Pinkery Pond to Moles Chamber

Chains Barrow is the highest point on the waterlogged Exmoor plateau of purple moor grass and deer sedge. Other walks hereabouts are Exmoor more or less; this one is Exmoor pure and simple. It has views out to the sea and to the sheltered lands below. It's a walk for a sunny day with skylarks, or for a chill one in autumn. In cloud and rain, with the bog at full squelch, you absorb a lot of atmosphere (and quite a bit of the rain), though this may not be everyone's idea of fun.

In about 2000 bc the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of the Stone Age came to an end on Exmoor. In the Bronze Age that followed we find traces of agriculture, with crops, such as barley, and livestock (mostly cattle and sheep). We also find the round barrows, for example, Chains Barrow and Longstone Barrow, scattered across the moorland summits. Elsewhere in Somerset the standing stones are of the Bronze Age - charred wood accidentally buried under the stones can be carbon-dated. More doubtfully, Tarr Steps in the south of Exmoor are also credited to the Bronze-Age people.

It used to be thought that the change from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age came about by conquest: better swords and axes allowed the new people to kill or enslave the old. Today, tree pollen preserved in peat bogs can be dated very accurately, and shows that the clearance of the moors for farming was a gradual process. The scratch-plough was perhaps more important than the sword: experts believe that it was the idea of sitting still and starting a farm that conquered, rather than a particular tribe. The climate was warmer and drier in those days, and the moorland was grass rather than peat. Large areas will have been hedged and banked for pasture: on Dartmoor, 25,000 acres (10,000ha) of Bronze Age-enclosures have been mapped out.

The shepherds belonged to a wider social unit than the family or farmstead. At least some of the people in charge had enough importance to build up collections of 50 or 60 axe heads, implying that the Bronze Age farmers weren't entirely peaceful people. Someone else had enough spare time to build the long barrows and raise the standing stones, and there were jewellers working in jadeite and bronze.

It isn't known why the people of the Bronze Age chose to build their barrows here on the bleakest of hilltops. Perhaps they were scared of the spirits of the dead and wanted to keep them out of the way, or perhaps a really large, conspicuous barrow would intimidate the people on the next hill.

While you're there

The Exmoor Steam Railway runs steam trains along a mile (1.6km) of narrow gauge track above Bratton Fleming. It's England's highest narrow gauge railway, with wide views over the valley of the Devon Yeo.

What to look for

From Wood Barrow, at the top of this walk, the land to the west is an access area under the Country Stewardship Scheme. Here, skilled map readers can go adventuring across the moor in search of Longstone Barrow, and the Long Stone itself, a standing stone 9ft (3m) high, raised during the Bronze Age.

Where to eat and drink

The Exmoor Forest Hotel at Simonsbath serves good food and Exmoor Ale (brewed in Wiveliscombe, PWalk 16), but no lunches in winter. Dogs are welcome. The bar is decorated with bits of dead animals. Indeed, this is your best chance of sighting a badger: there's a stuffed one climbing the wall above the fireplace.