Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and CoastsNorthcote, Rosalind
History
Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts
Northcote, Rosalind
Devon (England)
The river flows from Chagford in a north-easterly direction till
Drewsteignton stands due north, when it turns to the east. Drewsteignton
is a large village, and has a granite church, the tower of which is
Decorated, and the nave Perpendicular. In this parish was the barton of
Drascombe, and in the reign of Edward I, Walter de Bromehall held it 'by
the sergeanty of finding our Lord the King, whensoever he should hunt in
the forest of Dartmoor, one bow and three barbed arrows. And it was let
at five shillings a year rent.' One would imagine that King Edward I can
seldom have found time to amuse himself so far west, and the tenant
would not find the conditions a heavy tax.
The scenery by the river is very fine all about here, and Fingle Gorge
is generally considered to be the most beautiful of the many beautiful
glens through which the Teign passes. It is a deep ravine with high and
steep sides, that are thickly wooded and broken by great boulders. At
Fingle Bridge four winding valleys meet; that is, the combe down which
the river sweeps from above curves one way, and the narrow opening into
which it disappears twists sharply round in another. A cleft, half
hidden in trees, divides the line of hills that shut in the tiny
valley-meadow on the west, and a road and a small stream scramble down a
less severe descent between the high sides, from the north-east. But
from no point near the bridge would it be more possible to see far up
any cleeve, than it would be for a ladybird, perched at one end, to
trace all the lines of a stag's horn. If in one direction there was a
gentle slope and smiling prospect beyond, the peculiar effect would be
gone. There is a stillness, and almost a solemnity, in this little
opening closed in narrowly on every side by the steep hills rising
straight above it on every side, and looking as unchanging as if what
they are to-day, that they have been since the beginning of time.
Besides, there is a feeling of wildness and remoteness which cannot be
exactly accounted for by the scenery. A living writer has said that
there is that, in a beautiful landscape in a country inhabited from
prehistoric time, that there is not in an equally lovely scene in a new
country. Though no tangible marks of the presence of men may be left,
there is an intangible something that makes itself felt though it cannot
be defined, and the view is on that account the more interesting, and
makes a deeper appeal to the spectator.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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