ROBERT HESKETH

is a writer and photographer living on Dartmoor. He’s a long–time contributor to Country Walking and an author of local histories and guidebooks.

Camelford is an ideal centre for exploring Bodmin Moor and Cornwall’s dramatic north coast. Legend conflates this market town on the river Camel with Camelot and King Arthur, possibly the warrior king said to have been killed at nearby Slaughter Bridge. Be that as it may, Richard, Earl of Cornwall granted Camelford a Royal Charter in 1259. A ‘rotten borough’, sending two MPs to London, it attracted increasing trade, as the Mason’s Arms, a classic coaching inn circa 1600, and the imposing Town Hall of 1806 testify.