A Book of Dartmoor: Second EditionBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
A Book of Dartmoor: Second Edition
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Dartmoor (England)
"Here lies poor old Ned, on his last mattrass bed.
During life he was honest and free;
He knew well the chase, but has now run his race,
And his name it was Colling, d'ye see.
He died December 28th, 1780, aged 77."
From the vicarage garden a noble view of the windings of the Dart
through Holne Chase is to be obtained--permission asked and given.
To see Holne Chase, it should be ascended as far as New Bridge, and
thence descended through the Buckland Drives. Permission is given on
fixed days.
In Holne Wood, where the river makes a loop, is an early camp, with
indications of hut circles in it, but thrown out of shape by the trees
growing in the area. Near the entrance charcoal-burners have formed
their hole in which to burn the timber. A finer and better preserved
camp is Hembury.
In the Chase, on the Buckland side under Awsewell Rock, are the
remains of furnaces and great heaps of slag. The point is where there
is a junction of the granite and the sedimentary rocks. Above the
wooded flank of the hill, the rocks are pierced and honeycombed by
miners following veins of ore, probably copper. The workings are very
primitive, and deserve inspection. The little village of Buckland
should not be neglected. It is marvellously picturesque, but the houses
do not appear to be healthy, being buried in foliage. The church has
not been restored. It possesses an old screen with curious paintings,
some impossible to interpret; and it is in the old bepewed, neglected
condition familiar now only to those whose years number something about
sixty or seventy. Buckland-in-the-Moor is the full name of this parish,
but it is no longer in the moor. Colonel Bastard, ancestor of the
present owner, planted all the heathery land and hillsides with trees,
and received therefor the thanks of Parliament as one who by so doing
had deserved well of his country.
If Holne Chase be beautiful, so is the Dart above New Bridge. A more
interesting drive can hardly be taken than one branching off from the
main road before reaching Pound's Gate and following a grassy track
called "Dr. Blackall's Drive," that sweeps round the heights above the
Dart and rejoins the road between Mel Tor and Sharpie Tor.
But to see the Dart valley in perfection the river should be followed
up on foot from New Bridge to that of Dartmeet, and thence up to Post
Bridge.
The descent to Dartmeet by the road is one of over five hundred feet.
Halfway is the Coffin-stone, on which five crosses are cut, and
which is split in half--the story goes, by lightning. On this it is
customary to rest a dead man on his way from the moor beyond Dartmeet
to his final resting-place at Widdecombe. When the coffin is laid on
this stone, custom exacts the production of the whisky bottle, and a
libation all round to the manes of the deceased.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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