This year marks the centenary of the start of the First
World War, a conflict which resulted in the deaths of 9 million
combatants. Of course, warfare was very
different in those days, with mounted forces playing an important role. The early part of the War saw
cavalry units being deployed in an offensive and logistical role, although they
were soon phased out due to the vulnerability of the animals to heavy artillery
and machine gun fire. In the Steven
Spielberg film War Horse, based on a children's novel by Michael Morpurgo, the
main character Albert, the son of a couple living on a remote farm, has an
exceptionally close relationship with his horse Joey, bought by his father for
ploughing, and when the horse is sold to the cavalry he follows Joey into
battle. The early scenes in the film
were mainly shot in a number of locations in Dartmoor and in the Wiltshire village
Castle Combe.
The scenes involving the farmhouse where
Albert is shown training Joey were shot at a remote house in south-west Dartmoor called Ditsworthy Warren. The house was built for the keeper of a
nearby rabbit warren. Further early
scenes in the film were shot in the areas around the village of Meavy
and the well-known beauty spot Sheepstor.
Another 'tor' called Bonehill Rocks, above Widecombe-in-the-Moor
provided a further backdrop for filming.
The raw beauty of this windswept part of Devon
evidently got to Spielberg, who spoke of the 'stunning scenery' and 'abundance
of natural beauty' of the area.
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Sheeps Tor, Dartmoor - geograph.org.uk - 53861. Photo by Gwyn Jones, via Wikimedia Commons. |
Dartmoor is the upland area which separates
the gentle rias and bays of South Devon from the dramatic, windswept cliffs of North Devon. For
those not constrained by time, one of the joys of travelling through the
south-west corner of the country is to take a slow meander across Dartmoor,
passing through the village of Two Bridges and Princetown (site of the
notorious prison). The 'tors' such as
those used in the film are a recurring feature of the landscape here, and a
clamber up these elevated rocky outcrops is rewarded with panoramic views, some
stretching as far as the coast. Another
major draw for visitors to the area are the cute Dartmoor
ponies who are prone to congregating around the car parks at the beauty spots,
hoping for freebies from the tourists.
It is actually illegal to feed them, but it is not uncommon for visitors
to cave in when confronted with their hopeful faces. These free-roaming ponies are a particularly
hardy breed well suited to this harsh environment, and were once used for
mining and quarrying.
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Dartmoor Ponies. Photo by lostajy, via Wikimedia Commons. |
The village scenes, such as that depicting
the auction where Joey is bought, were filmed in Castle Combe, an impossibly
picturesque village in Wiltshire. Many
of the villagers were used as extras, and the cast and crew took over all the
accommodation within a 15-mile radius.
In a bid to give the village an authentic early 20th century look, the
tarmac surface of the road running through it was changed to mud. The filming allegedly caused tensions with
the local populace, who were irritated by the tightened security which was in
place. However, it was not a new
experience for them: Castle Combe's film star looks has led to it being used in
a variety of film and TV productions, such as Lark Rise to Candleford.
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Castle Combe, Wiltshire-2817460377. Photo by Kačka a Ondra, via Wikimedia Commons. |
Castle Combe started life as a hill fort occupied by the Romans. The castle implied by the name no longer exists, but it occupied a site half a mile north west of the Manor House. The church of St Andrews dates from medieval times and comes complete with the Castle Combe Clock, a rare example of a still functioning medieval clock. The market cross is from the 14th century. The honey-coloured cottages, the small river running through it and its position nestling in the southern Cotswolds has earned the village the title of 'prettiest village in England'. There is a disused RAF airfield which is now used as the Castle Combe Circuit motor racing venue.
Map of Dartmoor
Map of Castle Combe
