Mapping the storied landscape of Dartmoor

Dartmoor is alive with story, folklore, and magic. Tourist publications and websites flaunt tales of pixies, hairy hands, and phantom hounds, but nothing can compete with the astonishing Dartmoor Folklore Map created by artist and writer Ethan Pennell. This is a labour of love, a culmination of seven years of research delving into old archives and historic tomes. Some of the lore unearthed by Ethan was previously unknown in modern times.

I met up with Ethan at the Ring of Bells in Chagford, a popular local pub with its own bit of folklore - a resident poltergeist can be heard banging about in the cellar; from time to time it even ventures up into the bar to knock decorations off the walls! Ethan and I made our way to the secluded courtyard garden, and settled into a quiet corner to share a fascinating conversation about landscape, folklore, and the value of enchantment.

Behind Ethan’s formidable folklore research lies a quest for a language which honours the interconnection between we humans and the landscapes in which we live and breathe. Ethan currently works at Arts University Plymouth supporting and counselling students. His vision of wellbeing incorporates engagement with nature.

“Folklore and storytelling can act as a bridge of communication between the western so-called rationalist mindset, and a more participatory way of knowing common to indigenous cultures.” explains Ethan. “The Dartmoor Folklore Map serves as a key to liminal spaces, the eldritch and Otherworlds. Here, enchantment reigns supreme, moss-drenched, mist-shrouded and many-hued.” I’m enthralled! Who doesn’t want a bit of mossy enchantment in today's prosaic world?

Ethan has Irish ancestry and has loved folklore and myth since childhood. “Mum saw a fairy as a child in Donegal,” he tells me. “Her granddad carried her on his shoulders to see the fairies that lived at the bottom of his field in Glen, County Donegal. He held one in the palm of his hand. It was small and varied in colour (mainly purple and green). My grandmother thought all this was ‘the devil’s work.’”

Art is another life-long love of Ethan’s. “I came from a working class background, and did a history degree because I didn’t have the confidence to do an art degree. In my 20s, I went travelling to India and Australia. But then in Indonesia, I caught malaria and nearly died. This experience made me look at my own mental, physical and spiritual health. I became an apprentice to a Japanese acupuncturist, and studied Chinese medicine. I moved to London and developed a successful practice. But I knew I had to move out of the city.”

Ethan moved to Devon. He was interested in the role of the artist in the face of ecological crisis, and studied for an MA in Creative Practices For Sustainability. “I contemplated studying for a PHD. But all the time I had a voice whispering to me: 'write, draw, paint’. I was missing hands-on art. I wanted to play more than anything! So I started painting in oils, producing stand-alone visual interpretations of the folktales. Then the idea of creating a map of Dartmoor’s folklore came to me. I started a small version of the map in pen and ink because oil paintings take such a long time. It grew and grew. Little did I know how big it would be. I was working full time, but I just kept going. I was reconnecting to what I loved as a child. It felt like a homecoming. It took seven years. So many versions! The map is printed by the same folk who print the Ordnance Survey Maps. It's ecofriendly with veggie inks.”

Ethan is also working on a book to accompany the Folklore Map. “The book was becoming a bit of an academic tome,” he confesses, “but through giving lots of talks, I'm finding my own voice, and telling the stories in my own way. I conjured up an artist’s alter-ego called ‘The Crowman’ to represent my wild, non-human and creative side that walks (or flies) between worlds, and I often appear in this guise when giving talks about the Dartmoor Folklore project.”

(Ethan as his alter ego, 'The Crowman' , photo by Jimmy Swindells)

But isn’t this just dusty old folklore, irrelevant to the 21st Century, albeit entertaining? Ethan would argue otherwise: “Yes, some stories can seem out of touch with modern audiences,” he says. “But we can look at them in a different way. A good example is the legend of 'Old Crockern' [the guardian spirit of Dartmoor] which was recently retold and repurposed during the protests against the wild camping ban.”

Ethan has been profoundly influenced by the concept of ‘Enchantivism’, a term coined in 2017 by author and educator Professor Craig Chalquist to describe the growing movement which aims to inspire deep societal change by fighting hatred and despair with inspiration and hope. Chalquist says: The enchantivist approach recognises the importance of stating facts, but sees clearly that this will not suffice to change actions or worldviews, especially when the facts bounce off an entrenched story tenaciously held. Only a better story movingly told can meet that. Not louder words or cleverer arguments…Enchantivism is analogous to the advice given by organic farmers: tend the soil, and the plants look after themselves.”

Ethan continues: “The Folklore Map connects to my work with the students, a sense of bringing the enchantment back. One of the most wonderful things to come out of it is that the BA costume design students chose eight of my illustrations to create costumes. I was an activist for a while, but I burnt out. Now I’m an enchantivist! This is my soul work.”

Ethan certainly seems to have captured something of the Zeitgeist with his Dartmoor Folklore Map. Sales have exceeded all expectations and the map is now in its third printing. Everyone to whom I’ve shown my own copy has wanted one of his or her own. Recommended.

Where to buy the Dartmoor Folklore Map

Instagram: @crowmancrow

Website: ethanpennell.com

Etsy: crowmancrowcreations

Retailers:

Field System Gallery & Shop, Ashburton

Ivybridge Bookshop

Dartington Trust Books, Totnes

The East Gate Bookshop, Totnes

Rowan Tree Bookshop, Totnes

Museum of Dartmoor Life, Okehampton