Town Trail

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Town Trail

Welcome to this working moorland town. This is an ancient town whose fortunes in the past have rested upon the woollen industry, mining and farming. Moretonhampstead has several Town Trails to meet every interest and we hope they will encourage you to explore and appreciate its attractions. Although the trails are quite independant they can be amalgamated and start at the central cross-roads by the Information Centre.

Town Trail sign

The trails cover the Historic Town centre (Red Trail), Moretonhampstead's Industry and Architecture (Green Trail), Health and Leisure (Blue Trail) and an Arts trail. (See the History Society website for more detailed history of the town) Each trail involves walking which can take up to an hour, though the Historic Town Centre lasts about half an hour. You may like to download a Trail map. Throughout the trails you will find marker plaques in their appropriate colours that help you to find where you are. For more in depth information there are numerous publications on sale at the Information Centre.

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The Square

All the Town Trails begin at the main Square in Moretonhampstead opposite the Information Centre. There are seats, a lamp post and a mosaic on the ground of the square which is actually more like a triangle.Notice the Sparrowhawk on the wall. When King John granted the town its charter during the thirteenth century, the rent was set as one sparrowhawk per year. The bird has become something of a symbol for the Town and is incorporated into works of public art by artist, Roger Dean.Look out for the coloured plaques to guide you on your walks.

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The Green Trail

The Green Trail covers Moretonhampstead's Industry and Architecture. The Green Trail moves on to the War Memorial past the White Hart Hotel.

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War Memorial

Walking north from the White Hart Hotel and crossing the main road (watch out for traffic!) brings you to the War Memorial which is adjacent to the Bowring Library. The War Memorial replaced the old Butter Market in 1920. The Butter Market was a two storey building, with an upper meeting room above the colonnaded ground floor. While it was not a large building it did extend well out into the road, and passage through Moreton must have been even more difficult than today. The Butter Market was demolished in 1920 to widen the road and to make space for the Memorial. This was erected to the memory of those who fell in the 1914-18 war. It was completed in 1921 and unveiled by Lord Hambledon.

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The Bowring Library

The Green Trail moves on to the large public library situated in a building built and then donated to Moretonhampstead by Thomas Benjamin Bowring in 1901. This building is situated adjacent to the Square, at the bottom of Fore Street. The building strikes you with it's use of terracotta material combined with granite. It was designed in the Tudoe Renaissance style by Sylvanus Trevail, a Cornishman, who was the architect for several of the Passmore Edwardes Libraries. A branch of the Bowrings, a notable Devon family, had a strong connection with Moreton in the 19th century, and while building a shipping empire in Nova Scotia, the family married Moreton girls, established their country house here, built new cottages and donated the Bowring library. Within the library is a memorial tablet to commemorate the life of George Parker Bidder. Bidder, the son of a stonemason, was born in Moretonhampstead in 1806. He was a child prodigy in mathematics, and later became a celebrated civil engineer and assistant to George Stevenson. He died in 1878 at the age of 72. Originally the first floor consisted of three rooms, one was let to the Ladies Club and two to the Billiards Club. Later on the Parish Council took over the Ladies Room and agreed that this room would be open to the public for any meeting. This continues to this day. The library was taken over by Devon Counry Council Authority in 1962. Originally there was a caretakers flat on the top floor but these are now offices.

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Geneva Island

Geneva Island continues the Green Trail. This acts as the entrance to Lime St in the middle of the road. This was origianlly the position of an old private school and an old timman named Tinker Smith lived in the upstairs room. This was later demolished and a granite drinking trough for horses was erected in 1901. In 1927 the trough was removed and is now located in the playing fields at King George V Sports and Community Centre. In 1927 undergrounfd toilets were built here and in 1977 they were filled in and the existing island was created.

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Old Smithy

Going down Lime St, note the green plaque on the wall, you pass the Old Smithy on your right and a little further along a wheelwright's form mounted for display. Wheeled traffic was almost unknown on Dartmoor before 19th century, but once established, it provided constant work for wheelwrights - bumping over granite boulders in unmade roads was hard on ash fellowes - and Moreton had several wheelwrights concentrated around Lime St.

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Anne's Well

As you near the foot of the hill note the small drip well on the right where the road widens. (A drip well is a granite trough set in the ground to catch the drips from the bank above.) This is St Anne's Well, the water of which was reputedly good for eye complaints. It is possible that this well, which is also marked as St Andrew's Well on an old map, represents the last local trace of Well Worship, which was once prevalent in the West Country. At this point you may choose to continue on past Wray Brook towards Mardon Manor, a private manor house that has open gardens during the Spring, or turn left to the site of the old carrion pit. Moretonhampstead was an important cattle market and many of the cattle were slaughtered locally. Unwanted parts of the cattle were disposed of here in the pit! Just after the bridge is a signed footpath running up the valley worth a detour. This leads initially to the ruins of the old town bathing pool, which was formed by damming the Wray Brook. There was much heated debate when the pool was opened in 1931 (by George Lansbury) as to whether mixed bathing should be allowed. The pathway meanders through valley and wood all the way up to Mardon Down. However, the Trail itself does not take this route and instead you can turn around and wonder back towards the town.

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Kinsmansdale

Back on the road following the Green Trail we pass the entrance on the right to Kinsmansdale. This is a group of cottages built by Sir Thomas Bowring, and named after his wife, Annie Kinsman. His initials and the date of erection can be seen in the red terracotta tablets. Further up you will notice the sign "Hornhills" on a garden gate - this relates to a hedge of horns. the hedges around Lower Kinsmansdale were once made of the horns of the cattle which had been slaughtered in the slaughterhouse in Ford St, which extended down to Millbrook.

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Eagle Place

On the right at the top of Lime St is Eagle Place. Now a collection of desirable residences, Eagle Place was once a hive of industry with various tradesmenn plying their craft.

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Ford Street

On the Green Trail, we now take a right hand turn from Lime St on to Ford St. originally there was a stream here which ran across the road through Kinsmansdale to Millbrook which was called a ford and how the street got it's name. Here you pass Moreton House on your right standing in a commanding position at the turn of the road. Moreton House is a four-square late Georgian building, once the home of the Whites, tanners and prominent merchants of the town. Ford St seems narrow enough today as large lorries push through, but in the last century it must have been much worse, for the centre of the road was occupied by the Shambles, a collection of wooden huts where the butchers plied their trade. Careful shoppers needed to watch where they put their feet, and nice shops made sure their entrances were well raised. This can be seen in the old mill stone that forms the entrance to the village pharmacy - there has been a chemist shop here since 1835. One of the pharmacists was Henry Rhill, a descendant of one of the French prisoners of war here in 1811. This was also the place where farmers sold their butter and eggs. Ford St was used to passing traffic in those days too. before the chemist shop is now an empty gap where there were once shops, a cafe and an old petrol pump. In the early hours on Tuesday 11 September 2007, one of the towns oldest thatched buildings caught fire. A total of eight pumping appliances were mobilised by fire control along with a Water/Foam Carrier, Aerial Ladder Platform, Incident Command Vehicle, Hose Laying Lorry and 4x4 vehicle. These appliances came from a number of stations across Devon; Moretonhampstead, Chagford, Bovey Tracey, Okehampton, Crediton, Ashburton, Exeter, Exmouth and Tavistock were needed to control the blaze, which started at around 2.20am on Tuesday morning. The building consisted of three ground floor shops, of which only one was in use. The other two shops, and a flat above were empty. No-one was hurt during the incident and the house next door (Moreton house) had to be evacuated.

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The Union Inn

Just beyond the chemist we come to the Union Inn formerly called "The Swan" until 15th September 1807. The property at this time was the responsibility of church wardens and feoffes of the parish church. John Stevens was recorded as the landlord in 1835 and john Colridge in 1851, followed by James Steer in 1857-60. In the past Moretonhampstead had many more public houses than today. These were kept open for the greater part of the day, and some of the labourers used to spend their days in these houses instead of going to work. Sixpence would buy a pint of scrumpy (rough cider), a box of matches and an ounce of 'baccy' which was smioked in small clay pipes. The innkeepers in those days were ofcourse prominent townsmen.

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Pitt House

Going further on down Ford St we pass Cann's Yard, another off-street complex that once held cann's Wheelwright shop, and we come to Pitt House. This was a large Queen Anne farmhouse that has been gentrified with a Tuscan colonnade. There are sundry fine examples of granite stone troughs in the courtyard and like other houses of the period it used to have a dairy at the rear. It was once the home of Sir Thomas Bowring, who also ran the nearby Dartmoor Duck Farm. Despairing of good goose eggs and ducks in London, Sir Thomas set up his own farm in Moreton., and had his needs supplied by way of Great Western Railway. No trace of the farm remains today, apart from the advertising board which can be seen in the Infrmation centre, but it must have been sited near the lands occupied by Kinsmansdale.Sir Thomas Bowring made frequent stays at Pitt House towards the end of the nineteenth century.

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Forder House

Beyond Pitt House is Forder House, another distinctive eighteenth century Georgian house with Tuscan columns, which recalls the name of the farm that once occupied the area. There is always confusion about whether the road is Forder St or Ford St - locals use both variations - and certainly there was once a ford here where a tributary of the Wray Brook drained the uplands on the left.

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The Cottage Hospital

Just beyond Forder House at the bend in the road you can look up over the beech hedge and see the Cottage Hospital. This was a gift to the town in 1900 from Lord Hambledon, the Lord of the Manor, and it still remains an essential part of local health care. The hospital was built for the benefit and accomodation (with or without payment) of poor persons suffering from disease or accident and being resident in the parishes of Moretonhampstead, Lustleigh, North Bovey, Manaton, Chagford, Drewsteignton, Bridford and Dunsford. It was run by a local committee and was kept by legacies, subscriptions, donations and the proceeds of the local carnival. It was taken over by the government in 1945 under the National Health Acts.

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The Allotments

On your right you will see a gate to the local Moretonhampstead allotments. These are open to view during The Secret Gardens event in June revealing an array of superb vegetables and produce grown by local people.

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Return Walk

Turning around from the Cottage Hospital and walking back along Ford St we pass the "Sparrowhawk Backpackers" on the right and a number of doorways that are very close-spaced. This is because some of them are entrances to passages to separate dwellings in the burgage plots behind. These dwellings can be impressive, and one of them incorporates a little known longhouse. On your right is once 'Ring of Bells' tavern which became a private residence in 1970. The buildings near the corner of the street towards the Square, once known as Trevleaven's Corner, are much older. The modern brick front of no 11 is a facade to a much older building, as the massive granite block construction of the side wall reveals. Until recently this was known as 'Candles', and this reflected its history as a tallow chandler's shop. From here return to 'The Square' where you may complete your journey or try one of the other routes.

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The Red Trail

The Red Trail is approximately half a mile and follows the historic town centre.

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The White Hart Hotel

The White Hart Hotel dominates the town centre as it has done for the past three huundred years or more. It is not, strictly speaking, an ancient coaching inn, because the turnpike roads did not come to Moreton before the early years of the 19th century, but it has always been the principle inn at which important travellers dined and rested. It was used for balls and assemblies in Georgian times, and was the place where the last great Stannary Parliament met in 1794. The porticoed entrance used to extend much farther into the roadway, but modern traffic forced its abbreviation. It was once known as the old Posting Station and the statue is actuaaly of a white hind (not a hart.) The inn was where horses were changed on their journey from Exeter to Princetown. There were once twenty horses stabled at the White Hart and these conveyed passengers over the moor.

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Cross Street

Crossing the main road, Station St, you arrive at Cross St on the corner of which is Lloyds Bank. There used to be a large shop here, Boundy and Hannaford grocery stores and general merchants, later taken over by Wilts and Dorset Banking Co and now Lloyds. Next door was a greengrocers later purchased by Moretonhampstead Co-operative Society as a drapers, milleners, haberdashers etc. Later it became a dairy. It was taken over by Lloyds as an extension to their property in 1975 with accomodation above. It is now a takeaway. Opposite is the Bell Inn which narrowly missed being entirely destroyed in the fire of 1845. It was the meeting place for wrestling matches in 19th century. It was first recorded in 1799, and inside can be seen a fine old carved beam in the bar reputed to be 13th century. It has been stated that this building was once a church, but no definate proof can be found. In April 1800, the inn was sold for £440 by Mr Wolland of Drewsteignton, a farmer. Upstairs is the unique Painted Room. Recently rediscovered, this room is painted in the manner of the Etruscan tomb, and carries the arms of a number of noble houses. To date these have not been precisely identified, although there may be a Dorset connection. Although the exact history of the room is not known, it seems possible that it was decorated by the French prisoners of war in Moretonhampstead. The Dorset connection may have arisen from one of the West Country militia regiments that were periodically billeted in the town during the Napoleonic Wars

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Ponsford House

Ponsford House is a much older building than its plain front would suggest. In Napoleonic times it was the residence of Mr Ponsford, the local surgeon, who combined this with the role of Agent responsible for the French prisoners of War and Captain of the Moretonhampstead volunteers. It was his son, another Dr Ponsford, who was called to the White Hart to help the dying Jonathan May, the victim of the Jacob's Well Murder in 1835.

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Old Methodist Chapel

Further along the Red Trail you will arrive at the old Methodist Chapel on your right hand side. The Methodist Church was built in 1817 and could seat 150 people. It was burnt down in the great fire of 1864 and then a new one was built on the same site. At the rear is the old school room. This has been more recently the home of Compass Braille. Compass Braille uses sophisticated computer software to handle translations of the bible into sundry Indian languages, and then prints the text in braille format so that it can be used by blind people in the sub-continent.

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Mearsdon Manor

Mearsdon manor is an old building with a doorway that has been dated back to 12th Century. The manor was the Manor House of the Courtenays when the junior branch of the family resided in Moreton in 14th Century. It is near the site of the Steward's house of the Saxon settlement (which belonged to the King) and was the Manor house of the Norman Manor. It was enlarged and improved by Philip Courtenay between 1310 and 1329.

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Blacksmiths

As you leave Mearsdon Manor take a look at the blacksmiths sign on the opposite side of the road.Along the small lane called "The New Cut" continues the blacksmith forge. This has been a blacksmith's for over one hundred and fifty years.The forge predominantly serviced the local farming industry up until the 1960s with horses queuing to be shod in the New Cut on Saturdays.

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The Old Rectory

Next to Mearsdon Manor is the Old Rectory, a fine Georgian house that was used as the rectory from 1933 to 1988.

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The Cross Tree

The Cross Tree is one of the landmarks of Moretonhampstead and there is plenty of information in both the History and Legend pages of this website about this famous tree. The tree has had numerous names including the Dancing Tree and is a copper beech that replaced the original elm tree which blew down in a gale in 1903. At its base are the remains of an ancient cross, a remnant of the original Old Market Cross that was the preaching point around which Moretonhampstead first established itself as a village. The cross was mentioned before 1636 and at the time all the land from the Alms Houses to the 'New Cut' belonged to the church. The Cross, as with other villages, held holy water. By chance a seed fell into the ground beside the cross and grew into a large elm tree. The roots ousted the cross, which fell, breaking the shaft and leaving the head. In the centre of the face ofthe head is a Greek Tau Cross. The tree grew and became the pride of the town. In 1799 a Mr John Hancock opened an inn next to the tree and had the tree pollarded into the shape of a bowl (hence another name - the Punch Bowl Tree) and a platform was erected around the side of the tree, railed on each side. There was sufficient room for thirty people to sit around the tree and six couples to dance, besides the orchestra. French officers on parole often assembled at the tree with their band.

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Cross Tree House

Cross Tree House stands next to the famous Cross Tree.One John hancock had ambitions to make Cross Tree House the rival to the white hart in 1799. he had initial difficulties in getting a licence, but once he had one he spared no effort in drumming up business. He arranged a ladder to go from his garden up to the platform that had been built in the pollarded branches of the large Elm tree that grew alongside the cross, and musicians used to play there whilst people danced. It was an inn from 1800 to 1809 and became the residence of the Harvey family, who carried on the profession of solicitors, and Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths from 1809 to 1857. Some time after this it became the doctors house and surgery until the new Health Centre was built in 1970.

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Cross Chapel

Just across the road from the Cross Tree beyond a grass courtyard is the Unitarian Cross Chapel. It was founded in 1662 after the Act of Uniformity by Rev. Robert woolcombe, nonconformist vicar of the Parish Church. The first Cross Chapel was built in 1692. Moretonhampstead has always had a strong tradition of Dissent, and was the sole Dartmoor supporter of Parliament in the English Civil War. The chapel was rebuilt in 1802 at a cost of £269-15s-0d to replace the earlier Presbytarian chapel (the non-conformists at that time were not too specific about their nomenclature, and indeed for a time the Baptists and Unitarians shared the same Minister). Nonconformity flourished early in Moretonhampstead because a considerable number of Flemish weavers settled here and brought their reformed religion with them. The Unitarian graveyard contains the tombs of many Moreton residents of old including the Harveys, Whites, Bowrings and Treleavens as well as cecil Torr and anne Brown (aged 101 in 1914).

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The Almshouses

The Almshouses are famous in this area. With their picturesque arcade they were built of solid granite. The date of 1637 on the wall is the date of their refurbishment as Almshouses as they were originally a church house, built as a hospital in 1451. All that separated the individual dwellings from each other were oak plank and muntin screens. During the 18th century they were used as a work house. In the mid-19th century it was still administered by church wardens.Early in the 19th century the building was converted into four one up, one down dwellings. The facade became damaged; and they began to fall into disrepair. In 1938 Mr Davie of Hayne bought them for £105. He presented them to the town and created a new trust for them. By 1940 they were converted into two tenements and in 1952 they were purchased by the National Trust. Externally they have not changed a great deal since 1637.

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The Sentry

Beyond the Almshouses turn left to pass into the playing fields known as 'The Sentry.' This name is a contraction of 'Sanctuary' which indicates its original association with the Church. As might be expected with our history of dissent, relations between the citizens of Moretonhampstead and the rector have occasionally been stormy, and there has always been controversy over whether 'The Sentry' was 'Glebe Land' under the Rector's hand or the playing field that had been used from 'time immemorial' by the townsfolk. This was once doubtless one of the ancient sanctuaries of the country with all the priveleges and amenities attached to those institutions in the past. The Sentry is one of the most peaceful open areas of the town. If you take the footpath to the right and stroll through the gate you can get an aerial view of 'Mardon,' the grand house that was built as a Rectory at the start of the century. The views here are breathtaking - from Woosten over Mardon Down to Hound Tor and the majestic ridge of Hameldown. You may wish to take the public footpath down past 'Mardon' and on up to the Downs, however, the Red Trail itself turns back towards the Church. An oak tree to commemorate Sir Winston Churchill was planted in the Sentry on 15 February 1967. It was given to the town by the 'Men of the Trees.' To your right you will see the playing area for local children and you then enter the Church Yard where you can visit St Andrews Church, the next point of interest on this walk.

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St Andrews Church

Through the iron gate you arrive at St Andrews Church historically the very heart of life in the village. The church stands on ground that has been used for religious purposes since Saxon days. The first stone church was built during the 12th Century. The four stage tower with its pinnacles and staircase turret was completed in 1418 although most of the present building was built around 1400 before the tower. There are eight bells, four of them with Westminster chimes, which were added in 1922. The church has been restored many times. The only relic of the original pulpit is a carved angel sounding a trumpet in the church. A new clock replaced the old one to commemorate the coronation of King George VI in 1937. In the porch there are two tombstones displayed of two French officers. By the West door of the church stands a large granite cross, erected to the memory of the fallen in 1914-18 war. It was made at Blackingstone Quarry. There is a detailed tourist information pamphlet about the church obtainable from the Tourist Information office in the centre of the town.