VOLUNTEERS have been working hard to help uncover an historic site on Dartmoor.

Tavistock Task Force have spent more than two years uncovering the remains of a section of the old Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway, which used to carry Dartmoor's exportable products, such as granite, down to Plymouth's waterside.

The railway was the creation of Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, the founder of Princetown, and was opened in 1823.

Tavistock Task Force painstakingly cleared more than 900 metres of the old railway track, revealing more than 200 of the original sleepers. The work was funded by the Dartmoor National Park Authority, Dartmoor Trust and the Dartmoor Sustainable Development Fund.

The railway was actually a horse-drawn tramway which ran for 25 miles along a single track line. By the mid-19th century it had fallen out of use and sections of it were later taken over by Great Western Railway. Since its abandonment, most of the rails have been removed and the granite sleepers obscured by decades of vegetation growth.

Representatives from Tavistock Task Force, Dartmoor National Park Authority, West Devon Borough Council, Devon County Council and Roborough Commoners' Association were present at the unveiling of a new interpretation board on Roborough Down near Clearbrook. The board provides information about the Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway and also Drake's Leat and Devonport Leat.

Tavistock Task Force is a volunteering group of all ages and abilities. They undertake a wide variety of conservation work such as conserving archaeological sites by vegetation clearance, opening up old footpaths, tree planting and dry stone walling.