Parking
Start at Postbridge car park by the visitor centre. The separate Powdermills pottery and shop parking is for their visitors, not the trail.
Overview
About Gunpowder Trail to Powdermills
Why go
- A rare walk to Devon’s only gunpowder factory remains
Heads up
- Boggy, unsurfaced moorland makes this a hard walk
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Dartmoor map
Full mapElevation342–383 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
2 active Dartmoor alerts
- CautionDartmoor military firing restricts accessDo not cross the Okehampton, Willsworthy or Merrivale training-range boundaries when warning signals are displayed.Official details
- CautionAccess restriction at Huccaby FarmAccess to CROW Access Land at Huccaby Farm in the West Dart River Valley is subject to a current restriction notice.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Dartmoor Tour Guide
Your drive to Gunpowder Trail to Powdermills, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Dartmoor National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Postbridge: Stone Crossing and Bronze Age Finds0:00 / 0:36
“You're coming up on Postbridge, where a low granite footbridge spans the East Dart beside the road bridge.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Dartmoor Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Bellever Forest and the East Dart
- What the White Tufts Tell You
- The Bear Skin in the Peat
- The Young Forest Around Old Stones
- 298 audio storiesacross Dartmoor’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Western Roe Deer, Red Fox, European Rabbit, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 54 trails, 59 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Gunpowder Trail to Powdermills
The walk to PowdermillsThis 6 km (3.
This 6 km (3.8 mi) out-and-back starts at Postbridge car park, follows a surfaced forest road, then crosses open moorland to the remains of Powdermills, Devon’s only gunpowder factory. The return follows the same corridor. Allow about two and a half hours if you want time to look through the ruins as well as cover the distance.
Why make the tripGo for the change from woodland to open moor and a look at an unusual industrial site, not a…
Go for the change from woodland to open moor and a look at an unusual industrial site, not a summit panorama. Water carried through leats powered the works; the scattered mill buildings, wheelpits and channels help make the process visible. A separate pottery café and shop sit by Powdermills, so you can make a stop there after the walk, but they aren’t trail facilities.
Ground and accessThe route is graded hard.
The route is graded hard. Its unsurfaced moorland section can be boggy, so allow time for slow, uneven going; the route guidance recommends sturdy waterproof footwear. Start and finish at Postbridge car park. The parking beside the Powdermills pottery and shop is for their visitors, not a backup trailhead.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Dartmoor
32 sightingsWestern Roe DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
10 sightingsRed FoxMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
37 sightingsEuropean RabbitMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
19 sightingsGrey HeronMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
34 sightingsGreat Spotted WoodpeckerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
20 sightingsCommon RavenMost seen around 8 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Dartmoor. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
