The Harberton and Harbertonford History Society (aka H3S) encourages the study of the local history of Harberton Parish and the surrounding County.

There are approximately 5 meetings with speakers each year and at least one field excursion.  Meetings take place in Harberton or Harbertonford, or via Zoom – particularly in the colder months. Details of talks can be found in the Programme.

Members of the Society have gathered information on the past history of the villages, personalities and the Parish including the preparation of historic walks around both Harberton and Harbertonford.  The Society is making collections of photographs and some artefacts and have embarked on an oral history project to build an archive of first-hand histories in both villages. We are in the process of making a film about Harbertonford Mill using the information obtained from participants in the oral history project. We hope to go on to make more short films about other aspects of life in our villages.

The Society is keen to receive photographs/articles/family records for our archives, thus building a valuable local history research resource. If you have anything that might be of historical or cultural interest, please get in touch using our contact page.

Our Next Meeting

A talk by Andy Crabb entitled Recent Discoveries in an Ancient Landscape

Tuesday 14th January at 7:30pm via Zoom

(The Zoom meeting will start at 7:00 to enable us to get set up, but the talk will start at 7:30pm)

The talk will cover the Cut Hill Cyst, which is 4 times the size of the White Horse Cyst, discovered ten years ago.

The Cut Hill burial cyst is a 3,900-year-old Bronze Age burial chamber discovered in August 2024 on Cut Hill in Dartmoor National Park. Its discovery was prompted by a local historian who reported that a feature was eroding out of the peat. It contains well-preserved wood and other material yet to be identified. The discovery joins a similar one excavated in 2011 on Whitehorse Hill at Dartmoor. The two burials could provide unprecedented information about what life was like in Early Bronze Age England.

Andy Crabb

Andy Crabb is an archaeologist with Dartmooor National Park and Historic England. He has worked on Dartmoor for over 15 years. Andy’s role is wide ranging and diverse covering all aspects of archaeological management, providing advice, and even organising the occasional excavation. Andy has been a regular contributor to our programme of talks and has overseen our summer, archaeological walks and picnic.