Call Me Old Fashioned...

Today if you drive down any Dartmoor road you will meet vans and lorries delivering the many necessities of life either to the villages and towns or from the various business on the moor. There is nothing more frustrating than getting stuck behind such a vehicle especially on the steep hills. But for centuries there has been the requirement for such 'logistic' needs of transport, the only difference is that at one time the loads were carried by packhorses or ponies. So if the packhorses or ponies were the 'tractor units' of the moor then the crooks were surely the 'articulated containers'. But what is a 'crook' in the Dartmoor sense of the word - simple a few poles lashed together. Crooks were made from two poles, 10ft long, and bent when green into a curve, when dried they were then connected to two horizontal bars. These were then slung over the packsaddle of a pony, one swinging each side to balance the loads. They are used to carry faggots, furze, peat etc. Mrs Bray (1834 p.23)