Storyteller: Memorials in stone on Dartmoor

A walk on Dartmoor quite often helps when I’m looking for inspiration for my articles, this one is a perfect example.

My latest exploration, in search of elusive letterboxes, took me to an area on the River Lyd known as Black Rock, with the majestic cross, designed by the celebrated Dartmoor artist Widgery, perched on top of Brat Tor (or Bray Tor) towering above it. Both landmarks have something in common, they both serve as memorials to people long since deceased.

Widgery Cross was designed by William Widgery to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887. It is constructed out of granite blocks to a height of 13ft, making it the tallest granite cross on Dartmoor, with its commanding views all over the surrounding area. It is certainly worth the effort, should you fancy a climb to the top.

Meanwhile, at its foot you will find the aforementioned outcrop known as Black Rock, upon it is attached a plaque inscribed to the memory of a Captain Nigel Hunter of the Royal Engineers, who was killed in action in 1918, aged just 23.

He loved visiting Dartmoor, and upon his last visit to the Lydford area, he was moved to write a most inspirational poem while gazing up at the cross on the hill above - a poem which you can read for yourself, as it is included on the memorial, while sitting on the handily placed bench, and admiring the awesomeness of the surrounding landscape too.

Elsewhere on the moor, you will find many other memorials to deceased loved ones, and even pets, discreetly tucked away, or attached to remote boulders, but there are two obvious ones that take the form of granite crosses, and are not to be mistaken for the many granite way markers that punctuate the landscape.

These are known as Cave-Penney Cross and Childe’s Tomb.

The very obvious cross on the skyline of Corndon Down, that you see as you make the climb up the hill from Dartmeet, was erected in memory of another fallen soldier, Lieutenant Evelyn Cave-Penney. He was born in Exeter in 1898 and, upon joining the army, was commissioned into the elite regiment of Queen Victoria’s Own Corps of Guides within the Indian Army.

Having spent time on the Pakistan border, in north-west India, he was soon promoted to Lieutenant, and, in 1918, he found himself commanding his men in trenches in Palestine. It was here that he was tragically shot dead by a sniper, dying, coincidentally, in the same year as Captain Hunter of Black Rock fame, but Cave-Penney was only 19 years of age.

His cross is mounted on a large boulder, known as The Belstone Bible, and commands stunning views, high above the River Dart, taking in nearby Sharp Tor and Yar Tor, all worth visiting on a circular walk in that area.

The final memorial that I want to mention, marks the spot where a wealthy local landowner died in a snowstorm, and has sparked another well known Dartmoor legend, that of Childe the hunter.

Childe’s Tomb actually performs two purposes, not only does it mark the spot of a burial, the cross being positioned on a stepped pedestal of granite slabs over a kistvaen, or burial chamber, with a circle of stones surrounding it, making it a unique moorland feature, it also serves as a way marker, guiding safe passage across one of the most notorious parts of the moor.

The memorial can be found below Fox Tor, near to the ruins of Fox Tor Farm, on the edge of Fox Tor Mire, made infamous by Conan Doyle as the Great Grimpen Mire in his Hound of the Baskervilles novel.

The legend doesn’t tell us who is actually buried at this spot, just that a body was discovered here, and removed for burial elsewhere.

Childe, the landowner, would often join his friends on their hunting expeditions across Dartmoor. Tragically, one winter, during one such expedition, he became separated from the rest of the party during an unexpected snowstorm.

Fearing that he might not be rescued any time soon, rather than continuing on blindly, he made the fatal decision to kill his horse and to climb inside the carcass for shelter. Realising his mistake too late, he still had the presence of mind to write his last will and testament in the snow, using blood from his horse, stating that whoever should find his body, and give it a proper Christian burial, would inherit all the land from his estate at Plymstock.

Eventually, his lifeless corpse was found, and retrieved, by a group of monks from Tavistock Abbey, who often passed that way travelling across the moor. They had to outwit a band of brothers from Plymstock Abbey, who were also after the same prize, but by building their own bridge to cross a river on their route home, now known as Guile Bridge, they got to bury him first, and thus claim his lands as their reward.

Tavistock Abbey prospered as a result but suffered very badly during the dissolution of the monasteries, under Henry VIII, and now all that remains are ruins.

Meanwhile, Childe’s Tomb still stands to mark the spot where he and his horse died.

I love walking in this part of moor, particularly as I have some of my own letterboxes secreted away in the Fox Tor area, which I check on regularly. I often pay a visit to the tomb as well, for picture taking purposes, so imagine my shock when I stopped there recently, and found a head in the kistvaen underneath!

Some joker had taken a life-like mannequin’s head and positioned it in the grave, so it was looking straight at me! I had a very disturbed walk home that evening, in the failing light...

This just goes to show, you never know what you might come across while exploring Dartmoor.