A book of the west. Volume 1, Devon : $b being an introduction to Devon and CornwallBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
A book of the west. Volume 1, Devon : $b being an introduction to Devon and Cornwall
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Devon (England)
{ Flint and bone tools, cave-men. } Hyena,
Palaeolithic { Rudest flint tools, river-drift } cave-bear,
{ men. } reindeer,
} mammoth.
There are remains of a cliff castle at Long Quarry Point; from its
name one may conjecture that a church stood in Celtic times on
Kilmarie. Almost certainly this was a cliff castle, but the traces
have disappeared.
The old church of Tor Mohun is dedicated to S. Petrock, as is shown
by a Bartlett will in Somerset House, in 1517. Tor Abbey has been
crowded into a narrow space by encroaching buildings. Cockington
House and church deserve a visit, as forming a charming group.
Paignton Church contains a very fine but mutilated tomb with rich
canopy and screenwork, showing that there must have been in the
fifteenth century a native school of good figure sculptors. Marldon
Church is also interesting, and in that parish is the curious
Compton Castle, of which history has little to say. Haccombe, the
seat of the Carews, has a church crowded with fine monumental
effigies. The mansion is about the most hideous that could be
conceived. It is said that a Carew pulled down his fine Elizabethan
mansion and went to Italy, leaving instructions to an architect to
build him a handsome house in the Georgian style.
When he returned and saw what had been erected: "Well," said he, "I
believe that now I may take to myself the credit of possessing the
very ugliest house in the county." The situation is of exquisite
beauty. How lovely must have been the scene with a grave old
Elizabethan manor-house, mottled with white and yellow lichen,
embowered in trees, above which rose the hills, the evening sun
glittering in its many mullioned windows, while the rooks wheeled
and cawed about it.
The little combes that dip into the estuary of the Teign, rich
with vegetation growing rank out of the red soil, are very
lovely. Stoke-in-Teignhead not only has a good screen, but it
is a parish that has never had a squire, but has been occupied
from the sixteenth century by substantial yeomen, who have
maintained themselves there against encroaching men of many acres.
Combe-in-Teignhead has a very fine screen and equally good old
benches.
Wolborough has a good church occupying a site that was once a camp,
and contains an excellent screen, well restored and glittering with
gold and colour. East Ogwell has also a screen, and the old manor
mill is a picturesque object for the pencil. Denbury is a strong
camp.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account