The Storyteller: Demons, druids and drawings on Dartmoor

Since spring has sprung, the weather has been behaving itself, so much so that I’ve been tempted to go walking quite a lot over recent weeks.

There was the time I witnessed a hunt, racing past me on Buckfastleigh Moor, which I told you about in a recent article, followed by another visit to the same area, when I reached the remains of Huntingdon Warren Farm, situated below the enigmatically named Heap of Sinners cairn.

Crossing over the Western Wella Brook, which the walled enclosures rise up from, you come across some old mine workings, and, if you inspect the nearby mounds and spoil heaps, you find, in a little dell, Keble Martin’s Chapel, also known as Mattins Corner.

This was constructed by the Martin brothers, Keble, Arthur and Jack, plus their companions, back in 1909, when they used the spot as their regular camping destination on their holidays. Being the sons of the Rev. Martin of Dartington, both Keble and Jack had followed his religious leanings and so felt it necessary to build their own little chapel at their campsite in which to perform their morning prayers.

I’ve visited the place many times over the years, as its origins really intrigue me. If you check out the grid reference for the site on a modern Ordnance Survey map, you will find it stands exactly on 666 666...the Number of the Beast...with all the connotations that brings with it. Considering that this mapping system didn’t come into effect until the 1930s, how did the brothers know that their favourite spot would come to need all the protection that their belief system could muster?

Keble’s church building can be witnessed a little closer to home, in the shape of St Luke’s Church, in Milber, on the bank that overlooks the new dual carriageway. This style of interior design, for those that have ever been inside to check it out, features a pulpit that faces three aisles for the vicar to address in all directions.

Keble once dreamed of such a church, where his congregation was looking at him from all sides, as well as in front. The image was so vivid that he took the design to his brother, Arthur, who just so happened to be an architect, and asked him to have it built for him...which he duly did, and St Luke’s is the result, forever to be known as the Dream Church, finally consecrated for services in 1963, after the Second World War interrupted its construction.

Keble Martin is probably best known for the publication of his book, “The Concise British Flora in Colour”, which was inspired by his study of the natural surroundings as he travelled throughout the English countryside. I’d like to think that much of this inspiration came from the time he spent on Dartmoor...

Whilst searching for my own inspiration for this week’s article, after an afternoon of promoting my next batch of Ghost Walks around Dartmoor towns in the lead-up to Easter, I headed out of Ashburton, heading towards Buckland Beacon, on the hunt for a new Letterbox hidden on its slopes.

As I parked up, I spotted a woman with an easel on the grass just below the cars, intent on capturing the scene in front of her in paint. She was looking towards the Teign Estuary and the surrounding coastline in the distance, with moorland in the foreground – a stunning view. I approached her and asked if I could take a photo of her at work, explaining that seeing her taking inspiration from the landscape had given me the germ of an idea for my next article... That photo is published here with her permission.

Further down the slope was a gentleman working on his masterpiece... It’s heartening to see so many people taking artistic inspiration from the Dartmoor that we all know and love. Leaving the artists to their muses, I continued with my quest and ruminated over my own next efforts...

For those who know Buckland Beacon, you will be aware it is home to two granite slabs, which have the Ten Commandments engraved on them. This work of art was commissioned by William Whitley, one-time lord of the manor of Buckland, who employed a local stonemason, nicknamed “Moses”, as he carried out this particular task, completing it in 1928.

The idea was that it commemorated the quashing of attempts by the government of his day to revise the “Book of Common Prayer”, making the Church of England more Catholic. Being a devout Protestant, Whitley was very much opposed to this, so the Stones act as a permanent memorial to this parliamentary defeat. William is also responsible for the unusual clock face on Buckland in the Moor church, spelling out My Dear Mother' instead of numerals, altered as a memorial to his own mother at the time of her passing.

Heralding from Liverpool, the Whitley family became residents of Paignton after the death of their father, their mother taking comfort in the many happy family holidays in Torbay they had shared together there. Herbert Whitley, famously, went on to found Paignton Zoo from their home at Primley House, but it’s his brother, William, who intrigues me the most, for it is he who inspired me to do some of my best and most in-depth research into a paranormal phenomenon that I’ve ever undertaken to date.

The tale is worthy of an article itself, some of which I’ve already shared, but in a nutshell, the trail goes from Paignton to Barton Pines, where William married the daughter of Percy Whitehead, who built the impressive house and who might be responsible for the ghost who allegedly haunts the place.

It was after I heard this story, having held an investigation combined with a Halloween charity disco and buffet there, that I started my research. I followed William to Buckland in the Moor, where he became lord and carried out his goodly deeds, ending up in a grave in the churchyard there, alongside his brother, Herbert, but it is the fact that he once may have appeared to a medium dressed in the robes of a Druid that intrigues me to this day...

If this has whetted your appetite for more of this story, keep reading my articles, and maybe one day I will share more, but in the meantime, take advantage of the good spring weather, head to Dartmoor, and see how it can inspire you.