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This walk: 2014-4-14. Swallerton Gate, daffodils, violet, gorse, Hound Tor, Jay's Grave, Honeybag Tor, Hamel Down, Three Fishes Stones (the Heathercombe Crosses or the Kingdom, Power & Glory stones), Heathercombe Wooslands, High Heathercombe Centre, RAF Memorial, Pit stone. 

Walk details below (at bottom of Page 2) - Information about the route etc.

Link to Google Satellite view of the area - including the GPS track of the walk (compare with the Ordnance Survey map plus track below)

 

Swallerton Gate signpost.

 

"Wild" daffodils near Swallerton Gate - they look like "Alfreds" to me i.e. old King Alfreds, that dad used to grow.

 

Violet (unidentified) in hedge with gorse ..... still some dew down at ground level .....

 

Gorse on the the road between Swallerton Gate and Jay's Grave .....

 

Gorse - fresh flowers in the warm sun smelling strongly of coconut, summer must be almost here!

 

Gorse and Hound Tor.

 

Jay's Grave - the sad story of the orphaned Mary Jay from the Newton Abbot Poor House, apprenticed to Canna farm, near Manaton, fell pregnant and committed suicide .....

 

Another view .....

 

Following the custom of the day (1790s?), suicides were buried at crossroads so as to confuse their spirits should they return to haunt people .....

 

The story of this girl has reached down the years so that people still bring gifts .....

 

Another view of the items on the grave.

 

Honeybag Tor (with Chinkwell tor behind) seen from the track from Jay's Grave to Natsworthy.

 

Looking to Hamel Down.

 

The track between Jay's Grave and Natsworthy Manor.

 

Similar to the previous photograph.

 

Wideangle view of Honeybag Tor .....

 

Honeybag Tor with Chinkwell Tor behind.

 

A memorial bench with a view towards Vogwell Down (left) and Easdon Tor (right) .....

 

The plaque on the bench, the motto translates as "Not for himself but for all".

 

The first of the Three Fishes Stones, at the road junction leading to Heathercombe .....

 

The signpost ....

 

A better view of the stone with nearby signs .....

 

This stone is inscribed "Thine is the Power ..." from the Lord's Prayer 

 

This first of three stones was erected by Claude Pike in 1969, located at SX 72456 80849 ± 3 metres. This one of three stones described as the Heathercombe crosses in Heathercombe - The History of a Dartmoor Valley written by Claude Pike and published by Westcountry Books in 1993, pages 90-91 . . .  ISBN 1-898386-02-1. I am grateful to Tom Soby and Paul Rendell for this information.  The stones all bear the three inscribed fishes, the symbol of Christianity .....

 

Notices at the entrance to Heathercombe Woodlands ..... with the involvement of Euroforest .....

 

The entrance to ther woodlands, which are not open to the public .....

 

Trees!

 

More trees, one with ivy .....

 

As previous photograph .....

Big tree > big photo!

A beech tree .....

 

More beech trees .....

 

Beechmast, under the trees.

 

A small pond beide the road into the Heathercombe Estate .....

 

Sign post.

 

Climbing a steep hill, on a hairpin bend, is the second of the three stones, on the right .....

 

Looking across the narrow road .....

 

Closer view .....

 

Inscribed "And the Kingdom" .....

 

This stone is located at SX 71677 81013 ± 3 metres ..... erected at Easter in 1971 (Acknowledgements: Tom Soby & Paul Rendell) .....

 

Looking back at the stone, on the hairpin bend. 

 

Looking down on the Heathercombe Valley from circa SX 7170 8110, with Easdon Tor (left) and Vogwell Down opposite and to the right.  Click the image to see a larger version.

 

The entrance to the High Heathercombe Centre.

 

The car park is for the Centre, there is no public parking closer than Swallerton gate or possibly at Natsworthy (VERY limited, 2 cars on the roadside?)

 

After climbing past the High Heathcombe Centre, there is a small wooden gate on the left, at the edge of the wood, onto the moor - this is the well-worn permissive path .....

 

Small sign.

 

The path is beside the wall at the left, with a fallen tree across it .....

 

Link to Page 2 of this walk.

 

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