Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries: A quarterly journal devoted to the local ...

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Chapter I

An Old World Region and One op its Antiquities : Extent of Dartmoor — The Border Towns — ^Wildness of the Moor — The Forest Perambulations — A home of Ancient Customs — Border Soenery — Antiquities — The Cross an Object of Veneration—- Purposes of the Stone Cross— Dartmoor Crosses Rude in Appearance — Their Surroundings— The Border Crosses ... I

Chapter II

The Boundary Crosses of Brent Moor : Brent Hill— Brent Fair — Church of St. Patrick — Christopher Jellinger — Brent Market Cross — Hobajon's Cross — Old Map of Dartmoor — Butterdon Stone Row — Three Barrows — Western Whitaburrow — Petre's Cross—Sir William Petre— Buckland Ford— The Abbots' Way — Clapper Bridge — Huntingdon Cross — The Valley of the Avon 9

Chapter III

By the Southern Border Heights : Ugborough Moor— Bagga's Bush — Old Guide Post — Sandowl Cross — Hookmoor Cross — Ugborough Church — Bishop Prideaux — Owley — Spurrell's Cross — Harford — Broomhill to Ivybridge ... ... ... 22

Chapter IV

From the Erme to the Plym : Ivybridge— The Erme— Church of St. John — Inscribed Stone — Fardle — Blachford— Corn wood — Hawns and Dendles — Cross at Cholwich Town — An Ancient Farmhouse— Blackaton Cross — Cadaford Bridge ... ... 29

Chapter V.-^

The Via Crucis of The Augustine Canons : Hemerdon Ball— Plympton St. Maurice — Plympton Castle — The Priory — Church of Plympton St, Mary — Cross by the Torry — Browney Cross — Base of Cross at Beatland Corner — Shaugh Cross — Shaugh Church — The White Thorn— The Dewerstone — Cross near Shaden Brake — Cross near Cadaford Bridge — Lynch Down — Marchant's Cross ... ... ... ... ... 40

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

I. Marchanfs Cross

Frofitispiece

2,

BlctckaUm Cross

... 38

Shaugh Cross

Cross on Huckworthy Common ...

Cross on Whitchurch Down

6,

Childe's Tomb

... 89

Cross in Fox Tor Newtake

... 96

Cross near Skir Ford — Down Ridge lOI

Cross near Horse Ford do.

lor lO.

Cross on Sourton Down

II. Inscribed Stone SticJdepath

... 125

South Zeal Cross ...

Cross at Ringhole Copse^ South Tawton

Preface

In my former notices of the Stone Crosses of the Dartmoor country, those existing on the moor, and those to be found in the cultivated portions of the border parishes, were dealt with in separate books. In the following pages these two are combined, and much new matter, rendered necessary by the altered state of some of the objects described, has been added. This has required some re-casting, and renders the present in great measure a new book.

Some of the remarks prefixed to my earlier description of the Old Crosses of the Moorlands I venture to repeat here* I stated that my explorations on Dartmoor had extended over many years, and had enabled me to gather much of interest pertaining to its history, its customs, and its objects of antiquity. My researches in that region of tor and stream I have never tired of pursuing, a love for its dear old hills, extending back as far as memory will carry me, attracting me to its wild solitudes, where, by the side of the stone circle and the moss-covered cairn, we seem to stand on the borderland between the present and the distant past.

How much of poetry is there in the memorials of a people who lived on these hills, and who saw the moor as we see it now ages ago. There is truly a rich reward offered to the student of our antiquities, which is denied to those who look with indifference upon the remains of a bygone day. The light shed by the grey stones of the Celt, enables us to read something of the past, and as we advance to

X Preface.

historic times, and find the menhir no longer reared upon the heath, and that the circle and the dolmen cease to be upraised, the symbol of that faith which is the salvation of fallen man, rough-hewn from the moorstone block, takes their place, and the lamp is kept brightly burning.

But these memorials which testify to the presence of men who set up by the green paths of the moor the emblem of their religion, have, in many instances yielded to the rude bufFetings of the wintry blast, or have been cast down by those in whom, in a later day, these rudely fashioned stones could call up no tender feelings. Too often have I discovered an old cross overturned and partially hidden from view by the heather, its broken shaft and mutilated arms silently upraiding the carelessness that permitted it to remain prostrate on the ground.

To chronicle the existence of such as were previously unknown and to collect evidence, if such might be discovered, respecting the time and purpose of their erection, as well as of those of which mention had been made by others, has been to me a very pleasant and congenial task ; and the happy days spent on the breezy hills of Dartmoor in my search for these relics, which the companionship I enjoyed rendered happier still, will never be forgotten.

These remarks were written some fifteen years ago, and Dartmoor is now to me as ever it was. But previous to their appearance I had made an appeal in behalf of the stone crosses of that old-time region, and it has been a source of gratification to me to find that what little I have done has not been without its effect. Since I first drew attention to these memorials about fifteen of them have been re-erected, and once more are seen by the wayside and in the villages as they were of old. Such evidence respecting the particular purposes they were designed to serve as I could bring together, my knowledge of the topography of the district enabled me the more clearly to read, and to draw the

Preface. xi

•

conclusions set forth in these pages, and which in the opinion of a reviewer in Notes and Queries are not incorrect.

One of my objects — that of rescuing the wayside and village cross from neglect — has to some extent been accomplished. Another has been the furnishing of a correct description of them, that those who take an interest in these memorials may learn something of their appearance and surroundings, and so far as is possible, of their history ; and in this, too, I venture to hope I have not been entirely unsuccessful. While we venerate the cross as a symbol of the Christian religion, it is less that this is so than that it is an object of antiquity that I have called attention to it, and pleaded for its preservation. I should desire that the same care I have asked for the cross should also be bestowed upon the stone remains we usually connect with paganism.

I desire to express my indebtedness to Mr. T. A. Falcon for the pains he has taken in obtaining so fine a series of photographs for the express purpose of illustrating this volume, and for the use of a few which appeared in his book Dartmoor Illustrated,

Wm. Crossing.

Black Down^ Dartmoor^ /un€y 1902.

V>ia Ctucis \)ia Vera*

The dark'ning shadows filled the vale,

The way seemed long and drear, Rough was the track and hard to trace,

And none to guide was near ; And soon my falt'ring steps were stayed.

Two paths before me lay.

Oh, for a friendly hand to aid

And show to me the way !

When lo, a rudely fashioned stone

From out the gloom appeared, A moss-grown cross, in days long flown

By pious hands upreared.

It showed a straight and narrow path —

No more my steps would stray — And doubts had ceased to trouble now

That I had found the way.

'Twas thus when in the wilderness,

I tried to pierce the gloom, And find a path to that bright land

That lies beyond the tomb, The Promise of the Book shone forth,

And by its cheering ray Revealed the Cross of Calvary,

And then I knew the way.

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THE

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DARTMOOR & ITS BORDERLAND^

CHAPTER I. An Old World Region and One of its Antiquhiesu

Extent of Dartmoor — The Border Towns — ^Wildness of the Moor — The Forest Perambulations — A home of Ancient Customs — Border Scenery — Antiquities — The Cross an Object of Veneration — Puiposes of the Stone Cross — Dartmoor Crosses Rude in Appearance — Their Surroundings — The Border Crosses.

The wild and elevated tract of country known as Dartmoor is situated in South Devon, and, according to a report by Dr. Berger, in Moore's history of the county, contains nearly three hundred and fifty square miles of surface. Other authorities, however, estimate it to be considerably less in extent, the difference arising accordingly as the several commons lying near what is now considered as Dartmoor proper, have been included or not. These commons partake of its character to a very great degree, and undoubtedly at no distant time formed a part of it. There is a large extent of moorland lying to the eastward of Moretonhampstead and Lustleigh, bounded by the river Teign, which De la Beche, in his Report on the Geology of Cornwall, Devon, and West Somerset, considers to be both geologically and geographically a part of Dartmoor, and it was by including this and other similar tracts, that Dr. Berger arrived at the estimate he has given of its size. These portions of moorland have, however, been cut off by cultivation from the moor proper, and have not been included by the other authorities when making their estimates.

B

In the report of a Committee of the House of Commons, made in the early years of the nineteenth century, the size of the moor is given as one hundred and thirty thousand acres, or two hundred and three square miles, and this we may consider to be the extent of what is now generally known as Dartmoor.

The market towns and principal villages on its borders are Okehampton, Chagford, Moretonhampstead, Ashburton* Holne, South Brent, Ivybridge, Cornwood, Plympton, Shaugh, Meavy, Walkhampton, Tavistock, Lydford and Bridestowe. Its most southerly point is at the foot of the , Western Beacon above Ivybridge, and the distance from this

spot to its northern verge, immediately above the market town

of Okehampton, is, as the crow flies, about twenty-three

miles. Its average breadth is about ten or twelve miles,

^ though at its widest part, from Black Down on the west to

Ilsington Common on the east, it is over seventeen.

The elavation of Dartmoor is between one thousand three hundred and one thousand four hundred feet, while many of its hills attain an altitude of one thousand seven hundred or one thousand eight hundred feet, and some over two thousand, the highest being on its borders.

Many of the hills are crowned with a rugged pile of granite rocks, known as a tor, which frequently assume grand and fantastic proportions. Numerous rivers take their rise in the bogs which are found in many of its more elevated parts, among which are the Dart (which gives name to the district), Teign, Taw, Ockment, Tavy, Walkham, Plym, t Yealm, Erme, and the Avon, each having a number of

tributaries. Its principal river, the Dart, is sometimes erroneously stated to have been so called from the swiftness of its current, which, however, is not more rapid than that of other streams on the moor. In all probability the the name is derived from the Celtic word dwr — water — sl root found in the names of several rivers in countries peopled by Celtic tribes.

In some of the more desolate parts of Devon's lonely region the eye rests upon nothing but a vast stretch of heath, with here and there a tor, peeping over the gloomy looking ridges, a desert waste, from which even the faintest signs of civilization are absent. In other parts are deep valleys down which rush

Of Dartmoof and its Borderland, 3

foaming torrents over rocky beds, the precipitous sides being clothed with furze and heather, with many a huge granite boulder half hidden in the wild and tangled growth, the numerous tors lifting high their rugged crests and standing like giant sentinels around.

King John disafforested the whole of the County of Devon, with the exception of Dartmoor and Exmoor, and though the former when it was afterwards bestowed upon Richard, Earl of Cornwall, by his brother, Henry III., ceased to be a forest in law, since none but a king can hold such unless by special warrant, it has nevertheless continued to be regarded as a forest down to our own day, and is generally so called. It is part of the Duchy of Cornwall, and is consequently always held by the male heir apparent to the throne, as duke, but in the event of their being none such, it reverts to the Crown for the time being. Perambulations have been made from time to time for the purpose of defining the limits of the forest, which lies in the centre of the moorland region, its boundaries being, in some parts, several miles from the cultivated country. The intervening tract, which presents similar characteristics to the forest, was formerly known as the Commons of Devonshire. It is made up of parts of a number of parishes surrounding the forest, many of which possess Venville rights, as certain privileges of pasturage and turbary are termed. The forest itself lies entirely within the parish of Lydford.

The return of a perambulation made in 'the year 1240 when Richard, Earl of Cornwall, was the lord of Dartmoori sets forth the bounds of the forest, and of this there are several copies extant. A survey of the forest was also made in 1609, and the bounds as named in this, approach very closely to those generally recognised at the present time. These are defined by natural objects, such as a hill, a tor, or a river. The forest is divided into quarters, of which the north is the largest.

Ancient customs still survive on Dartmoor, though gradually giving place to modem usages. Yet it is still a home for many of our old superstitions and legendary tales, a place where much that found favour with our ancestors, and which, perhaps with questionable taste, is now voted out of fashion, still finds a refuge, and where freedom from all

L artificiality may be enjoyed. The artist may there fimd ample employment for his pencil, the disciple of Walton may revel to the full in the pursuit of his art. The geologist, the botanist, or the antiquary have there a rich field in which to indulge their various tastes, and the lover of nature can never tire of the delights afforded by a ramble through the secluded valleys, and over the breezy hills of wild and rugged Dartmoor.

But while the interior of the moor bears the palm for grandeur and sublimit)', it is on its borders that one must look for the fairer and more beautiful scenes, where nature's softer features are exhibited in striking contrast to the sterner aspect of the moor.

Here are deep combes, having their sides partially cultivated, or clothed with thick coppices of oak, running far up into the wilds, in many of them more than one substantially built farmhouse of ancient date nestling in some sheltered nook, often in close proximity to a rugged tor ; narrow gorges, through which the rivers leave their mountain birth-place, affording a glimpse of the barrenness beyond ; steep hillsides rising from enclosures formed by roughly constructed granite walls, man's handiwork being of a ruder and more primitive style as the confines of the moor are approached ; roads winding by the base of these frontier heights, often carried over the streams that rush impetuously down the valleys, by grey stone bridges, forming picturesque objects, which the artist delights to pourtray ; quiet villages and hamlets on the very verge of the waste, the low towers of the little churches formed of granite from the rocky piles that rise so near to them ; and somewhat further removed, the small market towns we have named, now brought more into communication with the larger centres of population, but which for centuries slept quietly in the shadow of the ancient hills.

No district in our country can boast of so great a number of rude stone remains as Dartmoor, every part of it furnishing examples of most of the pre-historic monuments known to the antiquary. And it is also rich in relics of mediaeval times, and among these the stone cross is certainly not the least interesting. But of all the objects of antiquity few have, perhaps, come down to us in so mutilated a condition as this — the one we should expect would have had bestowed upon it the greatest care. Not only did the wayside and village cross suffer at a time when men's mistaken zeal caused them to commit acts of destruction in and around our churches, but in quite recent years they have received, in too many instances, but little consideration. In the one case the guiding influence was bigotry ; in the other, ignorance or apathy. The latter, it is pleasing to know, are being removed ; the former we can pity, without being so uncharitable as to blame. There is, in truth, no room for blame. The men who cast out the graven images from the churches, and overturned and shattered the sculptured stones by the wayside and on the village green, warred not against the cross, but against idolatry.

Apart from the interest attaching to the cross as a symbol of Christianity, it has other claims on our attention. No object in our island belonging to historic times is older. It existed before the earliest churches, for without doubt the latter came to the cross — the cross did not come to them. Where it was reared, people gathered for worship, and believers had before their eyes that which would cause them to remember the great work accomplished for mankind, as in days remote the stones set up in the sacred river reminded the Israelites of their deliverance from bondage. There is a tradition connected with the church and cross at North Lew, a parish to the north of Dartmoor, which tells us that the latter was anciently a preaching station of the monks of Tavistock. After a time a church was commenced to be built. First one aisle, then a second and a third, and so the structure was gradually completed.

But the cross, though no longer needed for its original purpose when each parish had its church, remained still an object of veneration, while within the sacred building its place was supplied by the great rood. And as it had been during long years the one point to which the little community were drawn for worship, so it came to be looked upon as the common centre of the village, and from it tidings were proclaimed in which the people were interested, and much took place around it that affected the common weal.

An object that could turn the thoughts to an event of such importance as the great sacrifice once offered for mankind, was peculiarly fitted for setting up in such places as the wayfarer might pass, for it became a guide to him in a double sense.

And thus by the track that led from town to town, and by the lonely paths over the bleak and barren hills, was the cross erected, that he who journeyed might feel certain of his way. Where a road diverged from, or was crossed by another, it was frequently placed* As the old tracks on Dartmoor were in many cases nothing more than a grassy path, and in places scarcely to be distinguished, such marks were of the greatest utility, and no doubt often safely guided the traveller when pursuing his way over the hills of the silent moor.

As a bond -mark, too, was the cross particularly suitable. The importance in early times of such being respected was very great, and an object reverenced as was the cross would become an efficient guard against encroachments. Many of the possessions of religious houses had their boundaries so defined, as is evidenced by records wherein these are named, not always by crosses set up for the purpose perhaps, but by adapting those already existing. That some of the crosses in the Dartmoor country also marked the limits of a sanctuary is not improbable.

The cross was also erected at the place of burial. In very remote times we know it was the custom to raise a stone pillar as a monument over the dead, and in the early days of Christianity the cross took its place. The ancient observance was not given up, the form of the monument was simply changed, and the old menhir and the inscribed stone gave way to the symbol of the new faith. It is indeed most likely that the very earliest crosses were those connected with the rites of sepulture. The sacred emblem was at first merely inscribed upon the rude pillar, until at length men began to give the latter the shape of the former, and so the cross was gradually substituted for the upright stone.

The crosses which are to be found on Dartmoor, like most of the Devonshire examples, are of simple form, and cannot boast of the beauty which belongs to some of those existing to the westward of the Tamar. A few only possess any

*They are often seen in such situations, and the former existence of others is revealed by the names of many places upon our highways and in our lanes. It is not, however, suggested that this is always the case when the word " Cross " is affixed to a name ; sometimes it means nothing more than a cross-road.

ornamentation, and that in a very slight degree ; and, with one or two exceptions, no inscriptions are to be seen on them.

Their surroundings, however, invest them with a charm peculiarly their own ; for we cannot behold these old lichen-stained and weather-beaten memorials of the past, standing in close proximity to the remains of the rude habitations of the Celts, without contrasting in our minds the dark times when those huts were peopled, with the clear daylight which beamed forth when the cross was planted, and with the blessings which Christianity has spread over the land.

Among the grey tors they stand in solitude— the farstretching heath on every side — with no sound to break the stillness that reigns around but that of the rushing of the streams from the rugged hill-sides. As we gaze upon them, we can let our thoughts stray back to the time when they were first reared, and in fancy may see the wondrous events which have since taken place on the stage of this world's vast theatre. Nor will it fail to strike us how little have all these events affected what we can see around us. The granite tors still lift their lofty heads to the sky, the heather and gorse still bloom on the moor, the stream yet pursues its way over its rocky bed, and all is here unchanged. While events which have shaken the outside world, and have decided the fate of nations, have been occurring, these hills and valleys, huge rocks and winding streams, have remained as in the days of old, and these venerable stone crosses have been lost in the solitariness of the moorlands.

At early morn when all is fresh and bright, when the dewdrops sparkle on the heather,

**And drowned in yonder living blue.

The lark becomes a sightless song,"

the impressionable mind will experience a pleasurable emotion at beholding here, far from the haunts of man, the emblem of the Christian faith. At the hour of sunset, when the shades of evening are beginning to settle over the wilds, and we hear that moaning sound so peculiar to the Dartmoor rivers as the twilight approaches, a calm feeling steals over us, which is heightened when, perchance, we find ourselves beside an old granite cross, alone on the heath ; and when night spreads her dark robe over moimtain and plain, and the sole light is that

8 Tke Ancient Stone Crosses

which is lent by the pale stars, that form will forcibly remind us of the power which the religion of the cross has exercised over the darkness of our land, and which it has so happily dispelled.

The hands that fashioned these time-worn relics have long since mouldered in the tomb ; and they themselves are ofttimes overturned and shattered, deeply impressing us as we contemplate their ruin, with the certainty that all the works of man will fall and crumble away before the touch of Time.

And in many of the rural settlements around the great uplands, and on the roads that lead to them, we shall also meet with the objects which it is now our purpose to examine. Some of these will, of course, differ in character from those that exist upon the moor itself ; for here the market-cross and the churchyard-cross will claim a share of our attention, while on the waste they were set up either to mark a boundary, or as guides to the wayfarer. And the difference is not only in their character, for although the crosses of the moorland borders display little elaboration in their fashioning, yet there are few of quite so rude a type as the examples seen on the moor itself. We shall not be disappointed, however, in our examination of them, though we do find them lack ornamentation, for there is much in them and their associations to interest and attract, while the scenery amid which we shall roam as we visit in turn these venerable memorials, will not fail to call forth our admiration, and constitute an additional delight.

In our ramble we shall seldom stray far from the old moor, and it will not need that we look towards its hills to tell us of its proximity, for nearly every step we take will remind us of this. The old-fashioned farm-house with its wide porch and parvise room, and muUioned windows, and the lowly thatched cottage, alike of granite ; and boulders partly covered with moss, and half-hidden by ferns, by the sides of many of the narrow lanes, will all plainly reveal that we are near the land of tors, and will cause us to realise when we sometimes wander by enclosed fields, and by the dwellings of men, that we are yet in the Dartmoor country.

Of Dartmoor and its Borderland.

CHAPTER II. The Boundary Crosses of Brent Moor*

Brent Hill— Brent Fair— Church of St. Patrick— Christopher Jellinger— Brent Market Cross — Hobajon's Cross — Old Map of Dartmoor — Butterdon Stone Row— Three Barrows — Western Whitaburrow — Petre's Cross— Sir William Petre— Buckland Ford— The Abbots' Way — Clapper Bridge — Huntingdon Cross — The Valley of the Avon.

On the left bank of the Avon, a stream that has its source in a solitary part of the south quarter of the forest, as the central portion of the great moor is termed, is situated the small market town of South Brent, and it is here that we shall commence our ramble. It is distant some mile and a half from the confines of the moor, to which several roads lead. Immediately to the north of it rises a lofty eminence known as Brent Hill, and on the west it is overlooked by the Eastern Beacon on Ugborough Moor.

The chief attraction i^ the immediate vicinity of the town is the first-named height, whence is commanded a most extensive view, the beauty of which amply compensates the visitor for the toil of the ascent. The greater part of the South Hams of Devon lies, as it were, at the feet of the beholder, while in the other direction is a grand sweep of moor, with the ridge of Hameldon rising huge and bold against the northern sky.

On the summit of Brent Hill are the scanty ruins of a small building, locally reported to have been a chapel. It is also stated to be the remains of a windmill, erected towards the end of the eighteenth century by Dr. Tripe, of Ashburton. What truth there is in this I know not, but if any, it would seem more probable that he converted some ancient building to his purpose. Many years ago I learnt from one who remembered when much more of the ruin than now exists was standing, that the walls were pierced with loop holes, and he had always heard that it was used as a ** look-out house.''

Whether this was so, and it had ever served the purpose of a place of shelter to the watchers of the beacon fire, I am unable to offer an opinion, but that such blazed upon this prominent height, there seems little reason to doubt.*

Less than half a mile to the northward of Brent Hill, and by the side of the road that leads from Lutton Green to Gigley Bridge, is a small marshy spot known as Bloody Pool, though it is only in very wet seasons that much water can be seen there. What were supposed to be weapons of bronze-, but which are in reality the heads of ancient fishing spears, were found there many years since, and may be seen in the Albert Memorial Museum at Exeter.