Benchmarks, or Survey markers, are all around us and mostly go unnoticed. Some are cast in iron, bronze or aluminium, often put on bridges or on corners of buildings carved into the stone in a distinctive marking. They are used as fixed reference points for surveying, height measuring and sometimes as boundary markers. They are also used as a levelling mark and constant for construction.
This ancient byway pre-dates the nearby dams by hundreds of years, although this benchmark is not that old and has been carved into a handy granite gatepost.
The byway is NOT suitable for motor transport, and road bikes will struggle. It is best approached on foot from the indicated parking via the trailhead waypoint.
Placed with permission of Dartmoor National Park