Dartmoor 
Much has been written about the moor.
Its stories and legends make fascinating reading. A glorious
and in many ways unspoilt region it can change its face with
every turn of the weather, transforming itself from friendly
and welcoming to cold and forbidding. Its topography ranges
from craggy outcrops to leafy dells, moorland clad in heather
and bracken and pasture for the wild ponies, hardy enough to
survive winters which can be harsh and, for the individual improperly
attired, quite dangerous.
High up on dartmoor amidst an area of
isolated farms and villages is Princetown. With the best will
in the world it could hardly be described as pretty; on the
contrary it is grey and forbidding but the place has a presence
due to its most famous feature - its prison of massive, granite
block construction. It was built in 1806 to house French soldiers
captured in the Napoleonic wars and from 1850 began to welcome
convicts from the English penal system. Its isolated position
was well intentioned; not many inmates escaped and when any
managed to get over the wall they then had to face the moor
in all its capricious moods. The town's church was built by
prisoners of war.
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