Ashburton snaps

An imitation wooden box, snapped in the yard of some sheltered accommodation in Buckfast, the very same as was purchased for storage on the platform at Epsom Station. See reference 1,

Some warm brown flooring in our cottage at Ashburton, described in the agent's puff as bamboo. Not being like any wood that I was familiar with, it may well have been - but not the sort of bamboo that grows in this country, compared with which the stuff which was made into this flooring must have been enormous.

One of the pillars in the main church at Ashburton, carved out of a single block of granite. Which I had noticed before, but did not bother to notice at reference 2. Just the one of them, with the rest of them being more ordinary, if old. We wondered about whether carting such a pillar about in one piece would have been more bother than carting it about in the more usual drums. Or even, heaven forfend, some blocks with which to face up a rubble interior. This last being, I believe, common enough in the rather larger pillars in cathedrals.

Zoom on the laptop shows where the panels of the wagon vault had been stripped off during Victorian restoration. I had supposed that the panels were actually lathe and plaster, but I can see none of the nail marks that would come with the lathes. On the other hand, sheets had not been invented. Perhaps it was planks rather than lathes, with just a light skim over? Less liable to fall on the heads of the faithful after a few centuries of damp.

A substantial bell, unused, but thoroughly defended against any passing traveller who might take a fancy to this substantial bit of scrap. It must have been quite a business hauling such a thing up into the tower and I associated to the building sites of my youth where you used to reckon on so many (accidental) deaths to the million pounds worth of contract.

Some pink granite kerb stones in Ashburton, the like of which I do not recall seeing before. I had thought all the local granite was grey, like the tors on the moors, but the stones are presumably local  nonetheless.

Perhaps these people could advise on the matter of pink granite. We wondered, given that Ashburton used to be a wool and tin town, whether there was any correlation between lodge and trade. I remember once being told that there were some rather odd lodges on the Isle of Purbeck, with membership mostly drawn from the stone working trades of the area.

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/diy-time-at-network-rail.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/more-devon-churches.html.