

Annie Elwes focuses on Wistman's Wood, a place that could make even the brave quiver at the knees.

Sunlight streaming through the misty trees at Wistman's Wood, Dartmoor.
Sunlight streaming through the misty trees at Wistman's Wood, Dartmoor.
(Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)

The visiting Revd John Swete summed it up perfectly in 1797: ‘Silence seemed to have taken up her abode in this sequestered wood — and to a superstitious mind some impression would have occurred approaching to dread, or sacred horror.’

A remnant of a vast forest that covered Dartmoor thousands of years ago, Wistman’s Wood is full of twisted dwarf oaks that form a canopy over a carpet of granite boulders, all covered in damp, rich moss and lichen.

It might be a Site of Special Scientific Interest, but you'd still rather not get caught alone after dark at Wistman's Wood.
(Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)

Its name stems from the old Devonshire wisht, meaning ‘eerie’ or ‘pixie-led’ and locals associate it with ancient druids and the ‘soul-raving’ Wild Hunt of Dartmoor — a ghoulish spectacle of hell-hounds (or wisht hounds) pursuing sinners across the moor at night.

See more of Secret Britain

Annunciata is director of contemporary art gallery TIN MAN ART and an award-winning journalist specialising in art, culture and property. Previously, she was Country Life’s News & Property Editor. Before that, she worked at The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, researched for a historical biographer and co-founded a literary, art and music festival in Oxfordshire. Lancashire-born, she lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and a mischievous pug.