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This walk: 2012-4-12. RAF Memorial, cross carved in beech tree, Gibhill Cottage, Maurice Courtney Steer plaque and seat, Delamore House, Hanger Clump, Dartmoor Whiteface sheep, Headon Down China Clay Works, gorse flowers, witch's broom, Broomage Wood, chainsaw evidence, Broomage Farm and well, Crownhill Tor, hawthorn blossom, Tolchmoor Gate, Cholwich Town Farm cross, Piall River, Quick Bridge.

This walk has been done previously on 17 June 2009,  28 July 2010 and 12 March 2012.

Walk details below - Information about the route etc.

 

Strange feature seen in the wall at SX 59429 59975 where the square holes both went right through the wall. Hardly a sheep creep, more of a rabbit creep, but what is the higher passage through the wall for?

 

The full details about this memorial and the associated Books of Remembrance can be found on the web page for the walk on 14 March 2012. The purpose of this walk was to locate the cross carved in a nearby beech tree by the RAF personnel who attended following the crash (see the next photographs).

 

Beech tree to the right of the stone memorial which is just out of sight to the left of this photograph .....

 

Closer view .....

 

Close-up.

 

Gibhill Cottage(s) with smoke billowing from a chimney.

 

No explanation needed.

 

The seat - the plaque is high on the wall behind.

 

The view - of Delamore House - this is the fourth house on the estate, this one being commissioned by Admiral Parker in 1859. The house has been in the same family since 1688.

 

A small camera test - Hanger Clump, on Hanger Down, 2.9 km (1.8 miles) distant on a bearing of 111� at SX 621 585.

 

Mother and new lamb, Dartmoor Whiteface sheep (worth a read!).

 

Now I'm seeing double.

 

Unusual stone in this area (Headon Down).

 

See!

 

Entrance into the main part of Headon Down China Clay Works.

 

Another view of The Blue Lagoon?

 

Taken for the gorse flowers .....

 

One of the thickest displays of gorse flowers I have ever seen: From Wikipedia: Common gorse, or furze, Ulex europaeus, flowers most strongly in spring, though it bears some flowers all year round, hence the old country saying: "When gorse blossom's missing, there'll be no more kissing." The flowers have a very distinctive strong, coconut scent. Western gorse, Ulex gallii, or Dwarf Furze differs in being almost entirely late summer flowering (August-September in Ireland and Britain), and also have somewhat darker yellow flowers than Common gorse.

 

Closer view .....

 

Closer view.

 

The blue lagoon, taken from the end bridge ......

 

And taken from a strange position below the bridge .....

 

And, still in a strange position - the things one can do when there is no-one around!

 

Witch's broom - a growth defect in trees .....

 

A closer view.

 

Idyllic scene in Broomage Wood - this looks old although the trees are not dwarfed and are not that large, possibly not such an ancient wood although there is a long history of woodland management here. Hut circles in this area are the lowest altitude recorded (at 200 m) for prehistoric settlements.

 

A similar view .....

 

An area of chainsaw vandalism, the sawyer would not have passed our training course!

 

The tree was about 60 years old.

 

Shoulder high stumps, try that for your chainsaw ticket!

 

A badly split stump, left unfinished.

 

Not quite the infamous barber's chair accident, but it might have been.

 

The tree was about 70 years old.

 

Another view.

 

Some amazing stumps, quite astonishing.

 

Pieces where the saw has passed straight through the tree trunk and into the ground - not good practise for retaining a cutting edge.

 

View of the extensive Headon Down China Clay Workings - click the photo to see a larger image.

 

 

Broomage Farm well .....

 

Looking down th'ole - perhaps 8 feet deep.

 

Broomage Farm entrance, SX 579 609, first documented in 1248 as "Nether Bromweche" ..... visited previously on 17 June 2009.. Note the rounded gate posts.

 

A gate hanger.

 

These are believed to have been the pig sties.

 

Click the photo to see a larger version.

 

Internal view of the quite large building, which had an upper storey.

 

Click the photo  to see a larger version.

 

Looking out at nearby Crownhill Tor (formerly known as Knackers� Knoll) at SX 5748 6087, 236 metres (774 feet).

 

Hawthorn blossom .....

 

Hawthorn blossom.

 

Crownhill Tor.

 

Final view from the rear of the buildings.

 

Scotch Blackfaced sheep - also worth a read.

 

Alright - who did that? A stone at Tolchmoor Gate.

 

Going down through the planted belt of trees originally intended to hide the china clay waste to the left.

 

Cholwich Town Farm Cross (or Ridding Down Cross).

 

The footbridge over the Piall River by the car park.

 

Quick Bridge, that now spans a very small flow of water from the clay works area - click the photo for a larger version.

 

Combined view of Quick Bridge and the entrance to the clay drying works - click the photo to see a larger version.

 

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 reached by driving from Lee Moor on the A38, past the big Tesco store, through Cornwood, and 1.7 km (1.0 mile) beyond to a roadside parking area, marked by the yellow cross, just before Quick Bridge - this is the bridge after Piall Bridge.

 

Statistics
Distance - 6.97 km / 4.33 miles.
 

 

 

All photographs on this web site are copyright ©2007-2016 Keith Ryan.
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