A Book of Dartmoor: Second EditionBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
A Book of Dartmoor: Second Edition
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Dartmoor (England)
There is some very early rude carving at the chancel arch in a pink
stone, whence derived has not been ascertained.
Marchant's Cross is at the foot of the steep ascent to Ringmoor Down.
It is the tallest of all the moor crosses, being no less than 8 feet 2
inches in height.
Another cross is in the hedge on Lynch Common.
[Illustration: CHANCEL CAPITAL, MEAVY.]
Trowlesworthy Warren is situated among hut circles and inclosures.
There is a double stone row on the southern slope, but it has been
sadly mutilated. The whole of the neighbouring moors are strewn with
primeval habitations.
On Lee Moor and Headon Down may be seen the production of kaolin.
William Cookworthy, born at Kingsbridge in Devon, in 1705, was one of a
large family. His father lost all his property in South Sea stock, and
died leaving his widow to rear the children as best she might. They
were Quakers, and help was forthcoming from the Friends. William kept
his eyes about him, and discovered the china-clay which is found to so
large an extent in Devon and Cornwall, and he laid the foundation of
the kaolin trade between 1745 and 1750. One of the first places where
he identified the clay was on Tregonning Hill in S. Breage parish,
Cornwall, and to his dying day he was unaware of the enormous deposits
on Lee Moor close to his Plymouth home.
He took out a patent in 1768 for the manufacture of Plymouth china,
specimens of which are now eagerly sought after.
Kaolin is dissolved feldspar, deposited from the granite which has
yielded to atmospheric and aqueous influences.
The white clay is dug out of pits and then is washed in tanks, in which
the clayey sediment is collected. This sediment has, however, first to
be purged of much of its mica and coarser particles as the stream in
which it is dissolved is conveyed slowly over shallow "launders."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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