Moor Letterboxing

As with the English language and so much else we Americans have adopted and adapted from the British, we have put our own stamp on letterboxing (pun intended), and our version is quite different from the British original. Here the hobby almost always involves hiking, often long hikes, and orienteering skills are essential. Compass readings are involved for virtually every British letterbox, but only occasionally in the States. And in Britain you'd better have a specialized Ordnance Survey map and be able to read it, or you won't have a clue where to begin. (Sorry, those puns just keep slipping out.) Here's an example of a clue for a British box.
"SE 50 89: Keeping Low and High Paradise on your left, walk along the old drovers road to gate into forest. Remaining outside the forest fence go 19p 50º to group of stones on bank beneath fence. Box under flat stone just in front of upright post where short 5th bar begins- not the post with wire attached."
![]() |
from Ordnance Survey Map |
Other clues involve terms that are completely foreign to us Yanks. Here are some examples from letterboxes in the North York area.
- Follow main track till grassy ride leaves track on 260°.
- Go to the nearest trig pillar.
- Pass a Tabular Hill walk marker post.
- Avoiding the hellhole, take your compass bearing from this C Y SNAKES COME PAST.
- Take the bridle path south of Boltby Scar.
- From triangulation station walk 200p in southerly direction.
- Follow track with grouse butts on L over hill.
- Go along this bridle path to the next signpost close to the gallops.
- Find gas marker, size 30 GP beside road.
- Go down bank into grassed excavation on your right.
- From tree in lowest corner of intake, follow bp to beginning of fp to where the bilberry changes to heather moorland.
![]() |
Box with Stinging Nettle (lower right corner) |
On the way to the moor, we saw an odd sight in the distance— a large outline figure of a white horse high on a hillside. We had to investigate, of course, and became acquainted with the Kilburn White Horse, one of a number of "hill figures" in England. The horse is 318 feet long and 220 feet high and covers almost 2 acres.
Kilburn White Horse on Google Maps |
The roots of English letterboxing go back to Dartmoor National Park in the south of England which has a terrain much like the North York Moors. Dartmoor is our ultimate destination for our British letterboxing experience, and the NY Moors provided a great introduction to this fascinating hobby as it originated. We're looking forward to more moor boxing in Dartmoor next week.