A Book of Dartmoor: Second EditionBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
A Book of Dartmoor: Second Edition
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Dartmoor (England)
One day a man of very evil life, a terror to his neighbours, was being
carried to his burial, and his corpse was laid on the stone whilst the
bearers regaled themselves. All at once, out of a passing cloud shot a
flash, and tore the coffin and the dead man to pieces, consuming them
to cinders, and splitting the stone. Do you doubt the tale? See the
stone cleft by the flash.
Among the many hundreds who annually visit Dartmeet, I do not suppose
that more than one sees the real beauties to which this spot opens the
way. Actually, Dartmeet Bridge is situated at the least interesting and
least picturesque point on the river.
To know the Dart and see its glories, a visitor must desert the
bridge and ascend the river. I will indicate to him two walks, each of
remarkable beauty and each an easy one.
The first is this: Ascend the Dart on the _left_. This can be done by
passing through a gate above Dartmeet Cottage, and descending to the
river, where remain a few of the venerable oaks that once abounded at
Brimpts, but were wantonly cut down at the beginning of this century.
Ascend by a fisherman's path through the plantation to where the wood
ends, and the hills falling back reveal a pleasant meadow, with,
rising out of it by the river, a holt or pile of rocks overgrown with
oaks. The view from this is beautiful. Proceeding half a mile a ruined
cottage is reached, where the stately Yar Tor may be seen to advantage.
This ruin is called Dolly's Cot.
Dolly, who has given her name to this ruin, was a somewhat remarkable
woman. She lived with her brother, orphans, by Princetown when Sir
Thomas Tyrwhitt settled at Tor Royal. She was a remarkably handsome
girl, and she seems to have caught the eye of this gentleman, who
located her and her brother in the lodge, and then, as the brother
kept a sharp look-out on his sister, he got rid of him by obtaining
for him an appointment in the House of Lords, where he looked after
the lighting, and had as his perquisite the ends of the wax tapers. As
fresh candles were provided every day, and the sessions were at times
short, the perquisites were worth a good deal.
[Illustration: THE CLEFT ROCK ABOVE HOLNE CHASE]
However, if the brother were away Dolly had another to watch over
her, one Tom Trebble, a young and handsome moorman, who did not at
all relish the manner in which Sir Thomas, Warden of the Stannaries,
hovered about Miss Dolly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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