Goat Hill - Chains Barrow – Woodbarrow Gate – Sloley Stone – Goat Hill

Jean Shepherd

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The easiest access to this area, known as 'The Chains', is from the B3358 and it is from here we start our walk with the ascent of Chains Barrow. At 487m this is the highest point in the immediate area and offers an extensive view of the other side of the ridge.
Our route then continues along the ridge and this section is a bit boggy at first. It passes the manmade Pinkery Pond to Woodbarrow Gate (another good viewpoint) before descending to and crossing the road.
It's possible to shorten the walk at this point by returning to your car along the road.

The described route then goes on to make a loop the other side of the road taking in the Sloley Stone and Mole's Chamber.
The Sloley Stone is simply an ancient land ownership boundary. It has the wording 'William (illegible) Esquire Lord of the Manor of High Bray 1742'.
As I approached the site of Mole's Chamber I was expecting a chambered cairn or something of that ilk. Not so – in fact there is nothing to be seen on the ground. The name originates from the account of a local clergyman, the Rev. Mole, who, on a day in 1752 went out on his horse and neither were ever seen again. The locals believed he fell into and was swallowed up by the bog which is now named after him. (Of course another explanation is that he was doing a Reggie Perrin and disappearing to start a new life elsewhere but I'm just an old cynic!)

England - South West England - Devon - Exmoor