Brutus stone in Totnes...

The Brutus Stone in Totnes today - image by myself (my photopgraph) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"Apropos of landing-places, it may interest some of your readers to learn that the very stone upon which Brutus, the nephew of AEneas, landed at Totnes, still remains! It is inserted in the footway nearly opposite the Mayoralty-house in the Fore Street. "From Totnes, the neighbouring shore was heretofore called Totonesc : and the British History tells us, that Brutus, the founder of the British nation, arrived here; and Havillanus [John de Aloilla or Hauteville. according to Mr. Wright] as a poet, following the same authority, writes thus : —

" Inde dato cursu, Brutus comitatus Achate

Gallorum spoliis cumulatis navibus aequor

Exarat, ct superis auraque faventibus usus,

Littora felices intrat Totonesia portus."

" From hence griat Brute with his Achates steer'd.

Full fraught with Gallic spoils their ships appear'd;

The Winds and Gods were all at their command,

And happy Totnes shew'd them grateful land."

 Gibson's Camden.

Totnes is made mention of in the Lais de Marie : —

" II tient sun chemin tut avant.

A la mer vient, si est passer,

En Toteneit est arriver."

Lai d'Eliduc.

J. MlLNER BARRT, M.D.

Totnes, Devon, Jan. 30. 1850."

NOTES AND QUERIES. [No. 15. Feb. 9. 1850.]

Map - Totnes

A missing Kistvean

Granite Kistvaen at Drizzelcombe on Dartmoor - image by Herby talk thyme (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"The following are a few of the interesting remains of old Cornwall which have entirely disappeared from the neighbourhood within a few years-...

...At Balnoon, between Nancledrea and Knill's Steeple, some miners came upon "two slabs of granite cemented together," which covered a walled grave three feet square--an ancient kistvean. In it they found an earthenware vessel containing some black earth, and a leaden spoon. The spoon was given to Mr Praed of Trevetha, and may possibly be in the possession of the present proprietor. The kistvean was utterly destroyed."

 

Hunt 1903

Map - Balnoon

The Nine Maidens, or Virgin sisters - more info

The Nine Maidens at Boskednan.  Unfortunately I can find no copyright free images of the Nine Maidens near Wendron. Image by Jim Champion [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"NINE "Moor Stones" are set up near the road in the parish of Gwendnon, or Wendron, to which the above name is given. The perpendicular blocks of granite have evidently been placed with much labour in their present position. Tradition says they indicate the graves of nine sisters. Hals appears to think some nuns were buried here. From one person only I heard the old stony of the stones having been metamorphosed maidens. Other groups of stone might be named, as Rosemedery, Tregaseal, Boskednan, Botallack, Tredinek, and Crowlas, in the west, to which the same story extends, and many others in the eastern parts of the county; but it cannot be necessary."

Hunt 1903

Map - Nine  Maidens / Virgin Sisters near Wedron

Map - Stones at Rosemedery (this is a guess, New Downs stone circle - it is the nearest stone circle to Rosemundy in Cornwall...)

Map - Stones at Tregaseal

Map - Stones at Boskednan

Map - Stones at Botallack

Map - Stones at Tredinek

Map - Crowlas (There is no indication of a circle, destroyed or otherwise here, though ther may have been once)

The Hurlers

The Hurlers stone circle - By Olaf Tausch (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"The three circles, which are seen on the moors not far from the Cheesewring, in the parish of St Cleer, are also notable examples of the punishment of Sabbath-breaking. These are called the Hurlers," and they preserve the position in which the several parties stood in the full excitement of the game of hurling, when, for the crime of profaning the Sabbath, they were changed into stone...

... "With respect to the stones called the 'Hurlers' being once men, I will say with Hals, 'Did but the ball which these Hurlers used when flesh and blood appear directly over them, immovably pendant in the air, one might he apt to credit some little of the tale;' but as this is not the case, I must add icy belief of their being erected by the Druids for some purpose or other -- probably a court of justice; bog subsequent to which erection, however, they may have served as a goal for hurl-players."--Topographical and Historical Sketches of the Boroughs of East and West Love, by Thomas Bond.

May we not address Mr Bond, "O ye of little faith!" A very small amount of which would have found the ball, fixed as a boulder of granite, not as it passed through the air, but as it rolled along the ground.

That an ancient priesthood, endeavouring to reach the minds of an ignorant people through their sensations, should endeavour to persuade the old Celtic population that God's vengeance had fallen on the Sabbath-breaker, is not to be wondered at. Up to a very recent period, hurling matches usually came off on the Sunday--See "Hurling," in the chapter on Cornish Customs."

Hunt 1903

Map - The Hurlers

Saint Columb and the hurling of the silver ball #2

Silver Hurling ball from Saint Columb - Original photo by Denis Ellery reproduced with permission. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License. (I cant find the name of the contributor)

[cont.] "...Passing from pancakes to “hurling,” it may be necessary, for the sake of the uninitiated, to explain what hurling is. It is not an eatable, as might be supposed from its association with pancakes, but a wild rough-and-tumble game. A silver ball, or rather a hard wood ball, the size of a cricket-ball, eased in silver, and costing about three guineas, is provided by public subscription, or by some generous patron of the game; and on the silver casing is engraved a legend beginning—

“Town and Country do your best,

for in this Parish I must rest.”

The game consists in a contest between the townsfolk and the country-folk. Two goals (granite stones, resembling drinking-troughs) stand two miles apart, one a mile on the road to Newquay, and the other a mile on the Padstow road. One is the Town goal, and the other the Country. The hurling starts from the market-place, and the side that first plants the ball in its goal wins.

For weeks previous to Shrove Tuesday both sides are busy practising in the lanes and fields, and for this purpose “lattice balls" are used—that is, wood balls cased with tin; and it is surprising how quickly the hands are accustomed to catch the ball, even when thrown with great force. The game starts at 4.30 p.m., and throughout the afternoon the country-folk, young farmers, farm-labourers, village tailors, blacksmiths, and shoemakers may be seen pouring into the town, the majority wearing white ‘smock-frocks and warlike countenances..." [cont.]

Burrow 1899

Map - Saint Columb

The Boy's Own Annual. Volume 21. 1898 - 1899

Madge Figgy's Chair

Tol-Pedn-Penwith - By Jim Champion (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"The fine rocks of Tol-Pedn-Penwith have on the top of them a stone, which is called "The Chair." Here it is said a famous witch and wrecker named Madge Figgy used to sit and practise her magic arts to raise storms and wreck vessels. That she caused several wrecks by the display of false and misleading lights, there is no doubt."

Valentine (undated)

Map - Tol-Pedn-Penwith

Bolerium

Land's End, or Bolerium - By Manfred Heyde (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"The Land's End was the Bolerium of ancient geographers; it is an immense mass of granite, sixty feet high."

Valentine (undated)


Map - Land's End

[see also Bellerian the Giant]

Luxulion Well

"In the village is a little baptistry, with a granite roof and sides."

Hope 1893

Map - Luxulyon

Saint Neot's Well - part 1

Saint Neot at prayer in his well - Please credit this website if you wish to use this image

"St. Neot's Well, not far west from the church, was arched over in granite by the late General Carlyon, the old arched covering, having fallen in many years ago. St. Neot, said to have been learned, eloquent, and intelligent, was a monk of Glastonbury, and supposed to have been brother to Alfred the Great, contemporary with St. Dunstan ; he died 800. Many sought his prayers, either for relief of their infirmities, or for spiritual comfort. Wearied of his fame he retired to his hermitage here, with one attendant, Barius. It was in this well that he stood up to his chin daily, and chanted the Psalter throughout...." [cont...]

Hope 1893

Dupath Well, Callington

"Dupath Well is a pellucid spring, once the resort of pilgrims and still held in esteem. It overflows a trough, and entering the open archway of a small chapel, spreads itself over the floor and passes out below a window at the opposite end. The little chapel, 12 feet long by 11 ½ wide, is a complete specimen of the baptisteries anciently so common in Cornwall. It has a most venerable appearance, and is built of granite, which is gray and worn by age. The roof is constructed of enormously long blocks of granite, hung with fern, and supported in the interior by an arch, dividing the nave and chancel. The doorway faces west; at the east end is a square-headed window of two lights, and two openings in the sides. The building is crowned by an ornamental bell-cote. The well is famed for the combat between Sir Colam and Gotlieb for the love of a lady; Gotlieb was killed, and Sir Colam died of his wounds."

Hope 1893

Map - Dupath Well

Pelynt - Saint Nun's Well - part 1

"On the western side of the beautiful valley through which flows the Trelawny River, and near Hobb's Park, in the parish of Pelynt, Cornwall, is St. Nunn's or St. Ninnie's Well. Its position was, until very lately, to be discovered by the oak and bramble which grew upon its roof. It is entered by a doorway with a stone lintel, and overshadowed by an oak. The front of the well is of a pointed form, and has a rude entrance about 4 feet high, and is spanned above by a single flat stone, which leads into a grotto, with an arched roof. The walls on the interior are draped with the luxuriant fronds of spleen-wort, hart's tongue, and a rich undercovering of liverwort. At the farther end of the floor is a round granite basin with a deeply moulded rim, and ornamented with a series of rings, each enclosing a cross or a ball. The water weeps into it from an opening at the back, and escapes again by a hole in the bottom. This interesting piece of antiquity has been protected by a tradition which we could almost wish to attach to some of our cromlechs and circles in danger of spoliation. 

An old farmer (so runs the legend) once set his eyes upon the granite basin and coveted it, for it was no wrong in his eyes to convert the holy font to the base uses of a Pigsty and accordingly he drove his oxen and wain to the gateway above for the purpose of removing it. Taking his beasts to the entrance of the well, he essayed to drag the trough from its ancient bed. For a long time it resisted the efforts of the oxen, but at length they succeeded in starting it, and dragged it slowly up the hillside to where the wain was standing. Here, however, it burst away from the chains which held it, and, rolling back again to the well, made a sharp turn and regained its old positions, where it has remained ever since. Nor will anyone again attempt its removal, seeing that the farmer, who was previously well-to-do in the world, never prospered from that day forward. Some people say, indeed, that retribution overtook him on the spot, the oxen falling dead, and the owner being struck lame and speechless..." [cont.]

Hope 1893

Dunnabriges Pound

Dunnabridge Pound - Image by Herbythyme [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

"Ascending the road from the [West Dart] river, a further walk of two miles will bring us to Dunnabridge Pound, which stands close to the right-hand side of the way. Mr. Page describes this as "an enclosure of uncertain age, and in itself in no wise remarkable." Its frequent mention, however, in documents connected with the forest endow it with considerable interest. It is still used for impounding cattle, especially those left unclaimed after the drifts. Our particular interest will be the the Judges Chair, at the entrance of the pound, surely one of the seats of the mighty. It consists of a roofing slab eight feet long, with supporters six feet high on either side, bellow which some blocks of stone form seats, another large slab serving as a back to the chair. Mr Bray, of course, saw in this the seat of an archdruid or president of some court of judicature. It is popularly supposed to be the Judges Chair of the Miners' Parliament, brought from Crockern Tor together with the Judge's Table, which may be seen in a less complete condition at Dunnabridge Farm, close by. Some antiquaries have judged the chair to be the remains of a cromlech erected in the circle which doubtless was the origin of the pound. One can hardly imagine that at a time when little respect was paid to rude stone monuments the Judge's table and chair, with their huge stones, were taken from Crockern Tor, several miles away, to Dunnabridge for preservation, and Mr. Crossing suggests that in the popular story confusion has arisen between Dunnabridge Farm and Dunnabridge Pound, the stone, which really does seem, from the evidence we posses, to have been taken from Crockern Tor, being at the former place."

Cresswell 1921

Map - Dunnabridge Pound

Map - Dunnabridge Farm

Map - Crockern Tor

Judges' Chair - By Richard Knights (From geograph.org.uk) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The Coffin Stone above Dartmeet

"So we may as well turn off the road as we descend, and look on the left-hand side for a grassy track whereon stands the Coffin Stone, used for generations as a resting-place when a funeral is on its way from parts of the forest to Widecombe. A sense of reverence creeps upon us as we look at the block, cut with rude crosses. Around us is scenery the grandest that can be conceived. It should bring consolation with it, for surely those who come here with their dead must have a sense of the nearness of God."

Cresswell 1921

Map - The Coffin Stone

The Batch Loaves

"We now leave the Drives, with their beautiful woods, behind, and pass out to the commons, with Leigh Tor just above us - a couple of fantastic groups, some of the rocks being locally named the Batch Loaves."

Cresswell 1921

Map - Leigh Tor

Childe the Hunter

Childe's Tomb, from Wikipedia thanks to Herbythyme, under a Creative Commons license.

"Down the valley to the east [of Nun's Cross], is White Works, a hamlet from which perhaps the most romantic of all the Dartmoor memorials may be reached: Childe, the Hunter's Tomb. It lies exactly under Fox Tor, the mire of that name occupying the basin between White Works and the tomb, which is visible from between the houses to those who know it. But the impassable bog makes a straight line impossible ; to reach it we must keep close to the wall on the north and cross the stream at the lower end of the mire. Then by skirting the higher ground we can get at the tomb, which consists of several stones, surmounted by a cross, but is not the original structure; and here we stand upon the scene of one of the most picturesque stories of the moor, the legend of Childe the Hunter.

Mr Baring Gould preserves among Songs of the West the Dartmoor ballad that tells the story :-

It so befell, as I've heard tell,

There came the hunter Childe;

All day he chased on heath and waste,

On Dart-a-moor so wild.

Cold blew the blast, the snow fell fast,

And darker grew the night ;

He wandered high, he wandered low,

And nowhere saw a light.

His knife he drew, his horse he slew

As on the ground it lay:

He cut full deep, therein to creep

And tarry till the day.

The wind did blow, fast fell the snow,

And darker grew the night;

Then well he wot, he hope might not 

Again to see the light.

So with his finger dipped in blood.

He scribbled on the stone-

One is grateful to the ballad for telling us on what substance Child wrote that last will and testament, found when teh snow had melted beside his dead body:-

They fyrste that fyndes and brings mee to my grave,

My landes of Plimstoke they shall have.

In due course of time the discovery of the body and the writing was reported, when it occurred to the monks of Tavistock that the very best persons to be the heirs of Childe were themselves, to the advantage of the abbey. So they started for Fox Tor to fetch the body. Meanwhile the men of Plymstock determined to have the honour of burying Childe and inheriting the property themselves.  But they allowed the monks to have the arduous task of getting to Fox Tor and bringing the corpse over the moor. A number of them waited at the bridge over the Tavy, with the intention of stirring up a fight and carrying off the body before it reached Tavistock Abbey. But the monks suspected assault, and tricked them in a truly monkish manner, throwing a light bridge over the river at another point, by which they quietly carried the hunter's body to the abbey, while the Plymstock worthies waited elsewhere. Childe the hunter was buried with due honours, and the abbey inherited the property. The bridge remained, and was called Guile Bridge.

The learned have rejected this legend, but we would rather let it rest, as it adds to the weird picturesqueness of this part of the moor. The vandalism of the farmer has unfortunately destroyed the original monument, which was spoken of in Risdon's time as one of the three remarkable things about the forest. Crossing has given, in his Ancient Crosse, and also in an article dealing with the subject in his series of papers on the Folk-Rhymes of Devon , a full account of its destruction, and of the subsequent discovery by him of its site and various parts.

After crossing the moor to see Childe's Tomb, one is impressed with the feeling that whoever found his body and brought it back for burial merited the reward."

Cresswell 1921

Map - Childe's Tomb
Map - Plymstock
Map - Tavistock
[The location of Guile Bridge appears to have been lost.]

Pixies Cave above Sheepstor

"Just above the village [of Sheepstor] is a bold massive tor that gives the place its name, a grand rocky hill which makes a landmark for a long distance. On the side, but difficult to find, is Pixies Cave, in which, tradition says, John Elford the Cavalier hid during the Civil War."

Cresswell 1921

Map - Sheepstor

Mrs and Mr Bray, and Rev. Samuel Rowe - part two

"...Mr. Bray's father had a summer-house at Beardown, on the Cowsic.  Hither they frequently came to make further excursions on the moor, searching for antiquities, and for what they dearly loved; traces of the Druids. Everything, in their opinion and in Mr. Rowe's was druidical: the stones; the rock basins; the names of the hills. No place was too inaccessible, no rock too hard, for the handling of this marvelous priesthood. And, as the druidical bards had left no written traces, Mr. Bray determined to put inscriptions upon the rocks at Beardown, which he conjectured to signify The Hill Of The Bards, though a moor simple derivation might be suggested.

These inscriptions, some of which were written in bardic characters, were traced by him upon the granite, and picked out by a labourer. Time, weather, and mosses, soon effaced many of the letters and in a few years some of the lines were indecipherable by Mr. Bray himself. From some cause the granite on this side is far more friable than that in the eastern quarter, which partly accounts for the rock basins and other druidical relics discovered by Mr. and Mrs. Bray."

Cresswell 1921

Map - Beardown

Druids and the Devil at Mis Tor

"Pursuing our way upwards [from Fitz's Well], we may climb to the top of Great Mis Tor, though the hill is long. Druidical origin has been claimed for the great rock basin at the top, which is perfect and even appears to have a channel for letting off water. The moormen, however, will tell you that Mis Tor Pan is sometimes called the Devil's Frying-pan."

Cresswell 1921

Puggie, Puckie or Pixie Stone - Chagford

"As we continue the road uphill [from Holy Street Manor, Nr. Chagford] we shall see the Puggie, Puckie, or Pixy Stone, in a field on the right-hand side ; a big granite rock, mossy and overgrown ; on the top is a rock basin, but there is no possibility of getting up to it without a ladder."

Cresswell 1921

Map - Puggie-stone

Lustleigh Nutcrackers

"Nothing can spoil the Cleave, were the granite, piled up like giant's castles, crowns the gorge, and is spread all the way to the stream bellow. On the east side is the Nutcracker Rock, a logan, whose name tells its popular use, and scattered nutshells show the place, though, owing to the growth of the bracken, it has somewhat lost its powers."

Cresswell 1921

Map - Lustleigh Cleave