Hemery’s ‘Walking Dartmoor’s Ancient Tracks: A guide to 28 routes’, Track 12. This section is from Tavistock to Walkhampton Church. 5.2 miles
Background
In his preface of the monastic ways across Dartmoor Hemery makes clear that there is no documentary record of their existence. What is clear is the large body of historical knowledge on the power of monasteries in medieval society and their interconnectedness both locally, regionally, and sometimes nationally. Through the collection of tithes and taxes, through the control of manors and markets, through the exercise of power and politics, monks of various rank would have had need to travel. In addition to church ‘business’, the crosses would also mark routes that served religious functions like funeral processions, or longer distance pilgrimages, which was, of course, a common medieval activity.Whilst no paper (or vellum!) records of the routes taken across Dartmoor exist, what is extant are the ‘waymark Christian crosses of common type and period‘ that link the religious houses around the moor (Hemery, 1986). Their purpose is further explained by Historic England who say:
In addition to serving the function of reiterating and reinforcing the Christian faith amongst those who passed the cross and of reassuring the traveller, wayside crosses often fulfilled a role as waymarkers, especially in difficult and otherwise unmarked terrain.
Historic England – Green Lane Cross
Certainly the terrain of Dartmoor can be classed as difficult as anyone who has had the pleasure of walking it knows. In a featureless landscape and without the aid of a compass these waymarkers would have been vital, although still utterly useless in a Dartmoor fog. I do wonder if literate monks with access to writing tools did occasionally make themselves simple annotated maps? Not kept in libraries but in damp pockets, such aids would not have survived as evidence of work-a-day medieval map making. If I were a medieval monk I think I might have scrawled some descriptive instructions and places names on an oddment of parchment if I were heading up over the moor.
With respect to the heritage significance of the waymarker crosses Historic England continues:
Wayside crosses contribute significantly to our understanding of medieval routeways, settlement patterns and the development of sculptural traditions. All wayside crosses on the Moor which survive as earth-fast monuments, except those which are extremely damaged and removed from their original locations, are considered worthy of protection.
With this contextual value in mind, let’s start looking at the interesting things along this Tavistock to Walkhampton section of the Monastic Way between Buckfast and Tavistock.
7 Interesting Things
1. Green Lane Cross
On busy Whitchurch Down stands diminutively this incomplete cross. Its position at the edge of Tavistock means that it was likely the first way-marker a traveller would see on departing on their peregrination, or the last one they would see, relieved, on reaching the hospitality of the town. Being close to Tavistock it marks the convergence point of a number of Medieval routes across the moor including the Jobber’s Way, the pack-horse tracks to Chagford and Ashburton, and the monastic route to Plympton Priory (Hemery, 1986, p102). Green Lane Cross is very likely the same cross referred to as `old’ in a document dated 1310. If you look very carefully you will see it incised with a carved cross on its southern face (Historic England).
2. Pixie’s Cross
Like the Green Lane Cross, Pixie’s Cross is rough-hewn with an even more asymmetrical form. It also bears an incised carving of a cross on one face. Pixie’s Cross has a lofty position on the edge of a small quarry now housing a sheltered shack belonging to the local golf club; both Quarry and Golf course being new neighbours for the ancient crucifix. I didn’t notice it but Historic England says the cross stands on the bank of an enclosure that rings the quarry to the east and which pre-dates both quarry and cross. For those interested in stories and legends Dartmoor Crosses relates a tale of a vandalising vicar and yes, you guessed it, an appearance by the devil!
3. Warren’s Cross
There is no cross at Warren’s Cross. How disappointing!Today it is a sleepy backroad crossroads. Rewind several hundred years and Warren’s Cross was a very important junction. It marked the junction from Tavistock of the intersection with the Jobber’s Way, the pack-horse route to Chagford, the monastic paths heading towards Buckfast and the monastic route to Plympton Priory. Importantly it also intersected the old Plymouth to Okehampton road that came via Horrabridge and headed north to Harford Bridge. This would definitely be the perfect place to park a medieval ice-cream van to make the most of passing traffic!
Given its significance as a junction and also its location on the monastic ways, Warren’s Cross almost certainly did used to posses a cross. Hemery thinks so. Apparently Buckfast Abbey has a cross in the abbey grounds that was discovered in an old smithy at nearby Moor which is likely to have come originally from this site. Hemery says:
I am therefore including the cross here despite the evidence only being circumstantial … Here would have stood at the track’s entry upon Whitchurch Down, where the united ways begin their final lap to Tavistock.
Hmerey (1986, p156)
4. Huckworthy Cross
Huckworthy Cross, as Historic England brutally puts it is a ‘granite monolith of Latin shape with mutilated arms‘. In keeping with the other crosses along this stretch is has an almost indistinguishable carved cross on its southern face. It stands at a junction between Walkhampton and Tavistock, and Horrabridge and Sampford Spinney and would also have been on the monastic route to Plympton Priory from Tavistock which then branches off in a different direction once over Huckworthy Bridge.
5. Huckworthy Bridge
Astride the River Walkham at the bottom of this steep valley is the late 15th/early 16th C Huckworthy Bridge. Hemery says that it was recorded in 1665 as being in need of repair and that this Tudor bridge replaced an earlier clapper. With two arches of uneven proportion, one considerably wider than the other, its lopsided nature does not detract – the setting is an idyllic riverside hamlet of historic houses. A 19th C corn mill can be seen on the south bank but records show that a much earlier mill was intended for the site in 1578. I presume it got built.
On the north side of the bridge, just a little up the sharp hill, is a cottage with an intriguing sign above the door. It bears a coat of arms and announces that the building used to be the Parlby Arms. The green parrots on the crest link it to Thomas Parlby (1727-1766). He was a man of humble background. Excelling in civil engineering and working for the Royal Navy, he won the contract to rebuild Plymouth Dockyard in 1763, doubling its size.
I am intrigued by the connection of the inn to Parlby. On early 19th C maps the name is recorded as the Fox Inn, changing to the Parlby Arms by the late Victorian. This was 100 years after Parlby’s death. Parlby himself had no connections to the area, being a Kentish man. Perhaps one of his descendants ended up here and honoured the family name through the naming of this hostelry.
6. Walkhampton Church
The thing that most strikes me about Walkhampton Church is that it lies separate from Walkhampton village, about half a mile removed, with only Church House and Ward House as neighbours. Why? It seems the location relates to a much older enclosed Saxon settlement lying east of the current village and encompassing the site of the church ‘at a point where two long-distance pre-Conquest roads merged to cross the Walkham (at Huckworthy)’ (DNPA, 2017).
The current church is largely 14th C but with the aisle and tower added in 15th C. It must have replaced a Saxon church that existed here by at least c. 1031 as evidenced by a charter document that mentions a lane running past the church at this time. This section of our route, through Huckworthy Bridge and on to the church, therefore appears to have good evidence of a Saxon heritage that long pre-dates our monastic track.
Sitting as it does on the hill-top, this church is visible for miles and would itself have acted as a helpful and welcome waymarker.
7. Church House
Before the rise of Puritanism church houses were a common part of village life, with the church house being a social centre serving a function similar to a modern parish hall that hosts social clubs, birthday discos and fund-raising events. Before church houses existed, in even earlier times, the open space of the church naive would have served this community and celebratory function, hosting festivals and festivities called ‘church ales’:
Church ales were revels which could include sports, plays and Morris dancing, encouraged by a brew of strong ale, made on the premises.
Manco (2013)
So, church ales were not just the beer itself, but referred to the whole party at which the ale was sold in order to have a good time and raise money for the church. From the 15th C it became common for pews to take up the space in the naive and so new accommodation was built or acquired next to churches for ‘the ales’.
The Church House at Walkhampton served this function. Thought to date from the early 16th C the house was re-built in 1698. Historic England provides some tantalising details about the interior that allow the purpose of the rooms to be surmised:
“the left-hand room, judging from its very large gable end fireplace with ovens was where the baking took place. The small central room with only one small window and what appears to have been a serving hatch into the right-hand room, is likely to have stored the ales which were then served into the right-hand room where presumably the customers congregated and could leave by a back door. …The first floor consisted of one large room used for meetings and probably celebrations; the external stairs to its doorway in the right-hand gable end have been removed.”
At some point the building transitioned to being an inn and in 1895 was divided into the two cottages that we see today occupied by various families over the last 125 years. One of the occupants was Ann Jessop who lived there with her husband in the 1970s. She recalls:
“Our place was a tied cottage. My husband was a farm labourer and we rented it for a £1 a week. If only rents were that cheap now! The building was split into two and an old lady lived next door. Her place had the original stone staircase. In our side when we left the people who bought it found beautiful stained glass windows hidden in the walls and the original ovens. I can’t believe we lived there not knowing.
I loved life up there. Our garden was the nearby field which he used to plough up and plant out potatoes and veg. When it snowed we would be cut off from the village and wouldn’t see anyone for weeks. I used to walk to the village with a baby on my back in snow that was has high as the hedges”.
Ann Jessop, pers com, 2021
Church House Cross now stands next to Church House. An incomplete cross, the base was found in 1984 built into a wall of the Church House and the carved shaft lying in a field. Reunited, they are now finished off with a new cross head to restore a semblance of its former stature.
The Route
- Starting in Tavistock from Abbey Bridge follow Dolvin Rd. A little way along, before you get to St Rumon’s School is where the original Great Bridge would have provided access to Tavistock across the Tavy.
- Cross over to the right at Mount Tavy Road and then take the next road on the right up the steep Green Hill
- Turn right at the top on to Green Lane and continue ascending more gently through Greenlands up on to Whitchurch Down.
- Cross the cattle grid and Green Land Cross (1) is on the left a short way along.
- Continue by walking over the downland to the left of the road. Take care of flying gold balls from the gold course. Pixie’s Cross is about 100 m left of the road by a small quarry (2).
- Cut back to the right and join the road and continue until you get to the crossroads at Warren’s Cross (3). Continue straight over along the walled road.
- As the road emerges onto Plaster Down, take the right hand road and cross a short stretch of down before the road descends between fields, passing Pew Tor Farm.
- At the T-junction you will find Huckworthy Cross (4). Continue straight over on the footpath across Huckworthy Common. This open path turns briefly into a holloway before joining the road. Turn left.
- Follow the road down into the valley, passing the former Parlby Arms on your right, down to Huckworthy Bridge (5).
- Ascend the road the ohther side and then take the first road on the left, a sharp corner. Follow this for about 200m and then take the footpath on the right, another holloway.
- The holloway opens up into fields and ascends the hill to Walkhampton Church (6) and the Church House (7).
References
DNPA (2017). Walkhampton – Character Appraisal Character Appraisal. https://www.dartmoor.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0026/73457/CAA-Walkhampton-Revised-Sep-2018.pdf
Rosamond Faith & Andrew Fleming (2012) The Walkhampton Enclosure (Devon), Landscape History, 33:2, 5-28.
Hemery, E. (1986). Walking Dartmoor’s Ancient Tracks: A guide to 28 routes. Robert Hale: London.
Heritage Gateway Pixies’ Cross: a wayside cross and associated earthwork enclosure on Whitchurch Down. https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MDV3587&resourceID=104
Heritage Gateway Weir at head of leat to Huckworthy Mill, Walkhampton .https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MDV102610&resourceID=104
Heritage Gateway Parlby Arms Cottage, Huckworthy. https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MDV108112&resourceID=104
Historic England. Green Lane Cross: a wayside cross at the north west end of Whitchurch Down. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1008925
Historic England. Church of St Mary, Walkhampton, West Devon – West Devon. https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/heritage-at-risk/search-register/list-entry/11400 and https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1105371
Historic England. CROSS AT SX 530 712 . https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1105758
Historic England Church House Cottages. https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101105374-church-house-cottages-walkhampton#.YA7WQJP7TUo
Historic England. Walkhampton Church House cross. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1009194
Manco, J. (2013). Researching the history of church houses. buildinghistory.org
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