The Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy; their natural history, etc. A new edition

Front matter

THE BORDERS OF THE TAMAR AND THE TAVY. *' I own the power Of local sympathy that o'er the fair Throws more divine allurement, and o'er all The great more grandeur, and my kindling muse, Fired by the universal passion, pours Haply a partial lay." Carrington's Dartmoor. THE BORDERS OF THE TAMAR AND THE TAVY THEIR NATURAL HISTORY, fttannm, Customs, Superstitions, Swung, antiquities, Eminent persons, etc. IN A SERIES OF LETTERS TO THE LATE ROBERT SOUTHEY, ESQ. * t: j MRS. BRAY, AUTHOR OF "JOAN OF ARC;" "FITZ OF FITZFORD;" "THE TALBA;" "DE FOIX;" "THE LIFE OF STOTHARD, R.A. " "TRIALS OF THE HEART;" ETC. Tavistock Abbey Gateway. A NEW EDITION. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I LONDON : W. KENT AND CO., 23, PATERNOSTER ROW PLYMOUTH: W. BRENDON AND SON. GEORGE STREET. MDCCCLXXIX. THE late Mr. Richard King, of Crediton, a gentleman well known and of high estimation in the literary world, had undertaken to write a Preface to these volumes, and was on the point of fulfilling his purpose when it was put an end to by his lamented death.

Mr. King was specially qualified for the task, not only by his knowledge of the county of Devon, and by the general bent of his tastes and pursuits, but also by the warm interest he felt in Mrs. Bray's treatment of the subject. The loss of his introduc tory remarks will therefore, it is feared, be but in adequately supplied by those which the publishers are desirous of offering in their place. The compression of the three volumes of the original work into the two of the present edition has been made by Mrs. Bray herself, who has cur tailed only such matter as, from lapse of time and change of circumstances, would be without value to the reader of the present day. The biographical, historical, antiquarian, and descriptive portions have merely undergone careful revision ; and it is hoped that their interest has been enhanced by the addition of a considerable number of wood-cut illustrations.

VI NOTICE BY THE PUBLISHERS. All but one of the sketches for these (made on the spot) have been kindly supplied by a relative of Mrs. Bray's, Mr. C. N. Kempe ; that of Sheeps Tor and the valley beneath by her old and much esteemed friend Sir Robert P. Collier. It being Mrs. Bray's particular desire that atten tion should be drawn to her late husband's, the Rev. E. A. Bray's, Dartmoor researches, and her feelings being deeply interested in this, the publishers think it best to quote what she herself has written to them on the subject. "It is but justice to state that my lamented husband, then a very young man, was the first who personally com menced those researches, which have thrown so much light on the antiquities of the Western limits of Dartmoor. Many have since followed, but he led the way.

Letter I. To Robert Southey, Esq

Allusion to the original Plan of the Work being suggested by the Laureate — Sources to be employed in its progress — Climate, situation, and natural advantages of the Town — Anecdote of Charles II. — Dartmoor Heights, Rivers, and Streams: their character — Weather : humourous lines on the same — Mildness of the Climate ; Vegetation ; Laurels, &c. — Myrtles : account of some extraordinary ones at Warleigh — House Swallows, or Martins — Story of a deep Snow : a Gentleman imprisoned by it — Origin of the name of Moreton Hampstead — Frozen Swans — A Christening Anecdote of the last Generation — Snow in the lap of May — Pulmonary Consumption unknown on Dartmoor — Snowdrops ; Strawberry-plants ; Butterflies at unusual Seasons — Blackbirds and Thrushes — Winter Weather — Monumental Stones of Romanized British Chiefs — Reasons given by the Writer for going at once to Dartmoor — Vestiges of the Aboriginal Inhabitants of that Region.

Vicarage, Tavistock, Devon, Feb. n, 1832. Ever since you so kindly suggested that, according to a plan which you yourself pointed out, I should attempt giving an account of this place and neigh bourhood, I have felt exceedingly desirous to begin vol. 1. B INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. [let. the task, that, previous to your honouring Tavistock with the promised visit, you may know what objects, possessing any interest in themselves, or in relation to past times, may be found here worthy your attention ; and though to do justice to such a work as you have suggested to me would require your own powers fully to execute it, and conscious as I am how inadequate I must be to the undertaking, yet I will attempt as far as I am able to meet your wishes, well knowing, by my own experience, that you are one of those who receive with kindness and indulgence any informa tion that may be gleaned, even from the humblest source.

Nor shall I forget that it is your wish I should give not only all the history and biography of this place, and gather up whatever of " tradition and manners can be saved from oblivion," but also (again to quote your own words) state " everything about a parish that can be made interesting, . . . not omitting some of those ' short and simple annals ' of domestic life which ought not to be forgotten." Whilst I attempt there fore to give to subjects of historical import the serious attention they demand, I shall likewise endeavour to vary and lighten those more grave parts of my letters, by stating sometimes even trifling things, in the hope they may not be altogether void of interest or amusement ; for a traveller, though he sets out on a serious pursuit, may be pardoned if he now and then stoops to pick up a wild flower to amuse his mind for a moment as he journeys on his way.

In the accounts which I purpose transmitting to Keswick, I shall not only give you such information as I have myself been able to collect, but I shall also, when I come to speak of Tavistock Abbey, derive some assistance by occa- 1*1 CLIMATE OF TAVISTOCK. 3 sional references to a series of papers written by my brother,1 respecting that monastic foundation. I have, I believe, before mentioned to you, that at a very early period of life Mr. Bray entertained some thoughts of writing a history of his native town, including descriptive excursions in its vicinity, the latter more particularly embracing the western limits of Dartmoor. Though, from living retired, and not meeting with that encouragement which is so useful and so cheering to young authors, he never threw into a regular form his purposed work ; yet he made for it a considerable body of notes, principally derived from his personal observations on the scenes and antiquities which excited his interest and attention.

Some of these papers have now become exceedingly valuable, because, unfortunately, many of the memorials of past times, which they most minutely describe, have of late years been seriously injured, or entirely de stroyed. In my letters therefore I propose, from time to time, to transmit to you very copious extracts from these papers, as it would be both needless and pre sumptuous in me to attempt giving my own account of these vestiges of antiquity and picturesque scenes, which have already been so carefully investigated and faithfully delineated by my husband. Before I enter therefore upon any historical notices of Tavistock, I shall say something respecting the climate, situation, and natural advantages of our neighbourhood, since I am much disposed to think that the monks, who knew so well how to choose their ground whenever an abbey was in question, were induced to fix on this spot on account of its many and most desirable localities for the erection of 1 Alfred John Kempe, F.s.A. ANECDOTE OF CHARLES II. [let. 4 that noble pile, whose existence gave celebrity to the place, and was as a refuge of honour and security to the learning, science, and piety of those times, which now, with more flippancy than truth, it is so much the fashion to rank under the name of the ' dark ages,' though our own boasted light was caught from that flame which they had saved from extinction.

I have invariably found, with persons who rather choose to see the faults and deficiencies than to trace the advantages, either of the natural or the moral world, that whenever I speak in praise of Devonshire they oppose to such commendation the climate ; and ask me how I can be partial to a place so con stantly exposed to rain. The objection has received even the sanction of royalty, since it is traditionally averred that whilst Charles II. was in Tavistock (in his father's lifetime, during the civil wars) he was so annoyed by wet weather, that ever after, if anybody remarked it was a fine day, he was wont to declare " that, however fine it might be elsewhere, he felt quite sure it must be raining at Tavistock." That we have a more than due proportion of wet I will not deny; but it is, I believe, a fault common to mountainous countries ; and if we have some dis comforts arising from this circumstance, I am con vinced that we owe to it many of our advantages also.

I have never seen your majestic mountains and lakes ; but, judging from a beautiful collection of drawings,2 in my own possession, of Cumberland and Westmoreland, I am induced to believe that a very great resemblance may be traced between the valleys of those fine counties and our own ; and I rather think that you also have no want of showers. 2 By the late lamented C. A. Stothard, F.s.A. TAVISTOCK. 5 Our Dartmoor heights are frequently distinguished by bold and abrupt declivities of a mountainous cha racter ; our verdure is perpetual — and we owe to those watery clouds, which so much annoyed the lively young prince, not only our rich pastures, but the beauty of our numerous rivers and matchless mountain streams. Of these I shall have occasion to speak hereafter, since, go where we will, they meet us in our walks and rides at every turn — and always like pleasant friends, whose animation and cheerfulness give an additional delight to every surrounding object.

So much, indeed, do I feel prejudiced in their favour, that, after having become for so long a time familiar with the tumult and the beauty of our mountain rivers, I thought even the Thames itself dull, and very far inferior to the Tavy or the Tamar. Tavistock owes much of its humidity to the neigh bourhood of Dartmoor ; for there the clouds, which, owing to the prevalence of the westerly winds in this quarter, pass onward from the Atlantic ocean, are attracted by the summits of its granite tors, and, spreading themselves in every direction, discharge their contents not only on the Moor itself, but for many miles around its base. Some ingenious person (whose name I do not know, or it should find a record) has described our weather with much humour in the following lines : " The west wind always brings wet weather, The east wind wet and cold together, The south wind surely brings us rain, The north wind blows it back again.

" If the sun in red should set, The next day surely will be wet ; If the sun should set in grey, The next will be a rainy day." TAVISTOCK. [LET. Thus you see, my dear sir, poets will sometimes be libellers, and help to keep alive a popular prejudice ; for let the weather-grumblers say what they will, I can aver that our climate, (whose evil reputation is taken for granted, without sufficient inquiry into its truth,) bad as it may be, has, nevertheless, its re deeming qualities ; and, amongst others, assuredly it teaches us to know the value of a good thing when we have it, a virtue getting somewhat scarce in these times. A real fine, dry, sunshiny day in Tavistock can never pass unnoticed. All living things rejoice in it ; and the rivers run and leap and sparkle with such brilliancy, and offer so much to delight the eye and cheer the spirits, that the clouds and the damp and the rain that helped to render them so full and flow ing are all forgotten in the gladness of the genial hour ; and the animals, and the birds, with the insect tribe, (which is here so numerous and varied) play, or sing, or flutter about, with a vivacity that would almost make one believe they hailed a fine day as truly as would King Charles, could he have met with such a recreation on the banks of old Tavy.

The mildness of our climate is so well known, that it needs no eulogy of mine ; our laurels and bays are the most beautiful evergreens in the world, and never fade. Our myrtles, too, flourish in the open air ; and we used to boast of some very fine ones that grew in our garden. In a hard frost, however, they should be carefully matted ; for the severe weather of January, 1831, killed ours, in consequence of their having been neglected in this particular. I cannot give a stronger proof of the mildness of our climate, than by men tioning the following circumstance, which I received from my esteemed friend, Mrs. Radcliffe, of Warleigh. '.] MILDNESS OF CLIMATE. 7 That lady says, in her letter to me, "Four myrtle trees grew in the open air, in the recesses of Warleigh House, from twenty-seven to thirty feet in height, the branches spreading nearly from the roots.

One was a foot and a half in circumference at the base, and proportionably large to the top. The other three were nearly as high, and one of them was two feet in circumference near the root. Two of the four were of the broad-leaved kind, one small-leaved, and the other double-blossomed, the flowers of which might be gathered from the windows. They were cut down in 1782, from the apprehension of their causing the walls of the house to be damp. The late Mr. Rad cliffe, who cut them down, remarks, in a memorandum, ' I have been the more particular in describing these myrtles, as I doubt not they were the largest in England. Four-and-twenty faggots of the usual size were made of the brushwood. The stem, main branches, and principal parts of the roots were in weight 452 lbs.' Tea-caddies made from the wood, and a block of it, remain in our possession at Warleigh."

I here also may add (as another proof of the mild ness of our air) the following particulars, which I have seen stated in Dr. Moore's catalogue, lately published, of the birds of Devon. The Doctor says, " Of the house swallow, or martin, I have seen the old birds feeding their young on the 20th of September, 1828, at Warleigh ; and have been assured, by a good observer, that martins have frequently been seen flying during mild weather even in the Christmas week, at Plympton. These birds build in the hollows of the rocks under Wembury Cliffs, as well as about the houses in this neighbourhood." [LET. A DEEP SNOW. Our winters are seldom severe ; and when we have snow it does not lie long upon the ground. But Dartmoor, from its great elevation, is far more liable to snow-storms and hard weather than we are, who live in a less elevated country.

Mr. Bray recollects that, when he was a boy, returning from school at Christmas, three men with shovels went before the carriage as it crossed the Moor, in order to remove the snow-heaps which, in particular places, would otherwise have rendered it impassable. The severest winter that I have heard of within the memory of persons now living, occurred about twenty years since, when my husband's father met with an adventure that was a good deal talked of at the time, and found its way into the public prints. Had you crossed the Moor to visit us when you were last with your friend Mr. Lightfoot, it is not impossible you might have had a somewhat similar one, since I perfectly well recollect then hearing that, for several days, the road from Moreton to Tavistock was exceed ingly difficult of access on account of the drifted snow.

I here give you Mr. Bray's adventure. That gentleman had been at Exeter to take the oaths as portreeve of the borough of Tavistock, and was returning by the nearest road through Moreton Hampstead, situated about twelve miles from Exeter and twenty from home. There was a hard frost on the ground, and the evening being exceedingly cold, Mr. Bray determined to pass the night at a little com fortless inn, (the only one, I believe, which could then boast such a title in the place,) and to continue his journey across Dartmoor on the following morning. He retired to a bed that was anything but one of down, and lay shivering all night, wishing for the 1-] UNEXPECTED ADVENTURE. 9 hour that was to convey him to his own home, where warmth and comfort might be found at such a season. Morning came ; but what was his amazement, when, on getting up, the first thing he beheld was the whole face of the surrounding country covered by such a fall of snow as he had never before witnessed in Devon, his native county.

How to get home was the question ; and, like many other puzzling queries, it was more easily started than answered. With much eagerness Mr. Bray now consulted landlord and drivers on the practicability of so desirable an object. After much deliberation, every possible expedient being suggested and discussed, the thing was found to be impossible, for the roads were literally choked up with snow ; not one could be found passable, either on horseback or in a carriage ; nothing less than a whole regiment of labourers, could they have been found, to dig out a passage for many miles, could have effected the object; and even then, so thickly did the skies continue to pour down their fleecy showers, such efforts might have been unavailing. To reach Tavistock was out of the question ; and he next inquired if it might be practicable to get back to Exeter.

But the road in that direction was equally choked up ; and the drivers assured him, in their Devonshire phrase, that " not only so thick was the fall of snow, but so hard was the frost, that the conchables" (meaning icicles, probably derived from the conch shell, to which indeed they bear some fanciful resemblance) "hung from the horses' noses as they stood in the stables." There was nothing to be done ; and as people must submit to mischances when they cannot run away from them, he was condemned to exercise Job's MORETON HAMPSTEAD. [let. 10 virtue, as many others do, because he could not help it. Finding this to be the case, he now began to think how he should contrive to pass the time during his imprisonment, and the landlady was called up and consulted as to what recreations or comforts her house could afford to a distressed gentleman under such circumstances : the prospect was a dreary one, for neither books nor company were to be found.

Mr. Bray's situation, however, being communicated to the clergyman and squire of the place, he became indebted to both for the kind attentions with which they endeavoured to cheer the time of his detention at Moreton Hampstead, that lasted during the space of three weeks ; and at length, when he did escape, he was obliged to reach his own home by travelling through a most circuitous road. Thus in regard to him are verified all the con stituents that are said to have given rise (but with what etymological accuracy I will not vouch) to the name of Moreton Hampstead : i.e., " a town on the Moor instead of home ;" for tradition says that it was so denominated from the circumstance of persons returning after Exeter market being oftentimes com pelled to pass the night in a few wretched hovels, on the spot where the town now stands, in lieu of home ; these hovels having originally been colonized by certain vagabonds and thieves who broke out of Exeter gaol in days of old.3 I have heard, likewise, of one or two other instances of the effects of hard weather in this neighbourhood, which I deem worthy of record in the annals of our 3 I speak here, of course, only of the country tradition ; for the real etymology must be from the Saxon ham stede; i.e. ' the place of the house,' &c. I.] EFFECTS OF HARD WEATHER. 11 town, because they are rare.

The first relates to some favourite swans of the above-named gentle man. These fine birds were in possession of a piece of water, which had formerly been part of the stew ponds of the Abbey. One morning, during a hard frost, the swans were seen, like the enchanted inhabi tants described in one of the Arabian tales, who had become, all on a sudden, statues of marble. There the birds were — white, beautiful, but motionless. On approaching near them, they were found to be dead and frozen — killed during the night by a sudden and severe frost. I add the following anecdote, not only as a very remarkable circumstance in this my letter on frost and snows, but also as forming the very first I can meet with in the life of my husband, whose claim to being ranked among the worthies of Tavistock I intend by -and -by to establish, when I come to my biographical department.

But as I like my characters, whenever they can do so, to speak for themselves, I shall tell this story in Mr. Bray's own words. It may also afford a useful hint to those who are fond of observing the gradual changes in the manners and customs of polished society ; since our modern fine ladies will be somewhat surprised at the politeness of the last generation, on occasions of emergency. Here is the extract from Mr. Bray's letter, addressed to myself when I was in London last year. " You must allow this is a very cold May, though a dry one. Mrs. Sleeman, with whom I dined at Whitchurch the other day, told me that it was a common saying among her friends, when any one remarked that the weather was cold in May, 'But [LET. 12 SNOW IN MAY. not so cold as it was at Mr. Bray's christening, when, on the first of May, so much snow fell in the even ing, that the gentlemen who were of the party were obliged to carry home the ladies in their arms."

These instances of hard weather are not, however, common ; for so celebrated is the mildness of the climate in this part of the West, that when the doctors can do no more with their consumptive patients, they often send them into Devon, and many have recovered, whose cases were considered hopeless. I have heard it repeatedly asserted, and from a careful inquiry believe the assertion to be true, that no per son born and bred on Dartmoor was ever yet known to die of pulmonary consumption ; a certain proof that, however bleak and rainy that place may be, it cannot be unhealthy. This, indeed, is easily accounted for, since the land is high, the air pure, and the waters are carried off by mountain-torrents and streams. As additional proofs of the mildness of our climate, I may add, also, a few facts that have come under my own observation.

I have seen in our garden (which is very sheltered) snowdrops as early as the first week in January. We have some strawberry plants, (I think called the Roseberry, but am not certain) that grow under the windows of the parlour where I am now writing to you ; and so late as the 14th of last November, did I pluck a few well flavoured strawberries from these plants. The slugs devoured some others that were remaining before they were half ripe. The Rev. Dr. Jago, of Milton Abbot, who is a most intelligent observer of Nature, informs me that on the 18th of last December he saw in his garden the yellow butterfly, an insect I.] MILDNESS OF DEVON. 13 seldom seen in midland counties before the month of March. I confess that, though a great admirer of birds, I am not sufficiently acquainted with the feathered tribes to understand critically their 'life and con versation,' a circumstance which renders White in his Selbome, and the author of the Journal of a Naturalist, so truly delighted ; but I believe it is no wonder, though it may be as well to mention it, that our blackbirds and thrushes sang to us at Christmas their carols, so lightly and so sweetly that I, who had the concert for nothing, was as well pleased with it as an amateur might be to pay the highest price to hear Signor Faganini play his violin.

And now what shall I add more in favour of our poor abused climate and its weather ? Shall I tell you that I have often, in the 'hanging and drowning' month of November, found lively spirits, sunshine, and beauty on the banks of the Tavy ? and that in December, when the good people of London are lost in fog, in 'the dark days before Christmas,' as they call them, and substitute gas lights for the sun's beams, I have often enjoyed a lovely walk to Crown dale, the birthplace of Sir Francis Drake, and have experienced that pleasure which I can describe in no language so well as you have done it, in your own winter excursion to Walla Crag ; which will be read with delight so long as there are hearts alive to nature, truth, and feeling. "The soft calm weather has a charm of its own ; a stillness and serenity unlike any other season, and scarcely less delightful than the most genial days of spring.

The pleasure which it imparts is rather different in kind than inferior in degree : it accords as finely with the H MILDNESS OF DEVON. [let. feelings of declining life, as the bursting foliage and opening flowers of May with the elastic spirits of youth and hope." 4 I am aware that some of my worthy friends in this part of the world, who find consolation in charging all their infirmities to the score of the weather, would be apt to exclaim against me, and say that I have given too favourable an account of that at Tavistock ; but I confess that I like, literally speaking, to be weather-wise, and to look on the cheerful side even of the most unpromising things ; and if we have so much rain, and cannot help it, surely it is as well to consider the bounties which flow upon us from the skies, as to find nothing in them but sore throats and colds, and to fancy that our Devonshire showers fall, like the deluge, on no other errand than that of destruction.

And now, my dear Sir, having commenced my letters, like a true native of England, with talking about nothing but the weather, I shall give you my reasons for proposing to take you, in the next, to Dartmoor, before I set you down amongst the ruins of our Abbey. First, then, Tavistock owes not only many of its advantages but its very name to its river, which rises on Dartmoor. And though the glory of our town in after ages was its stately Abbey, yet as the river Tavy has associated its appellation with the place from times beyond human record, that fact is a sufficient presumption that it possessed in the abo riginal age a certain degree of importance. This, indeed, we may consider as confirmed by the inscribed monumental stones of Romanized British chiefs that have been found in this neighbourhood, 4 See Colloquies, vol. i. p. 116.

I.] MILDNESS OF DEVON. 15 two of which are still preserved as obelisks in our garden. On Dartmoor, where this river rises, we find such abundant vestiges of the aboriginal inhabitants of this part of the West, that very imperfect would be any history of Tavistock which commenced in the Saxon era. I know there are those who have been sceptical about the Druidical remains on the Moor ; but no one should venture to deny the existence of what they have never seen, only because they have never heard of it. We will begin, therefore, upon Dartmoor in the next letter ; and I trust you will find it not altogether unworthy your attention.

Letter II. To Robert Southey, Esq

Dartmoor— Origin of its Name — Made into a Forest by King John — Henry III. gave it Bounds— Edward III. bestowed it on the Black Prince— Its Extent— Granite Tors — Sunshine unfavourable to Moorland Scenery— Various Effects produced by Clouds, Times, and Seasons — Rivers, their Character, &c. — Variety and Beauty of Mosses and Lichens — Channels worn by the Rivers — Crags and Cliffs— Tavy Cleave, its Grandeur— Scenery of the Moor where combined with Objects of Veneration, their Founders the Druid Priests and Bards — The Moor Barren of Trees — Soil — Various Rocks— Pasture for Cattle— Peat— A Hut— The Crook of Devon — Peasantry of the Moor, Children, &c, described — Language of the People — Snow-storm on the Moor, and the Adventures of a Traveller, with a Traveller's Tale. Vicarage, Tavistock, Feb. 20, 1832.