Dartmouth to Bodmin

A bit of a hiccup this morning with Geoff vomiting due to the antibiotics. The poor B and B owners were quite concerned. A rapid recovery and onto the day.

A short drive and a car ferry ride to Dartmouth. What a beautiful Harbourside village.

 

Dartmouth Castle is one of a pair of forts, the other being Kingswear Castle, that guard the mouth of the Dart Estuary in Devon

 

 

This small fortalice (coastal fort) was built in 1388 under the direction of John Hawley (rumoured to be the basis for the Shipman in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales). The present Guntower building is the earliest surviving English coastal fortress specifically built to carry guns. It was built by the corporation of Dartmouth between 1481 and 1495 and additions, including open-air gun platforms, were made during the 16th century by Henry VIII and again in the 17th century in order to accommodate new military technology.

During the Civil War it was besieged for one month and then taken by the Royalists, who then constructed an earthwork fort above the Castle at Gallant's Bower to protect its landward side. After being held by them for three years it was attacked and taken by Sir Thomas Fairfax for the Parliamentarians in 1646. The castle continued in use as a working fort until the nineteenth century, when it housed no fewer than five huge 64-pdr cannon on traversing carriages. The 19th century Gun Battery is the most substantial remaining part of the castle and itself remained in military use throughout the First and Second World Wars, overlooking the D-Day preparations in the latter.

After looking through the old church and castle we went had a hot chocolate and lemon drizzle cake as you do for morning tea. It is so nice to feel well again!

We went for a walk along the headland for a bit. With the clouds coming and going there was continual changes in the colour of the water.

 

After a small GPS mishap we set off to Beesands. A quick stop at Torcross to see a tank left from the D Day crossing.

In late 1943 Torcross was evacuated, along with many other villages in the South Hams area, to make way for 15,000 allied troops who needed the area to practise for the D-Day landings.

 

 

In the early hours of 28 April 1944 a tragic incident happened during Exercise Tiger: nine German torpedo boats, alerted by heavy radio traffic, intercepted a three-mile-long convoy of vessels travelling from the Isle of Portland to Slapton Sands to undertake landing rehearsals for D Day. Two Tank landing ships were sunk in the engagement and 749 American servicemen died. Poor communications led to badly-timed shelling on the beach, killing about 300 more men. Over 1,000 lives were lost over the course of the operation.

A Sherman amphibious tank and several plaques stand at Torcross car park between Slapton Ley and the beach as memorials to the men who lost their lives. The operation to salvage the tank from the shallow waters of Start Bay was completed in 1984.

Then it was onto Beesand which is a tiny fishing village. The tiny narrow streets are quite a challenge to drive particularly when you come across a double decker bus coming the othe way.

 

After some crab soup for lunch we had a beautiful afternoon's walk along the clift tops to Hallsand which is a village that has been lost to the sea.

 

 

It has such an interesting story-

 

The early history of Hallsands is unknown, but a chapel has existed there since at least 1506. The site of the village was located at a cave known as Poke Hole, and probably was not inhabited before 1600. The village grew in size during the 18th and 19th centuries, and by 1891 it had 37 houses, a spring, a public house called the London Inn, and a population of 159. Most residents of Hallsands at that time depended on fishing for a living, particularly crab fishing on the nearby Skerries Bank.

In the 1890s, following a scheme proposed by Sir John Jackson, it was decided to expand the naval dockyard at Keyham, near Plymouth, and dredging began offshore from Hallsands to provide sand and gravel for its construction. Soon, up to 1,600 tons of material was being removed each day, and the level of the beach began to drop, much to the alarm of local residents.The Board of Trade agreed to establish a local inquiry in response to protests from villagers, who feared that the dredging might destabilise the beach and thereby threaten the village. The inquiry found that the activity was not likely to pose a significant threat to the village, so dredging continued. By 1900, however, the level of the beach had started to fall. In the autumn storms that year, part of the sea wall was washed away. In November 1900, villagers petitioned their Member of Parliament complaining of damage to their houses, and in March 1901 Kingsbridge Rural District Council wrote to the Board of Trade complaining of damage to the road. In September 1901 a new Board of Trade inspector concluded that further severe storms could cause serious damage and recommended that dredging be stopped. On 8 January 1902 the dredging licence was revoked. During 1902 the level of the beach recovered; however the winter of 1902 brought more storms and damage.

On 26 January 1917, a combination of easterly gales and exceptionally high tides breached Hallsands' defences, and by the end of that year only one house remained habitable. The villagers' fight for compensation took seven years.

According to Pathe News real footage from 1960, the last inhabitant of the village was Mrs. Elizabeth Prettejohn who lived in the only house still standing until she died.

 

It was well after 4pm when we started our journey to St Austell where we were staying for the night.

 

 

Dartmoor

Last night's stay was quite luxurious. It was at the Deer Park Country Hotel at Honiten. It was one of those 50% deals and a cut above what we normally stay at.

We had a bit of a slow start as we needed to purchase a new camera card and ipad cable. Doesn't sound a major deal but so much more difficult than at home. We had to drive into Exteter in the end which was a nightmare and there was no Parking. And trying to find a public toilet in a hurry. Oh boy!

We finally got going to Dartmoor around noon. There were so many ancient things to see according to the OS map but trying to find them was another matter as nothing was signposted. Not sure why, perhaps to avoid vandalism.

 

This is Hounds Tor. It was a bit of a walk up but the views were spectacular and down the other side was the remains of a medieval stone village.

 

 

 

Obvious why it was called Hounds Tor.

 

 

 

To the south-east of the tor, on a north-eastern-facing slope were the remains of Hundatora, a deserted medieval village, which was excavated between 1961 and 1975. It has four Dartmoor longhouses, many with a central drainage channel, and several smaller houses and barns. The three grain storage barns appear to have been adapted to include corn dryers, indicative of the deteriorating climate which led to the abandonment of the settlement by 1350.

The settlement is first mentioned in the Domesday Book as belonging to Tavistock Abbey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Driving in Dartmoor is insane. These lanes are two way! At in stage poor Geoff had to reverse hundered of metres to let 2 cars pass. This was the school bus in front of us.

 

 

The Dartmoor crosses are a series of stone crosses found in Dartmoor National Park. Many of them are old navigational aids, needed because of the remoteness of the moorland and its typically bad weather. Some mark medieval routes between abbeys.

 

 

 

Other crosses were erected as memorials, for prayer, as town or market crosses, in churchyards, and as boundary markers.The crosses were erected over a long period of time, some as recently as 100 years ago, the earliest probably almost 1,000 years ago.

 

 

Heading up to Grimspound. The best known of many Dartmoor prehistoric settlements, Grimspound dates from the late Bronze Age. The remains of 24 stone houses survive within a massive boundary wall.

 

Dartmoor ponies everywhere. Not the least perturbed having humans close by.

 

 

 

 

 

Postbridge is best known for its fine example of an ancient clapper bridge over the river. First recorded in the 14th century, the bridge is believed to have been built in the 13th century to enable pack horses to cross the river, carrying tin to the stannary town of Tavistock. The clapper bridge which is a Grade II* listed structure, is still complete, and stands alongside another bridge, a Grade II listed structure built in the 1780s.

 

 

 

 

The 'new' bridge built in 1795.

 

 

 

Another clapper bridge in Dartmoor.

We spent the night in Paignton, on the coast.