great number of camps or hill-forts, of which there are more than 140;
some in the heart of the county, some on the coast, often on prominent
headlands, and some along the lines of division between this and the
adjoining shires; showing in many instances great military skill and
knowledge both in construction and in the choice of good, defensive
sites. Two of the most remarkable of the many strongholds, both near
Honiton, are the great encampment of Dumpdon and the magnificently
planned fortress of Hembury--a monument of military skill. Another fine
example is Hawkesdown, the strongest of the chain of border forts--of
which Membury and Musbury are two important links--built along the
river Axe as defences against the ancient inhabitants of Dorsetshire.
One of the largest and most elaborate of all is Clovelly Dykes, twenty
acres in extent, and defended by from three to five lines of intricate
earthworks. Another remarkable fort, and the largest in the county, is
Milber Down, two miles south-east of Newton Abbot.
[Illustration: Bronze Centaur forming the Head of a Roman Standard
(Found at Sidmouth)]
There is no real clue to the makers of these fortresses. Roman coins
have been found in several of them, but there is not one which competent
authorities attribute to the Romans, and it is probable that they were
built by British tribes during the ages of Bronze and of Iron, but
perhaps chiefly by the Gaels or Goidels. A few of them have played a
part in modern history. Cadbury, for instance, was occupied by Fairfax
in 1645; and in 1688 the Prince of Orange parked his artillery in the
great fort of Milber Down, a camp which it is thought was not only
occupied but adapted by the Romans.
The Romans, as was pointed out in the previous chapter, left
comparatively few traces in Devonshire; and at only twelve spots in the
county have Roman relics other than coins been discovered. At Exeter,
the only town where there seems to have been continuous occupation,
there have been found the foundations of the city walls, a bath, several
tesselated pavements--one of which has been relaid in the hall of the
police-court, on the spot where it was discovered--statuettes in bronze
and in stone, engraved gems, lamps--one encrusted with lizards, toads,
and newts--many pieces of finely decorated Samian pottery, and great
numbers of coins. The finest mosaic pavement was that found at Uplyme,
on the site of one of the only two known Roman villas in the county.
Coins have been dug up in many places. Considerable hoards have been
discovered at Compton Gifford, Holcombe, Tiverton, and Widworthy. The
largest, however, was at Kingskerswell, where 2000 were found together.
Perhaps the most remarkable Roman relic was a bronze object found on
the beach at Sidmouth, believed to be the head of a standard, and
representing Chiron the Centaur carrying Achilles.
Except as regards coins, of which great numbers are in existence,
especially, as has been stated, in the Royal Museum at Stockholm, few
antiquities that can be ascribed to the Saxons have been found in
Devonshire. One remarkable relic, now in the British Museum, was a
bronze sword-hilt, dug up in Exeter in 1833, finely ornamented with
key-pattern, and inscribed LEOFRIC·ME·FEC(IT). Part of the
lettering is inverted, a fact which at first entirely disguised the
real words. One of the treasures of Exeter Cathedral is an Old English
manuscript headed "A Mycel Englisc Bok," placed in the Chapter Library
by Leofric, who in 1050 was bishop of the diocese. It contains some of
the work of Cynewulf and his school. One poem has been thus translated:
"To the Frisian wife
comes a dear welcome guest;
the keel is at rest;
his vessel is come;
her husband is home;
her own cherished lord
she leads to the board;
his wet weeds she wrings;
dry garments she brings.
Ah, happy is he
whom, home from the sea
his true love awaits."
[Illustration: Saxon Sword-hilt]
A Norman relic of the highest interest is the Exeter Domesday Book, also
preserved in the Chapter Library, describing in greater detail than is
given by the Winchester Survey, especially as regards live stock, the
five counties of Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Somerset, and Wiltshire. Among
many points of difference between the two books is that where the more
general survey gives the letters T.R.E., for _tempore regis Edwardi_,
meaning that such were the facts in the time of Edward the Confessor,
the Exeter Book uses the phrase "eadie q^a rex·E·f·u·&·m·" for _eâ die
qua Rex Edwardus fuit vivus et mortuus_, that is to say, "on the day
when King Edward was alive and dead," meaning the day he died, which was
the 6th of January, 1066. It is worthy of note that, with one exception,
the Devonshire Hundreds were the same in 1086, the supposed year of the
completion of the Survey, as they are in our time.
Scattered up and down over Devonshire are many old stone crosses,
some in churchyards or by the wayside, probably intended as preaching
places, and some standing on the open moor as marks of boundary or of
lines of ancient roadway, a few of them bearing brief inscriptions or
traces of decoration. Fine examples are those of Addiscot, Helliton,
Mary Tavy, and South Zeal, the last-named of which has been restored,
and measures, with its steps, eighteen feet in height; the Merchant's
Cross near Meavy, the tallest on Dartmoor; the very ancient Coplestone
Cross, once decorated with interlaced Celtic ornament, standing where
three parishes meet, and named in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 974; and the
Nun's or Siward's Cross, inscribed on one side (SI)WARD, and on
the other BOC LOND, set up in the twelfth century to mark the
boundary between the royal forest and the property of Buckland Abbey.
With these may be mentioned the inscribed stones of Lustleigh, Stowford,
Tiverton, and Fardel--the latter now removed. The last-named, and one of
the three Tiverton examples, bear inscriptions in Ogham or Irish runic
characters.
[Illustration: Cyclopean Bridge, Dartmoor]
Among the features of Dartmoor are the so-called "clapper bridges,"
made of great blocks of unhewn stone. Their date and their builders
are matters of conjecture. If, as has been said, they were meant for
pack-horse traffic, they may be at least as old as the time of the
Norman Conquest, for packhorses are mentioned in the Exeter Domesday.
There are fine examples at Dartmeet, Bellaford, and near Scaurhill
Circle. But the most striking and perhaps the most ancient is that at
Post Bridge, in which two of the stones are fifteen feet long.
The idea has long been abandoned that Logan or rocking stones were the
work of man, or that the rock basins which are found on the top of some
of the Dartmoor tors had anything to do with Druidical ceremonies. Both
are now recognised as of natural origin. But it may here be noted that
the largest of the Devonshire Logans is the Rugglestone, at Widecombe,
estimated at from 100 to 150 tons, but it can no longer be moved. The
largest that will still rock is one of about fifty tons weight at
Smallacombe. The largest of the many rock basins, which vary from a few
inches to five feet or more, are on Heltor and Kestor.
20. Architecture--(_a_) Ecclesiastical.
The ecclesiastical buildings of Devonshire,--its magnificent cathedral,
which is without doubt the finest example of the Decorated style in all
England; its many noble churches, some of which, specially remarkable
for their interest and beauty, are situated in remote and thinly-peopled
rural parishes; and, in a minor degree, the picturesque fragments of
its ruined abbeys--form altogether one of the most striking features
of the county. Speaking generally, it may be said that Devonshire
churches, as a whole, are remarkable for their interiors, very many
of them containing beautiful wood-work, especially rood-screens, and
finely-carved stone pulpits, to which, in many instances, the addition
of gold and colour has lent a still more striking and even gorgeous
effect. Some of the exteriors also are very beautiful; but, on the other
hand, many of them, partly on account of the intractable nature of the
stone of which they were built, are simple and even severe in character.
As might be expected, the material varies with the geological formation.
Thus, many churches were built of grey limestone. In East Devon much use
was made of flints and of freestone from Beer. Round Exeter and Crediton
volcanic tufa was often employed, particularly in vaulting. The use of
Old Red Sandstone and even of granite greatly affected the style, which
in buildings of those difficult materials is plain and with little
ornament.
A large proportion of the churches of Devonshire were more or less
rebuilt during the Perpendicular period, that is, between 1377 and
1547; but many, probably even the majority of them, contain features of
earlier dates, in a few cases going as far back as Saxon times. Some
have been skilfully restored. But in too many cases the work of renewal
was carried out in an age when church architecture was imperfectly
understood, and when the value of old and beautiful, even if time-worn,
details was not sufficiently appreciated; and it is unfortunately true
that, in order to accomplish needless or barbarous alterations, many
interesting features were ruthlessly swept away.
[Illustration: Norman Doorway, Axminster Church]
The oldest existing work is the Saxon masonry in the bases of some of
the central Norman towers--those of Branscombe, Axminster, and Colyton,
for example, and in the crypt of Sidbury. No church is wholly or even
largely Norman; but the transeptal towers of Exeter Cathedral are of
this period, as are the towers of South Brent, Ilfracombe, and Aveton
Gifford, in addition to those named above. There are also fine Norman
doorways at Paignton, Kelly, Axminster, Hartland, Bishop's Teignton,
and elsewhere. In at least a hundred churches, most of which probably
possess no other feature of the time, there are Norman fonts, of which
the most remarkable are those at Hartland, Alphington, and Bradsworthy.
The font in Dolton church is believed to be Saxon.
[Illustration: Ottery St Mary Church]
Perhaps the best examples of Early English architecture are to be seen
in the aisles and transeptal towers--the latter imitated from those
of Exeter Cathedral--of the very beautiful church of Ottery St Mary,
the finest and most interesting church in Devon. The plain little
building on Brent Tor, one of the smallest of churches, measuring only
forty feet by fourteen, is probably all Early English. The churches of
Sampford Peverell, Haccombe, and Aveton Gifford are almost entirely of
this period, as are the transepts and central tower of Combe Martin and
the tower of Buckfastleigh, which carries one of the few spires in the
county.
[Illustration: Decorated Window, Exeter Cathedral]
The Decorated style is not so well represented as regards the number
of examples. But to this period belongs almost the whole of Exeter
Cathedral, a great part of the beautiful church of Tavistock, and the
nave, chancel, and Lady-chapel of Ottery St Mary. There is also good
work of this style at Beer Ferris, Plympton, and Denbury.
So many Devonshire churches, as already remarked, were rebuilt in
Tudor times that the majority of the ecclesiastical buildings in the
county appear to belong to the Perpendicular period. There is very
beautiful Perpendicular work in the church of Tiverton, whose south
front and chapel were decorated by their founder, a wool-merchant named
Greenway, with very elaborate carvings, some symbolic of his trade,
and some representing scenes from the life of Christ. Other notable
churches mainly of this period--to name a few only out of a multitude
of examples--are those of Crediton, Hartland, Plymptree, Awliscombe,
Kenton, Harberton, Dartmouth, and Buckland Monachorum.
To the Perpendicular period belong the finest of the Devonshire
towers, which as a rule, however, owing in many instances to the
absence or to the poorness of buttresses and pinnacles, lack the
majesty of those which are so striking a feature of the ecclesiastical
architecture of Somerset. There is a group of three towers in near
neighbourhood, assigned by tradition to the same architect, and known
as Length, Strength and Beauty, at Bishop's Nympton, South Molton, and
Chittlehampton, respectively; and the last of these, a magnificent piece
of architecture, is the most beautiful specimen of an enriched tower in
Devonshire. Other very fine towers are those of Cullompton, Chumleigh,
Berrynarbor, Arlington, Kentisbury, and Combe Martin. The tower of
Colyton is unique in character, being crowned by an octagonal lantern
supported by slender flying buttresses. There are not now many spires
in Devonshire, but there are fine examples at Modbury--which tapers the
whole way up--and at Barnstaple, both of the sixteenth century; and
there are others at Braunton, Brushford, and West Worlington. One of the
towers of Ottery St Mary carries a spire, the other is without.
One of the special characteristics of Devonshire churches is their
woodwork, their roofs and bench-ends, their pulpits--although some of
the best of these are of stone--and, above all, their rood-screens. The
last-named are among the finest in the kingdom, and are not rivalled
even in Norfolk and Suffolk.
There are good timber roofs at Cullompton, Widecombe, South Tawton,
Hartland, Ashburton, Chittlehampton, Sampford Courtenay, and
Hatherleigh. The bench-ends at Abbotsham, Ilsington, Ashton, Mortehoe,
Tawstock, Braunton, Monksleigh, Frithelstock, East Budleigh, and
Combe-in-Teignhead are specially fine. The seventeenth century seats at
Cruwys Morchard are inscribed with the farm names of the parish.
Rood-screens, which are here the most remarkable feature of the
Perpendicular period, are very numerous in Devonshire. Although many
have disappeared, having been removed or broken up, there are still some
150 in more or less perfect condition. So many of them, moreover, are
of such truly exquisite workmanship that it is difficult to say which
are the most beautiful. The material, in the majority of cases, is wood,
perhaps because of the scarcity of tractable stone--elaborately carved,
and very often splendidly decorated with gold and colour. There are,
however, magnificent screens of stone in Exeter Cathedral and in the
churches of Totnes and Awliscombe.
[Illustration: Rood Screen and Pulpit, Harberton Church]
It is probable that most of the screens were the work of native
craftsmen, but there are some whose style shows distinct signs of
foreign influence. The beautiful screen at Harberton, for example,
suggests Spanish work or influence, that of Colebrook French, that of
Kenton Flemish, and that of Swymbridge Italian. While by far the greater
number are of the Perpendicular period, that of Washfield is Jacobean,
and that of Cruwys Morchard is Georgian. It is perhaps generally
considered that the magnificent screen at Kenton is the finest of all;
but it has a good many rivals which closely approach it in beauty of
design and in excellence of workmanship. Other splendid specimens, all
of them of great beauty, are those at Kentisbere, Hartland, Hemyock,
Swymbridge, Kingsnympton, Dartmouth, Honiton, Holbeton, Tawstock,
Lustleigh, Lapford, Pinhoe, and Uffculme. The last-named, which measures
sixty-seven feet, is the longest, and that at Welcombe is believed to be
the oldest, in the county.
Carved pulpits are another special feature of Devonshire churches. The
finest stone pulpit, which is at Harberton, contains, like the beautiful
examples at South Molton and Chittlehampton, full-length figures in
panels. Other good stone pulpits are at Pilton, Totnes, Paignton,
Dartmouth and elsewhere. Two particularly fine carved oaken pulpits
are those of Hartland and Kenton, the latter of which is very richly
decorated with gold and colour. There are also good specimens at East
Allington, Tor Bryan, Ipplepen, and Holne.
Ancient stained glass is very rare in Devon, much having been destroyed
by Puritan fanatics. The best which has survived is at Doddiscombeleigh,
where there are four very beautiful windows. There is also very good
glass at Cheriton Bishop and Budleigh; and some less striking but
noteworthy examples may be seen at Ashton, Christow, Cadbury, Manaton,
Atherington and other places. The great east window in Exeter Cathedral
contains some very fine coloured glass, and there are a few remains in
some of the clerestory windows.
Among the very striking recumbent effigies of warriors and churchmen
and great ladies to be found in our churches there are some not to be
surpassed in England; and the magnificent examples in Exeter Cathedral,
in particular, afford most valuable chronological studies both of
costume and of carving. Among the finest of those in the cathedral are
the splendid thirteenth century alabaster effigy of Bishop Bronescombe,
the fourteenth century mail-clad figures of Humphrey de Bohun and Sir
Richard Stapledon, and the sixteenth century effigy of Bishop Hugh
Oldham. Perhaps the grandest of those in parish churches, to name a
few only out of many, are the fourteenth century effigies of Sir Otho
Grandisson and his wife at Ottery St Mary, and the seventeenth century
figures of Denys Rolle and his wife at Bicton. Other fine effigies are
at Paignton, Broadclyst, Landkey, Tawstock, Haccombe, and Horwood and
the Seymour tomb at Berry Pomeroy.
Our county is rich also in monumental brasses, most of which date from
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Among the finest are the splendid
triple-canopied fifteenth century brasses in the church of St Saviour,
Dartmouth, in memory of Sir John Hawley and his two wives, the fifteenth
century brass of Sir Nicholas Carew in Exeter Cathedral, which is a
wonderful representation of the military costume of the period, and the
fine sixteenth century brass at Tiverton, in memory of John and Joan
Greenway. Other good brasses are in Exeter Cathedral and in the churches
of Stoke-in-Teignhead, Stoke Fleming, Clovelly, Braunton, Haccombe, and
Clyst St George.
Many of the churches, that of Pilton, for example, have specially
musical peals of bells; and there are very old bells at Ogwell,
Abbot's Beckington, Alverdiscott and Hittesleigh. At the latter place is
the most ancient bell in the county.
[Illustration: The Seymour Tomb, Berry Pomeroy Church]
By far the most important and remarkable ecclesiastical building in
Devonshire is Exeter Cathedral, which, although not one of the largest
or--externally, at any rate--one of the most majestic cathedrals in this
country, is without doubt the most beautiful example in all England
of the Decorated style of architecture. It is built of Beer stone; a
material which when first quarried is white and easily worked, but
which, in this case, is now dark and crumbling with age.
The two features which specially distinguish this from all other
cathedrals are its transeptal towers, of which the only other English
example is at Ottery St Mary; and the great length of its roof, which
extends unbroken over nave and choir.
The exterior is further remarkable for the statuary on its west front
with its figures of kings and knights, saints and angels; for its flying
buttresses and its richly carved pinnacles. And the interior, which has
been called the finest in Europe, is distinguished for the beautiful
tracery of its many Decorated windows, the elaborate details of its
side-chapels; its episcopal throne, more than fifty feet high, a marvel
of wood-carving, without a rival in the island; its noble screen, one
of the best in a county particularly rich in screens; its ancient and
quaintly-carved misereres, the earliest in England; its fourteenth
century minstrels' gallery, the most nearly perfect known; its long
stretch of stone vaulted roof, the longest of the kind in existence; its
clustered columns; its richly yet delicately carved bosses and finely
sculptured corbels; its many monuments and recumbent effigies of knights
in armour and of bishops in their robes of office; and, generally, by
the wonderful uniformity and symmetry of its design.
[Illustration: Exeter Cathedral, West Front]
The cathedral is the work of many hands. Hardly one of its long line of
bishops but has left his mark upon it. But that it is an architectural
masterpiece is due in the first place to the genius of one man, and in
the second place to the wisdom of his successors in faithfully carrying
out his original design.
The cathedral stands on the site of a Saxon church, of which no trace
remains; and of the Norman edifice which succeeded it little is left
but the two transeptal towers. These towers, the northern of which has
been much altered, and now has strongly-marked Perpendicular characters,
were built by Bishop Warelwast (1107-1136), the son of William the
Conqueror's sister; and Bishop Marshall (1194-1206), brother of that
Earl of Pembroke who helped Henry II in the conquest of Ireland,
finished the building in the Norman style. But it was Bishop Quivil
(1280-1291) who planned the reconstruction of the whole cathedral in the
Decorated style, with the exception of the towers, and himself began
the transformation, rebuilding the transepts, the Lady-chapel, and part
of the nave. And although the work extended over more than a hundred
years after Quivil's time, and was continued far into the Perpendicular
period, the architecture was not altered, and there are few features in
the building which are not in keeping with the bishop's first design.
The magnificent Perpendicular eastern window is filled with beautiful
glass of the previous period, and it is believed that its tracery also
was originally of the Decorated style.
[Illustration: The Nave, Exeter Cathedral]
Of the bishops who succeeded Quivil, Stapledon (1308-1326), a statesman
as well as a prelate and an architect, murdered in Cheapside by
ruffian partisans of the She-Wolf of France, carried out some of the
finest work in the building, including the rood-screen, the episcopal
throne, and the stone sedilia. Last of the great builders was Bishop
Grandisson (1327-1369), who, in his long tenure of the see, completed
and finally consecrated the cathedral, to which, however, some details
were added by those who followed him. Bishop Brantyngham (1370-1394),
for instance, finished the west front, the great east window, and the
cloisters--destroyed by the Puritans and only recently rebuilt. There
have been two main restorations of the cathedral; one in 1662, and one
between 1870 and 1877, when the reredos and other features were added.
The chapter-house, which is an exception in style to the rest of the
building, its lower part being Early English, and its upper part
Perpendicular, contains part of the cathedral library. The rest of the
15,000 volumes of books, together with some very valuable manuscripts,
including the Exeter Domesday Book, Leofric's Book of Saxon Poetry, and
the original charter signed by Edward the Confessor, Earl Godwin, Harold
and Tostig, authorising the removal of the see from Crediton to Exeter
are preserved in the Chapter Library.
In the north transept of the cathedral are the dials of an ancient and
curious clock, believed to have been set up early in the reign of Edward
III, although its movement has been renewed. It sounds the hours and the
curfew on Great Peter, a ponderous bell in the tower above it. The peal
of ten bells in the southern tower is the heaviest in England.
At many points in Devonshire may be seen the ruins of monasteries,
priories, and nunneries which were closed by order of Henry VIII. Almost
all of them have suffered so severely from decay, or perhaps even more
from having been used as quarries, that in a great many instances only
a few fragments of ruin remain of what, in their time, were large and
magnificent buildings.