20 Windswept Moor Landmarks
Much of a moor’s landscape is unremarkable and mundane; however some features become local landmarks used as waymarkers on the barren moor or places for travellers to meet.
A gnarled oak tree, its crown grown sideways and lopsided, stands alone amid the wind-blasted landscape. Named as “the Old Man” the tree is a well known landmark; locals press copper coins into its ribbed bark as offerings to the god of travel for a safe journey.
A deep river valley cuts through this section of moorland. Within the valley stunted and gnarled oak trees grow amid a field of moss-wreathed boulders and tumbled rotting tree trunks. Vipers lurk amid the boulders, but only strike at intruders, if disturbed.
The flint-hued waters of a wide, but shallow, lake lie prostrate under the moorland’s ever-changing sky. A winding, muddy track leads to the lake and many animals—sheep, wild horses and the like—can be encountered in the vicinity. A shepherd’s hut of dry stone built into a slight rise, overlooks the lake.
The shattered, jagged ruin of an ancient watch or wizard’s tower rises from atop a high, steep-side tor. The ruin is visible for miles around and it known locally as the “Jagged Tooth”.
The ruin of an ancient partially-sunken village lie scattered across a wide valley. Low stone walls protrude from the ground, and yet provide some protection from the wind. The various buildings’ layouts are still visible. (Buried treasure might yet lie under hearthstones or amid the surrounding burial cairns ringing the settlement).
A stone circle of obviously ancient construct stands amid a wild swath of heather. A river—spanned by a simple stone clapper-style bridge—cuts through the circle.
Giant mossy boulders and large fern-covered trees dominate this small, steep-sided river valley. The valley descends steeply, and the stream drops over several waterfalls—Dingle’s Steps—before flowing through four deep plunge pools and out onto the open moor.
The lonely, wind-battered and slate-rooted Halfway Inn stands astride a deeply gouged track leading across the moor. Sunken in places, the track is an ancient route. Legends speak of ghostly travellers and of the lich who sometimes stalks its length in search of fresh souls, but the welcome is always warm at the Halfway Inn.
A rusting iron ladder enables (increasingly perilous) access to Soul Tor’s summit. A chasm pierces the tor, plunging deep into the moor’s bedrock. Rumours speak of incomprehensible runes cut into the rock at the base of the chasm and of strange sounds echoing across the surrounding moor when a gibbous moon hangs low in the sky.
A vast and ancient yew tree stands in splendid isolation amid the tumbled ruin of a crumbling church. Built by a cleric centuries ago allegedly to ward off an ancient evil spoken of in certain fragmentary elder prophecies the church fell into disrepair and ruin with the cleric’s demise.
A natural amphitheatre—Giants’ Meet—surrounds a glimmering moorland lake. But one twisted path cuts through the surrounding hills to reach the site. Close investigation of the stepped amphitheatre reveals what could be tool marks—worn almost complete away by long years of exposure to the moor’s harsh climate.
This series of five plunge pools break up a brook’s wandering path down from a swath of well watered uplands. Known as Shilla’s Pools this set of pools is renowned for its clean, fresh water. Hidden in a deep fold in the land, if it was not for the tinkling melody of running water, most travellers would not find the brook.
Six hut circles lie stark on this wild, sweeping swath of moorland. Mossy, tumbled drystone walls surround the long-abandoned settlement’s fields. Locals call the site Bone Tor to mark the bone-filled pit allegedly found at the centre of the settlement decades ago.
A deep pool—Long Pool—lies at the bottom of a waterfall in a steep-sided ravine running through a range of hills. The place is secluded, and—for the brave—a good place for swimming and diving. Local rumour, however, places a mischievous water spirit in the pool, and several people are said to have drowned therein.
Worn earthworks and ditches surround a high hill ringed with tumbled drystone walls. One of the ditches is known as Dead Woman’s Ditch. The woman’s ghost is said to haunt the ancient hill fort.
A weather-worn carving of a single lidless eye decorates this fallen obelisk. Lichen and ferns grow about and over the tumbled stone; only observant characters spot the carving. The obelisk is known locally as the Watcher.
A swath of swampy ground cuts across the moor. Pockmarked by stunted, sickly-looking trees the area is known as Dead Man’s Rest. Various rumours place a small pack of will-o-wisps in the area, and those in the know avoid coming here.
Several streams flow downwards to a wide lake nestled between three jagged tors. The forlorn ruin of a fortified keep—partially subsided in the mud and muck of a low-lying island—emerges from the centre of the lake. The Keep of Drowned Souls, as it is known, was once ruled by the infamous robber baron Kildrak Witchbane. The keep is rumoured to have extensive (flooded) cellars and dungeons beneath it.
Of dwarven construct this olden stone bridge spans a rapidly flowing river gushing down from the high moor. Rapids and waterfalls pockmark this stretch of river. The bridge is the only safe place to cross for several miles in each direction.
This gigantic, thirty-foot high stone obelisk stands in stark splendour in this otherwise remote, featureless stretch of moorland. Graven with many weatherworn symbols, the obelisk has began to lean drunkenly in recent years—no doubt due to the efforts of treasure-hunting travellers. Such folk believe the obelisk is the gravemarker of a giant who died of over-exertion while dragging a great store of loot back to his lair—the nearby Giant’s Seat tor.
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This article is an extract from 20 Things #53: Windswept Moor. Add the book to your GM’s toolkit today! Alternatively, check out the 20 Things Archive for more handy, flavoursome and time-saving 20 Things articles ready for immediate use in your campaign.
Design Creighton Broadhurst Art Matt Morrow
