In the churches--more especially those of St Clement and St
Saviour--one finds rich treasures of architecture, and of monuments
to men and women citizens of Dartmouth famous in adventure, trade, or
philanthrophy. In the former church, which dates from the fourteenth
century and was fortified during the Civil War, are numerous memorials,
the quaint inscriptions which they many of them bear, setting forth
in brief the life history of those they commemorate. But it is the
church of St Saviour, set in the middle of the quaint old town, also
work of the fourteenth century (and earlier), which is the gem of the
place. The exceptionally fine screen is said to be an Armada relic; but
whether this is so or not, it is sufficiently beautiful to merit the
closest attention and examination. All who go to Dartmouth and visit
the church should notice the south side door known as the “Dragon”
Door, quaint with wonderful representations of animals, and dating, so
it is said, from the fourteenth century or even earlier. In the altar
piece, the subject of which is “Christ raising the Widow’s Son,” one
has some of the finest of Brockedon’s work, a distinguished son of the
Dart born at Totnes. And here, too, as in St Clement’s, sleep many
whose names were writ upon the town’s roll of fame in the times when
Dartmouth gave of her best in battle and discovery.
Totnes seems so indissolubly linked with Dartmouth in history and
adventure, that few who come to the outer port with time on their
hands fail, we fancy, to find their way up the beautiful river to that
inner port, now decayed ’tis true like the outer, but yet of more than
passing interest. Of its antiquity there can be as little doubt as of
its picturesqueness; although there are those who scout the theory (or
statement) of that none too veracious chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth,
that Brutus of Troy landed at Totnes. Which story the devout townsfolk
from time out of mind have striven to keep alive by the preservation
in the pavement of quaint Fore Street of the stone upon which the
princely, world-wide wanderer is said to have rested after his landing.
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