Sheepstor

Paid a further visit to the Burrator Arms again last week, the place in Dousland, up a bit from Plymouth, with the last visit being noticed at reference 1, the place itself at reference 2.

Art

I thought that the art illustrated above was well above average for pub art. With one novel feature being the framing surround in silver, all part of the design.

Dessert pie

I stuck with pie for main course, entirely satisfactory. And continued with pie for dessert, in the form of a lemon meringue pie, something I have always been fond of, but which does not appear that often these days. Also entirely satisfactory, with BH taking most of the clotted cream to the right of the pie. I might say in passing that this establishment had a good selection of desserts, much better than usually gets in Epsom, or indeed, in London proper. All in all an excellent establishment, very fit for our particular purpose.

Next stop Meavy and Sheepstor to inspect the heritage.

Gmaps

The gmaps offering for the places in question.

OS

With gmaps being put to shame by the proper map from OS. But to be fair to gmaps, they are doing the world, for most of which maps of the OS standard are not available, not practical even.

Maps notwithstanding, we managed to get slightly lost in Meavy, which meant that we passed the ancient public house, the ancient oak tree and the replica of Drake's drum twice before we got ourselves onto the road for the Marchant's Cross.

The cross

One can still see the cross carved at the crossing on the other side, but this snap came out better in other ways. Various theories about the history of the cross being given at reference 3.

Onto Sheepstor, drawn there by talk of there being a bull ring, with these rings being fairly common in this part of Devon, reflecting its former importance in the cattle trade. In the event, nothing like as grand as that shown at reference 4, although I did not like to take a picture as I was being shown around by the owner of the garden in which is was to be found, none too pleased to be bothered by a tourist. He thought that he had paid his taxes, as it were, by doing the open garden thing a week later. But he did soften slightly when I noticed his fine cordon apples and was able to tell him about my father's considerable doings in that area.

The church turned out to be interesting, a rather grand affair for what was now little more than a hamlet, nestling in a hollow in the moors.

Monolith

And while at Ashburton, the principal church managed one monolithic column to the nave, here they all were, presumably reflecting the fact that Sheepstor was closer to one of the relevant quarries.

The screen

There was also an elaborate wooden rood screen from Victorian times, perhaps the gift of the Brooke family, sometime White Rajahs of Sarawak. Perhaps the replica of something torn down by the puritans of Plymouth, possibly the Plymouth Brethren, known to take a tough line with anything that smacks or smells of popery.

Decoration

Homely pew end decoration for a recent wedding. Decoration which ought to have scored as a fake as, while the heart shaped twig was a twig, the leaves wrapped around it were plastic. But the overall effect was fine - even though it seemed unlikely that the bride had anything to do with the church, beyond thinking that it would make a good setting, which no doubt it did.

Lamerton

Despite the claim in the book noticed at reference 6 that there are lots of memorials to those who fell at Waterloo to be found in English churches and graveyards, I have yet to find one. I failed here too, but did come across this new to me certificate from the second world war.

Rajah

Part of the memorial to the White Rajahs mentioned above.

Cordon

The steep steps down from the church to the garden which contains the bull ring. With one of the cordon apples, mentioned above, to be seen at the bottom.

Coffin stand

The church also ran to the first real lych gate that I recall seeing, that is to say a lych gate complete with a proper stone stand on which to rest the coffin while waiting for the proper moment to enter the church. Sometimes also used for the service itself, going straight from stone on the ground to hole in the ground, not bothering with the church bit at all.

With lych, according to Wikipedia, being a corruption of the Middle High German word for a corpse.

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/fine-dining.html.

Reference 2: http://theburratorinn.com/.

Reference 3: http://www.dartmoor-crosses.org.uk/marchant's.htm.

Reference 4: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/brading-ring.html.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rajahs.

Reference 6: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/waterloo.html.