Information
- Distance: 3 miles, walked by Keith Ryan and Simon Avery and transcribed by Simon Avery
- Grade: Gentle
- A GPX route of this walk is available: Download GPX
- Directions to Car Park
- What Three Words
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Map
Introduction
This is a pleasant walk up a historic valley with plenty to see along the way. I’ve included a possible detour if you wanted to extend the walk to include Swincombe Intake.
Much of this land is owned by Anton Coaker who lives at Sherberton Farm who farms the distinctive red Galloway cattle and Dartmoor ponies on this land.
The Coaker’s dedication to breeding good quality Dartmoor Ponies is well known and is several generations long. I recall visiting his mother, Diane Coaker, at Sherberton farm to view some of her ponies with my own mother in the 1980s. – Simon
Anton himself is very well known as the author of several books, newspaper articles and is a very knowledgeable and erudite writer on Moorland and Hill Farming matters.
Start the walk by proceeding back 140 meters along the road you approached the parking along, then turn right at the end of the wall along a Bridlepath
Dartmoor has had many fine dry stone wall builders, but perhaps the most famous of all was John Bishop (1821-1892). He was one of the first to use the shaped and squared building method in his walls. He tightly fitted large blocks of granite in such a way that very little daylight could be seen through the wall. He helped enclose many of the newtakes on Dartmoor and would have been in strong demand.
When asked how he lifted such heavy stones, John Bishop is alleged to have replied, “Aw, ‘tis surprisin’ what ee can do with a laiver or two.”
Many of the walls in this area were built or repaired by Mr Bishop who lived close by - we’ll visit his house on this walk - and are of a visibly better quality than most earlier walls, which were mostly built from natural moorstone, using “trigs” of small stone to wedge them in place. But no matter how well a dry stone wall is made, it needs repairing often due to weather and especially animals and people climbing it and loosening stone, so other men will have been involved over the years in keeping these walls stockproof.
Dolly Trebble’s Cott
Leave the path after about 900 meters and head towards the ruins on the right as indicated on the map
Dolly Trebble was a particularly attractive girl who caught the eye of many men of Dartmoor in the 18th Century. Despite being married to William Trebble, she was courted by Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt (1762-1833) - an important man who shaped much of Princetown and Dartmoor, and no less than George IV, the Prince Regent who visited here several times.
She was written about by Sabine Baring Gould and Dolly was clearly a woman of some fame. Tim Sandles has an entertaining version of Dolly’s story on his Legendary Dartmoor site if you’d like to learn more.
When ready, proceed down to join the moor road to the west and walk a short way to the bridge over the river Swincombe, where you have a choice
Detour to Swincombe Intake
Possible detour (An extra mile and a half)
If you continue walking along this road to the west, after around 1.2km you’ll come to the Swincombe Intake. This is a small reservoir and unusual art-deco building that collects water which is piped to Venford Reservoir to help fill it.
The Swincombe Intake Reservoir was built between 1929 and 1933 by Paignton Urban District Council Waterworks Department. A particularly ugly building with the exception of an art deco motif over the modern door, as befitting its construction date.
If you took this detour, head back to the same point at the Fairy bridge when you are ready to return
The flooding of Swincombe Valley
This valley starts up at Peat Cott with the infamous Foxtor Mire at its head, which acts as a huge sponge providing a steady flow throughout even the driest of summers.
It was that which prompted a plan in the 1960s to flood this entire valley to provide another reservoir on Dartmoor, far larger than the modest intake that has stood there for a hundred years.
Not surprisingly, this caused a lot of opposition. Perhaps the most vocal opponent was Lady Sylvia Sayer who, with the Dartmoor Preservation Association, resisted this at every turn. You will by now have noticed that you’re not under several meters of water, so it should be no surprise to learn that in 1970, the opposers won and permission was refused. Planning was retried several times through the 70s and 80s until in 1985, the DPA used funds from a bequest to acquire 50 acres of this valley to protect it.
Fairy Bridge
There has been a bridge at this location for hundreds of years, and noted by William Crossing in the early 1900s. It has been replaced several times.
It earned its nickname as a small porcelain fairy was mounted to one of the supports by persons unknown. Unfortunately it was damaged and replaced at least once.
Please note that apparently the bridge has been replaced since these pictures were taken and it’s unknown whether the Fairy returned
John Bishop’s House
Cross the bridge
John Bishop was the dry stone waller whose work we inspected earlier. He lived in this house in the 1800s when it was in much better condition. Originally thatched, it was later converted to slates and was reported to be in liveable condition as late as the 1960s.
You can just make out the A for Ashburton in this picture, with a slightly fainter T for Tavistock on the rear face. This was used to mark the packhorse trail and give the direction to the respective towns.
Once you’ve explored the ruins, return over the bridge and follow the road East
Gobbett Mine
Left and right of the path just before we leave this road, is the site of Gobbett Tin Mine. There are remnants of this work still visible, as well as the very obvious tunnel.
The mine ran from 1836 to 1874 but did not produce large yields.
Ore from the adit would be smashed down small enough to fit into the top hole of this stone which sat above the base stone. The top stone was then rotated, possibly by pony or donkey or water power, to grind the ore just as grain is turned into wheat. The resulting fine sand was then smelted to form ingots.
Once smelted and the impurities floated off, the near-pure tin was poured into a mould stone to form a 200lb ingot. This was a standard weight for transporting by pony off the moor.
- The chemical symbol for Tin is “Sn” which stands for stannous or stannic. From this comes the Latin for Tin, Stannum. From that, comes Stannator (Stannary parliament), stannary laws, stannary towns etc.
Tunnel
- Above the main Gobbett Mine workings was the main adit which followed the mineral seam.
- When the Swincombe Intake was built in the 1920s, the builders needed to run a pipe from there to the Venford Reservoir some 6 kilometers away. They opted to reuse and extend this adit to run that pipe through.
- The tunnel continues through the hill in a straight line for 540 meters, emerging in a field 150m North West of The Forest Inn.
*When you are ready, join the larger access road to the East and follow it 400m upwards to the Parking.
Parking
There is good roadside parking available at the posted coordinates, just outside the entrance to Sherberton’s land.
References
- Crockern Farm - John Bishop
- Most of these pictures were taking from Keith’s walk in 2009, although I have added some of my own from 2011 for the Intake and Tunnel – Simon