Dartmoor has been populated since prehistoric times and was one of the major centres of Europe in the Bronze Age. There are many remains from this period, some preserved and others just lying in fields or on the open moor. One of the better protected sites is at Grimspound in the West of the parish, which can be reached on foot from Hameldown or by road from Challacombe Cross on the B3212 to Widecombe. Grimspound is the best-known example on Dartmoor of an enclosed hut group, with 24 huts and some stock pens. It is one of the outstanding Bronze Age sites in Britain.
Wherever you are in the parish, you are sure to be able to see other remnants of prehistoric times, from the outline of reaves, a form of land division by long earth and stone banks, to individual hut circles and standing stones. The Romans had little influence on Dartmoor and the Celtic influence lasted through the Dark Ages. There were no Iron Age forts within the parish, these being confined to the fringes of the moor. By the time of Domesday {1086), there appeared to have been several flourishing settlements, the best-known of which is the mediaeval village at Houndtor, below Greater Rocks. These were abandoned some time in the 14th Century, possibly as a result of the Black Death (1349), but equally likely because of a change in the climate, which made the growing of corn more difficult on the moor. The population gathered in the more clement centres of Manaton, Freelands and Water, together forming the modern village of Manaton, or retired to individual farms scattered throughout the parish.