Tarr Steps

The Tarr Steps is located in the Exmoor National Park, in the wooded valley of the River Barle, five miles northwest of Dulverton and is the type of structure Clapper bridge. It is 55 m long and consists of 17 sandstone slabs, which are about a meter above the water loosely on pillars. Due to a rise in recent times water table plates were repeatedly washed away with the flood; now they were numbered and secured.

History

The age of the bridge is controversial. Some of you write a prehistoric origins, apparently supported by the Bronze Age trails that intersect here, as well as the name, which is derived from the Celtic Lochar for dam. However, there is no evidence for an earlier construction period, and the first records of the Tarr Steps are from the Tudor period. So it is widely agreed that the bridge structure of medieval origin.

Legend

According to legend, the bridge of the devil was built as a place to sunbathe, and he wanted to destroy every creature that she tried to cross. When he stepped over a pastor, he gave him a flood of blasphemous curses. However, the pastor had the right answer to everything, and the devil was so impressed that he allowed the free use of the bridge.