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This walk: 2011-2-23. Teign estuary, sheep creep, Welstor Common rifle range, maidenhair spleenwort, quarry, bullet-stop, frog spawn, Wells Tor or Welstor Rock, Buckland Beacon, Ten Commandments stones, ponies. trees, bird pellet, parish boundary stones, EFP - Edmund Pollexfen Bastard, Lord of the Manor of Buckland in the Moor, 1837. Also, links to detailed images of the two Ten Commandments Stones and to a transcription of their text.

A previous walk in this area, in generally sunny weather - 9th June 2010

Walk details below - Information about the route etc.

 

Looking from the Cold East Cross car park over the old rifle range towards Teignmouth .....

 

Zoomed view to the Teign estuary, on a misty day, a better photograph than that taken on sunny 9th June 2010 - honest!

 

A sheep creep ......

 

..... with some idjit peeping back through!

 

A building of now unknown purpose, perhaps it housed target apparatus? This area, on Welstor Common, was once a rifle range. It is no longer shown on modern maps but can be seen older maps:

 

Maidenhair spleenwort, Asplenium trichomanes subspecies trichomanes, (subspecies named according to the rounded, not oblong, pinnae), a lime-loving plant on the old mortar in the wall .....

 

Another view of the old building.

 

An apparent quarry area behind the building.

 

A possible target area and range back-stop to catch the bullets as they came down-range from the firing positions.

 

The Strollers leaving the ruined building..

 

A sign of Spring - the first frog spawn .....

 

Zoomed view. We also saw a string of eggs, toad spawn?

 

Welstor Rock also known as Wells Tor, SX 743 730, elevation approx 377 metres (1236 feet) .....

 

The nearby Little Wells Tor.

 

Buckland Beacon, seen through a gap in the old dry stone wall.

 

This was one of a chain of beacons across the country to spread news of various events, such as the Spanish Armada etc. The Strollers are examining the two Ten Commandments stones .....

 

This photo shows the apparent state of the engraving of the ten commandments in the wet conditions of today's weather .....

 

The Ten Commandments Stones, see this Legendary Dartmoor link for details. The stones were commissioned by William Whitely of Wellstor, Lord of Buckland Manor, in 1928, in celebration of the rejection by Parliament of a proposed new Book of Common Prayer that was deemed too popish by many. There are two dates on the stones: 15th Dec 1927 and 14 June 1928, that are the dates on which the revised book was rejected. When it was realised that there would be room to spare, the third verse of the hymn "Oh God our help in ages past" was added to the second stone. There are 1,547 letters.

The sculptor was WA Clement who lived nearby in a hut for two months whilst working in all weathers. The work was started on 23 July 1928 and finished on 31 August 1928, with the sculptor working 9½ hours per day.

The stones were re-cut and painted black in 1995 and were renovated again in 2009 by the Dartmoor National Park Authority Conservation Team.

 The inscriptions can be seen more clearly here ...........

The photo-montages of the stones show some distortion due to using a camera with a relatively wide-angle lens so that the joins are not perfect!

You can navigate around the large images using the keyboard arrow keys. If you are viewing in full screen mode (F11), you will need to press F11 again to access your browser "Back" button to return to this page.

 

Inscribed stone near the summit ..... a fire was lit here, as one in a chain, by the parishioners of Buckland-in-the-Moor in celebration of their Majesties Silver Jubilee, May 6th, 1935.

A better impression can be seen in this photo taken last year .....

A clearer photo of the inscription .... "And the people shouted and said God save the King" ......

Buckland Beacon is one of the fire chain of beacons that was lit for both the Millenium and Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee.

 

Berni on top of the beacon, standing in for Hugh .....

 

Berni, the Beacon.

 

Close-up of more frog spawn .....

 

Pondwhere frog spawn was seen in and around .....

 

White frog spawn seen on the ground near the pond .....

 

As previous photograph.

 

Another sheep creep.

 

Ponies and trees ..... and ......

 

Tree and pony.

 

An owl pellet, or another bird of prey, containing small bones and other unmentionables!

More tea, vicar?

 

Boundary stone bearing a rather indistinct "A" and "B", signifying the parishes of Ashburton and Buckland ........ there was no "C" ......

 

EPB 1837 - Edmund Pollexfen Bastard, Lord of the Manor of Buckland-in-the-Moor, 1837.  The manor was bought from Ralph Woolley of Halshanger by the Bastards of Kitley in 1614. In 1837, 4th May, the boundary was surveyed and a series of stones erected on barrows and former cairns. Edmund died the following year.

 

EPB - Edmund Pollexfen Bastard, Some of the stones bear a  "B" for Buckland in the Moor but are rather overgrown with lichen.

 

A clear "A" for Ashburton.

 

EPB 1837 - Edmund Pollexfen Bastard, Lord of the Manor of Buckland in the Moor, 1837. The year is the year of the survey of the manor boundary.

 

 

Walk details

MAP:  Red = GPS satellite track of the walk.


Ordnance Survey © Crown copyright 2005. All rights reserved. Licence number 100047373.
Also, Copyright © 2005, Memory-Map Europe, with permission.

 

The walk was accessed via the A38 from Plymouth, Newton Abbot/Widecombe turn-off and following the road for Widecombe to the Cold East Cross car park that is marked by the yellow cross (by the  P  symbol) on the map. It can also be accessed from the Tavistock/Widecombe direction. It can also be accessed from the Tavistock/Princetown direction and others.

 

Statistics
Distance - 4.0 km / 2.5 miles
 

 

 

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