High Moorland Visitor Centre

Trip No.136  Entry No.1  Date Added: 12th Jun 2019
Site Type: Museum Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 17th May 2019. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Princetown Visitor Centre, second visit: We had arranged to meet one of Sandy G's intrepid Dartmoor Explorers here at around 10.30am, to have a final look around before starting our journey back home. .

I confess to being really disappointed with this Centre as there was only the cast of a standing/inscribed stone and a prehistoric trackway. There were lots of information banners and photographs. The main entrance was really a shop front for cards, maps, books and guide books. I photographed the stone then we left to start the journey home.

The centre was advertising an exhibition due to arrive shortly.

Holy Well (Belstone)

Trip No.132  Entry No.14  Date Added: 9th Jun 2019
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Belstone Spring Head: From the village green, we decided to walk to the well, following the lane past the church and turning right (ESE) onto the common ground/moorland.

Located almost immediately opposite a large pub, and just down slope, this was a lovely location which attracted families and dog walkers.

No water flowing at the time of our visit (the well chamber/basin was just muddy with nettles and ferns growing in it) but there were pools of water bubbling from the ground around it. Some of the ground was fairly boggy, but I managed to get close enough to look in the well chamber.

Belstone Ring Cross

Trip No.132  Entry No.13  Date Added: 9th Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Ring headed cross at St Mary The Virgin, Belstone: A lovely little village, with not only the ring headed cross in the church but the Coronation Stone and the old stocks on the village green.

The church has a lovely atmosphere, tucked away to the west of the little village shop cum pub. The church had a slim guide book which made interesting reading, and I went through it during our visit to make sure we didn’t miss anything special.

The ring-headed cross is against the south wall of the church, near where the nave and sanctuary join. It’s base had been covered with an Easter scene.

We wandered back to the village green and had tea and cake in the Old Schoolroom Tearooms. This was to be my first experience of “toilet twinning” – there were photos of toilets in other countries that the tearoom toilet had been twinned with – brilliant!)

Belstone Boundary Marker

Trip No.132  Entry No.12  Date Added: 9th Jun 2019
Site Type: Marker Stone Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Belstone Boundary Marker: Only 1km from the Sticklepath Boundary Stone, this supposedly pre-Conquest stone at the junction of the B3260 and a minor dead-end road which goes north east to a farm.

I got some strange stares from the cars as I photographed this stone, which is no longer on the parish boundary, presumably to accommodate road improvements. Had it not been for the busy road, this would have been in a gloriously peaceful countryside location, with lovely views northwards (the hedge to the south was too tall to see over).

I think the description in the Pastscape entry has been confused with the Sticklepath BS, near Lady Well, as this stone is triangular in shape and the only marking we could see was a partial bench mark on its front.

The acute angle of the minor road junction with the B3260 made the turn right out of the busy road a little tricky, but possible after waiting for a sufficiently large gap in the traffic.

Sticklepath Boundary Marker

Trip No.132  Entry No.11  Date Added: 8th Jun 2019
Site Type: Marker Stone Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Sticklepath Inscribed Boundary Stone: This stone is only within 20m of Lady Well, separated by a minor road junction. At the time of our visit, the ambience was spoilt by roadworks which had been set up next to, and almost up to it.

With the stone sitting on top of a retaining wall between the pavement and the main road running through Sticklepath, and a footpath running up slope to its WSW side, Andrew stepped onto the bank and photographed all sides of it for me at close quarters.

Despite peering closely at each side of the stone, we were unable to make out any clear carvings on it at all. The only thing that was clear was the hole for the ball finial which topped the stone at some time in its past.

Lady Well (Sticklepath)

Trip No.132  Entry No.10  Date Added: 8th Jun 2019
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: Lady Well, Sticklepath: This well is right beside the road. The grid reference given by Pastscape must be the original site of the well, as it actually is at SX 63904 94124.

The ambience of the well was dreadful at the time of our visit, as it sat immediately next to a set of roadworks, and also in deep shade at the time of our visit. Pleased to have seen it, and ticked it off our list, but that’s about all.

The boundary marker is nearby, just up hill, literally on the other side of the road junction.

Sticklepath Methodist Chapel Cross

Trip No.132  Entry No.9  Date Added: 8th Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Sticklepath Methodist Chapel Cross: A very small cross with socket stone being used as a coping stone on the apex of the roof of the Methodist Chapel.

To see the cross better, we let ourselves into the small ‘garden’ of the chapel (being used as a dump for building materials and rubble), and took a bit of a blurred photo. It does seem like a wayside cross in complete miniature, but instinct tells me it’s just a fancy roof finial which has been reused from another site/location.

Worth stopping off to see, especially with the Lady Well and the Sticklepath pre-Conquest boundary stone just west of the chapel.

South Zeal Cross

Trip No.132  Entry No.7  Date Added: 7th Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: South Zeal Cross: Driving the short distance from Moon’s Cross into South Zeal, this is a busy little working village, not just a place for tourists to travel to Oh the cars that were parked up and down the street, but we managed to find a space just south of the village cross.

This is a tall, imposing monument, standing just north east of the small, but quaint St Mary’s Chapel and a small, beautifully kept communal garden. As we drove south east down the main road through the village (towards the Oxenham Arms) the cross dominated the village; standing further south east, as the village is on a hill, the cross towered above us.

Whilst visiting the cross, it's worth popping into the tiny, but welcoming St Mary's Chapel next door. Now turned into a place of rest and contemplation for modern day pilgrims.

Oxenham Arms

Trip No.132  Entry No.8  Date Added: 7th Jun 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Oxenham Arms Menhir & Roman Stone: We originally headed off to the wrong pub, at the north western end of the village, but having thought the name of the pub wasn't what we remembered, we found the Oxenham Arms just down the hill from the village cross.

Walking into the pub from the bright sunshine of the street took my eyes some time to adjust, but we welcomed the coolness and the opportunity of a long, cold, icy drink.

I asked the barman if I could ask a cheeky question, and he said “on the scale of 1 to 10, how cheeky?” I replied “4”. He said “that’s not cheeky”. He very patiently told us where to find the standing stone, and also told us about the Roman pillar in the restaurant at the back. He very kindly said it was OK for me to take photos.

He also added (tongue in cheek?) that they thought it had taken 40 years to carve the granite standing stone, although how he knew, I don’t know. The stone apparently continues in one of the rooms upstairs.

Lovely atmosphere here. If we go back to Devon, I’d like to go for a meal here. A chance to see a couple of fine stones and have a drink at the same time - only the second time ever (the first being at the Templar Preceptory at Rothley).

There are several notices hanging on the wall and I’ve typed this up.

St Andrew's Cross (South Tawton)

Trip No.132  Entry No.5  Date Added: 7th Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Alleged wayside cross shaft, St Andrew's Church, South Tawton: This ‘cross shaft’ (gate post?) can be found at the gate at the end of the path running north from the west end of the church. Whilst it has more recently been identified as a gatepost, it look remarkably like a couple of other cross shafts we’ve seen in the area.

Of more interest was the granite grave cover, located right in the middle of the lych gate. According to the church guide, this is dated to the medieval period and was set in the north jamb of the north doorway in 1903.

Moon's Cross

Trip No.132  Entry No.6  Date Added: 7th Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Moon's Cross, between South Tawton & South Zeal: From St Andrew’s Church in South Tawton, we headed south along Fore Street towards South Zeal. At a cross roads just outside South Tawton, there is the remains of a cross shaft in a socket stone. As the road is quite wide here, it was easy to park just south of the cross shaft, near the barn of the nearby farm.

Lying by the side of the cross shaft and its socket stone is a large stone by the side of the cross; at first glance it looked just like a boulder, but closer inspection indicated it might have been shaped. Is this just another gate post, or could it be a cross shaft fragment?

Oxenham Cross

Trip No.132  Entry No.4  Date Added: 6th Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Oxenham Wayside Cross: This wayside cross was placed high above a cross roads of two narrow, busy minor roads, where it was difficult to stop. I took photos while Andrew moved the car out of the way. I tried to get a photograph from inside the field, but the gate had been nailed shut with wire underneath, so I did the best I could in between tractors, cars and large farm trucks whizzing past.

Ring Hill Cross

Trip No.132  Entry No.3  Date Added: 5th Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Possibly the Ring Hill Wayside Cross?: From the Pastscape description, and armed with our GPS, this cross should have been relatively easy to find, but was actually the hardest. We spotted the old footpath coming down the slope and joining the minor road to South Zeal, but the fence posts and gates have been renewed in very recent years. The cross was perhaps 5m to the west of its given grid reference.

There were a few old gateposts lying around near the fence line, so we thought we’d take a very sneaky look. Letting ourselves cautiously in through the gate, we spotted an old granite gate post at the foot of a tree, which matched the description given by Pastscape, so I photographed it. Nearby was the remains of a brick structure, which looked a bit like an old fireplace back, but which is marked as ‘W’ (well) on the HE map.

Ringhole Copse Cross

Trip No.132  Entry No.2  Date Added: 5th Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Ringhole Copse Wayside Cross: Not on our original list, but we spotted this cross on the map, with only a minor detour to our next few stops for this morning.

This wayside cross is adjacent to, and just south of, the A30, about 20m west of the road which connects the minor roads running over the A30 . Strangely, it looks as if it is in its original spot, although the HE scheduling information tells me that it was relocated to its present position in 1988 when they improved the A30.

The incised cross on the eastern side is clearly visible, but only part of the carving on the western face is visible under the covering of lichen.

Addiscott Cross

Trip No.132  Entry No.1  Date Added: 5th Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Addiscott Wayside Cross: Our first stop on this bright, sunny and breezy day, which made us glad to be out of doors.

The Pastscape entry is indeed correct, as the cross is virtually hidden by the surrounding shrubbery and almost impossible to see until we got closer and the sun bounced off its light yellow surface.

A lovely cross, very well made. It looks as if it could have been carved yesterday, although Pastscape dates it to the 14th century and HE to the 15th.

Hunter's Tor Fort

Trip No.131  Entry No.6  Date Added: 4th Jun 2019
Site Type: Hillfort Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 12th May 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Hunter's Tor Iron Age Hillfort: A very pleasant walk from the end of the lane at SX 75702 83203, up a public bridlepath, the path cutting through a farmyard higher up the hill. Continuing up the hill, we eventually reached a long stone wall with a gate leading into the fort. At its northern end (SX 76043 82474) there was a large rocky outcrop with a balanced rock.

Most of the ramparts and banks, whilst ruined, are still visible, and there are glorious views over to the west from most of the hillfort.

To its south eastern side, there appear to be rows of stones/banks which might be the remains of old field systems.

Some of the outer banks are cut by a long dry stone wall on its eastern side; looking over these continue in the field behind. We let ourselves out of the gate into the fort at its north eastern side then let ourselves into the gate into the field to take a quick photo of the continuing banks.

There were lots of walkers and mountain bikers walking through the fort. Only one other couple we saw actually appeared to be looking for the features within the fort; others either sat and picnicked by the outcrop, or simply rode through.

Meacombe Cist

Trip No.131  Entry No.5  Date Added: 4th Jun 2019
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 12th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Meacombe Cist: We'd arrived in Devon in a torrential downpour, although this had cleared in the evening. The sheer amount of rain might have contributed to ripping away the road surface at the edge of the road leading to this burial chamber.

The roads to this burial chamber were atrocious, with very deep potholes and a centre ‘bank’ of earth and grass, which at times tickled the underneath of the car - we debated about turning back at one point. The road was so narrow and parking so difficult that we parked in the next field gate to the north of the cist. Andrew stayed with the car whilst I let myself into the adjacent field, which also looked as if it had archaeology (but are just rocky outcrops, nothing on Pastscape or HE), but didn’t stop as Andrew needed to move the car. Took some quick photos, then ran back.

I was worried about trespassing, but there was a well worn tractor track into an open gate into the next field, then a track from the gate to the burial chamber.

We had hoped to see the enclosure and hut circle to the south west, but no way of stopping, nor could we see any sensible places to stop.

Note: I only found this a 'short walk on the footpath' from the adjacent field.

Week Down Cross

Trip No.131  Entry No.3  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 12th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Week Down Cross: We left the car by the Shorter Cross and continued the 250m up the road by foot; in actual fact there is a large grassy area on the moor here, and another car with a disabled passenger pulled onto the grass whilst we were there. Whilst the cross itself is only 9m from the road, there is a bank immediately at the edge of the road to step up to the common.

This cross is in a really lovely location, sitting by the edge of the common/moor, with great views over the moors to Chagford.

I had to be careful about photographing this cross, as to the west there was a camp site with some really brightly coloured tents which took over the photo, so I aligned myself to these were either hidden behind the cross, or behind the gorse bushes!

F H Starkey in his 1983 book “Dartmoor Crosses & Some Ancient Tracks” describes this cross as :”it consists of a tall rectangular shaft of granite, six feet nine inches tall. It has a rounded head and two very short arms have been cut out of the shaft. A Maltese Cross is cut on each face; one of these is in line with the shaft of the cross which is inclined at an angle to the ground, the other is at right-angles to the ground. This rather strange fact led Ormerod (who described the cross in 1874, having know it from at least 1859) to conjecture the crosses had been carved after the cross was erected and had settled down to its out of perpendicular stance Ormerod also tells us that the cross was in danger of falling in 1867 and that it was moved back from the road a little but that its original angle of inclination was repeated when it was re-erected. He says too, that there was a project afoot to move the cross and use it to make a foot-bridge; happily it was spared this fate”.

Shorter Cross

Trip No.131  Entry No.2  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 12th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Shorter Cross, near Druid's Well, Chagford: Not far from Druid’s Well (about 350m as the crow flies), this is a lovely cross, more like a standing stone, with no cross arms.

The cross is well hidden behind/between trees, but we were able to walk into the dip/ditch between the road and the dry stone wall. The crosses on both faces of the stone were clearly visible; on the side nearer the road there was a small, square, equal armed cross inside a larger cross in relief.

Chagford Druid's Well

Trip No.131  Entry No.1  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2019
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 11th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Druid's Well, near Chagford: Our first stop of the day, with bright sunshine and deep shadows. As we approached the well, this was our first of several encounters with a very friendly Granny looking after granddaughter on skittish, but beautiful, horse. Granny was following both round in a car, making sure horse and rider were OK on these narrow lanes. We passed them several times, and met Gran again later in the day outside her farm, when we were driving towards the burial chamber, when we needed to get past a large tractor and trailer going down the narrow, and very potholed lanes.

This well is just outside a property called Wellpark. At first it looks like a grass covered mound, but looking closer there is a well chamber, a large capstone and an exit water channel. On looking at the Pastscape entry, they mention another well recorded on the OS maps, only 9m away, built of an iron post and slate structure, now infilled. We didn't see this, although there was plenty of farm machinery and piles of stones and grit at the sides of the road.