THE ancient wild moorlands of Dartmoor will always have a special place in the heart of Jane Marchand, who this month retires as senior archaeologist for the Dartmoor National Park Authority.

The mother of two, who lives in Spreyton, told the Times that 'it has been a privilege' to be employed by the authority to do a job she loves — exploring, investigating, excavating and, most of all, helping to preserve the unique and rich historical evidence of man's presence over thousands of year on the wild moorlands.

Jane's passion for archaeology was first unearthed as a girl growing up on a farm in the Lleyn, North Wales, encouraged by her father who had always had a passion for history, which he had studied at Cambridge.

'It was a wonderful place to grow up and with the sea on one side and the mountains on the other you could say idyllic,' said Jane.

'In many ways its prehistoric archaeology was similar to Dartmoor. My interest in archaeology first started there; we were surrounded by archaeology, such as a large cromlech (burial place), a cliff top hill fort and a Neolithic stone axe factory.

'My brothers and I spent much time examining these and probably, with hindsight, causing some damage!'

She left school after O levels, had various jobs including working at a sailing school, married young and then moved around the country with her family.

Living in York she found interesting as it was during the period that the exciting excavations at Coppergate were underway, from which the Yorvik centre grew. This really renewed her interest in archaeology and Jane began to study it more seriously.

Her former husband then moved with his job to Devon. Jane was quickly gripped by the beauty and archaeology of Dartmoor. She soon enrolled on an archaeology degree at Exeter University as a mature student, having already spent much time on a number of 'digs'.

After graduation she started a PhD, looking at the work, methods and thoughts of the early explorers (antiquaries) of Devon/ Dartmoor in the late 18th and early 19th centuries — this still has to be completed.

Her special interest is flint tools, which can often be found quite easily on Dartmoor. As she says, what makes these special is that 'when you pick one up it may well be that the last person to touch it lived at least 4,000 years ago.'

'It is always exciting when a member of the public brings one in to us in for identification,' added Jane.

After university and more excavation work, she secured a post as an archaeologist with Dartmoor National Park Authority, with whom she has worked for 23 years, five of which as senior archaeologist.

'My job essentially is looking after the fabulous historic resource on Dartmoor itself. I enjoy liaising with everyone who works and uses the moors such as the farmers and other members of the local communities.

'I also work with other bodies such as the MOD, South West Water, Forestry Commission and many Conservation Groups including the Tavistock Task Force.

'Our task as archaeologists is to preserve and protect the archaeology and make sure that it is not compromised in any way.'

With more than 20,000 archaeological sites recorded on the Dartmoor Historic Environment Record life is busy!

Among the many projects Jane has been involved in the reinstatement of the Belstone Cross. This important granite 'Chiro' marked stone had been propped up outside Belstone Church for many years.

Jane said: 'We were asked to discover just what it was. After some research it was found to be an early Christian cross, dating to around the 8th century, similar to other crosses found in Ireland and Wales.

'It could have marked an early church burial ground or was a marker for its boundaries. At some stage it had been moved to form a step at the then Poorhouse in Belstone. When this burnt down it was moved into the vicarage garden and then back to the church.

'Thanks to funding from a DNPA Historic Features grant the cross itself has been moved back into the church with a new socket stone and an information board. It is always very satisfying to see something fully restored to and back where they are supposed to be.'

Another 'satisfying' project for Jane was the restoration of the Hunter brass plaque, situated on a rockface which looks onto the River Lyd. It was placed there in memory of Captain Nigel Duncan Ratcliffe Hunter, who was a Royal Engineers officer in the First World War and a poet.

One of her great concerns is the number of granite artefacts that are stolen; stone troughs are a particular target as they are much in demand as garden ornaments. Crosses too have been targeted; thieves tried to steal Spurrell's Cross, near Ivybridge, by hitching it to a rope and pulling it down but managed only to break the ancient cross in two.

To try to thwart such assaults on such important artefacts of our heritage the DNPA has inserted microchips in the stones themselves so they can be traced.

The authority has 'microchipped' more than 70 crosses on Dartmoor and, thanks to it, there is now a database of more than 300 artefacts in total which have been marked.

Another important project has been preserving or restoring, with financial help of the Dartmoor Trust, the historic leats, which provide the essential water supplies for the moors. Over 10 flowing leats have been repaired.

Other 'highlights' for Jane were the restoration of the King Way Cross discovered upside down in a wall along the King Way by 'Ron's Ramblers', a group of retired Devonport Dockyard workers on one of their regular hikes.

The stone cross turned out to be 11th century and, thanks to the DNPA conservation team, a new socket stone was made for the original stone to stand in and placed back on the top of the wall.

Working with Channel Four's Time Team was an unforgettable exper-ience! One hot, dry summer's day in 2010 at Tottiford Reservoir which had dried out, two stone rows and the remains of a stone circle in the mud at the bottom of the reservoir were discovered and subsequently excavated by the Time Team crew.

Perhaps the most 'well known' excavation was that carried out in 2011 which drew international interest. The site was an ancient burial chamber (or cist) buried in a peat mound at Whitehorse Hill, on the northern moor, which dated back 4,000 years.

Jane said: 'One of the stones of the cist had fallen out and the peat around the site was eroding away and so before it disappeared we decided to excavate it, with the permission of English Heritage as it was a scheduled monument.

'We had to find extra funding for this and were given grants by the Dartmoor Trust and Dartmoor Preservation Assocation amongst others.

'When we first opened the lid we saw some small white bones and red fur, and thought the red fur may just have been a fox who had snuck in the cist to die. As we lifted it out one bead fell out.

'Careful analysis of the remains over the next two years at the Wiltshire Conservation Laboratory found that this was the cremated remains of a young girl aged between 18 and 25, along with her burial goods; a basket containing over 200 beads from a necklace, a tin studded woven bracelet and two pairs of wooden ear studs.

The red fur was in fact the pelt from a brown bear which wrapped up all the remains, and which was an exceptionally rare find. It was all very exciting.'

The burial was radio carbon dated back to 4,000 years ago, ie the early Bronze Age.

The lure of more such discoveries will not be lost on Jane, as she will continue to write and give talks on Dartmoor archaeology as well as complete a couple of projects for the DNPA. Oh, and she is determined to finally finish her PhD.

She told the Times: 'It has been a real pleasure to work for the Dartmoor National Park Authority and to work on so many different and interesting projects and I've also met some wonderful people.

'Dartmoor is a wonderful place to work and I hope that its heritage will continue to be conserved and protected because it is not just national, but internationally important.'