Childe's Tomb
Encyclopedia
Dartmoor
Dartmoor is an area of moorland in south Devon, England. Protected by National Park status, it covers .The granite upland dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. The moorland is capped with many exposed granite hilltops known as tors, providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, England. Although not in its original form, it is more elaborate than most of the crosses on Dartmoor
Dartmoor crosses
The Dartmoor crosses are a series of stone crosses found in Dartmoor National Park in the centre of Devon, England. Many of them are old navigational aids, needed because of the remoteness of the moorland and its typically bad weather. Some mark medieval routes between abbeys...
, being raised upon a constructed base, and it is known that a kistvaen
Kistvaen
A kistvaen or cistvaen is a tomb or burial chamber formed from flat stone slabs in a box-like shape. If set completely underground, it may be covered by a tumulus. The word is derived from the Welsh cist and maen...
is underneath.
A well-known legend attached to the site concerns a wealthy hunter, Childe, who became lost in a snow storm and supposedly died there despite disembowelling his horse and climbing into its body for protection. The legend relates that Childe left a note of some sort saying that whoever found and buried his body would inherit his lands at Plymstock
Plymstock
Plymstock is a civil parish and commuter suburb of Plymouth in the English county of Devon.The earliest surviving documentary reference to the place is as Plemestocha in the Domesday Book and its name is derived from Old English meaning either "outlying farm with a plum-tree" or, if it is short for...
. After a race between the monks of Tavistock Abbey
Tavistock Abbey
Tavistock Abbey, also known as the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Rumon, is a ruined Benedictine abbey in Tavistock, Devon. Nothing remains of the abbey except the refectory, two gateways and a porch. The abbey church, dedicated to Our Lady and St Rumon, was destroyed by Danish raiders in 997 and...
and the men of Plymstock, the Abbey won.
The tomb was virtually destroyed in 1812 by a man who stole most of the stones to build a house nearby, but it was partly reconstructed in 1890.
Description
Childe's Tomb is a reconstructed granite cross on the south-east edge of Foxtor Mires, about 500 metres north of Fox TorFox Tor
Fox Tor is a relatively minor tor on Dartmoor in the United Kingdom. It is probably best known for the swampy land that lies beneath it, Fox Tor Mires. This is said to have been the inspiration for the fictional Grimpen Mire in the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...
on Dartmoor
Dartmoor
Dartmoor is an area of moorland in south Devon, England. Protected by National Park status, it covers .The granite upland dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. The moorland is capped with many exposed granite hilltops known as tors, providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, England at . According to William Burt, in his notes to Dartmoor, a Descriptive Poem by N. T. Carrington (1826), the original tomb consisted of a pedestal of three steps, the lowest of which was built of four stones each six feet long and twelve inches square. The two upper steps were made of eight shorter but similarly shaped stones, and on top was an octagonal block about three feet high with a cross fixed upon it.
The tomb lies on the line of several cairns that marked the east-west route of the ancient Monks' Path between Buckfast Abbey
Buckfast Abbey
Buckfast Abbey forms part of an active Benedictine monastery at Buckfast, near Buckfastleigh, Devon, England. Dedicated to Saint Mary, it was founded in 1018 and run by the Cistercian order from 1147 until it was destroyed under the Dissolution of the Monasteries...
and Tavistock Abbey
Tavistock Abbey
Tavistock Abbey, also known as the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Rumon, is a ruined Benedictine abbey in Tavistock, Devon. Nothing remains of the abbey except the refectory, two gateways and a porch. The abbey church, dedicated to Our Lady and St Rumon, was destroyed by Danish raiders in 997 and...
and it was no doubt erected here as part of that route: it would have been particularly useful in this part of the moor with few landmarks where a traveller straying from the path could easily end up in Foxtor Mires. Tristram Risdon
Tristram Risdon
Tristram Risdon was an English antiquary and topographer, and the author of Survey of the County of Devon. He was able to devote most of his life to writing this work. After he completed it in about 1632 it circulated around interested people in several manuscript copies for almost 80 years before...
, writing in about 1630, said that Childe's Tomb was one of three remarkable things in the Forest of Dartmoor
Forest of Dartmoor
The Forest of Dartmoor is an ancient royal forest covering part of Dartmoor, Devon, England.A royal forest was an area reserved by the king for hunting, and William the Conqueror introduced the concept of forest law in England in the 11th century...
(the others being Crockern Tor
Crockern Tor
Crockern Tor is a tor in Dartmoor National Park, Devon, England. Composed of two large outcrops of rock, it is 396 metres above sea level. The lower outcrop was the open-air meeting place of the Devonshire Stannary Parliament from the early 14th century until the first half of the 18th century...
and Wistman's Wood
Wistman's Wood
Wistman's Wood is one of three remote copses of stunted oaks on Dartmoor, Devon, England. It lies at an altitude of between 380–420 metres in the valley of the West Dart River near Two Bridges, at grid reference SX613770....
). Risdon also stated that the original tomb bore an inscription: "They fyrste that fyndes and bringes mee to my grave, The priorie of Plimstoke they shall have", but no sign of this has ever been found.
Today the cross, which is a replacement, is about 3 feet 4 inches (1 m) tall and 1 foot 8 inches (0.5 m) across at the crosspiece, and it has its base in a socket stone which rests on a pedestal of granite blocks that raises the total height of the cross to 7 ft (2.1 m). The original, now broken, socket stone for the cross lies nearby. The whole is surrounded by a circle of granite stones set on their edge which once surrounded the cairn—the rocks of which are now scattered around—that was originally built over a large kistvaen
Kistvaen
A kistvaen or cistvaen is a tomb or burial chamber formed from flat stone slabs in a box-like shape. If set completely underground, it may be covered by a tumulus. The word is derived from the Welsh cist and maen...
that still exists beneath the pedestal.
Destruction
In the early 19th century there was much interest in enclosing and "improving" the open moorland on Dartmoor, encouraged by Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt's early successes at Tor Royal near PrincetownPrincetown
Princetown is a town situated on Dartmoor in the English county of Devon.In 1785, Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, Secretary to the Prince of Wales, leased a large area of moorland from the Duchy of Cornwall estate, hoping to convert it into good farmland. He encouraged people to live in the area and suggested...
. Enclosure was aided by the greatly enhanced access provided by the construction of the first turnpike roads over the moor: the road between Ashburton
Ashburton, Devon
Ashburton is a small town on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon, adjacent to the A38 Devon Expressway.It was formerly important as a stannary town , and remains the largest town within the National Park, with a population of around 3,500...
and Two Bridges
Two Bridges
Two Bridges is an isolated location in the heart of Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. It is situated around north east of Princetown on the old turnpike road which was built across Dartmoor in the late 18th century ....
opened in around 1800, for instance. In February 1809 one Thomas Windeatt, from Bridgetown
Bridgetown, Devon
Bridgetown is a part of Totnes, Devon. It is divided from Totnes itself by the River Dart, and came into existence as a result of the first bridge being built across the river at Totnes. The river is in a valley, with Bridgetown on the south eastern slope opposite Totnes. There is a C of E church,...
, Totnes
Totnes
Totnes is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
, took over the lease of a plot of land (a "newtake") of about 582 acres in the valley of the River Swincombe
River Swincombe
The River Swincombe is a tributary of the West Dart Riveron Dartmoor in Devon in south-west England. It rises south-east of Princetown, and flows 2 km south-east to Foxtor Mires, where it turns north-east to meet the West Dart near Hexworthy. The first 2 km are known as the Strane River.-...
. In 1812 Windeatt started to build a farmhouse, Fox Tor Farm, on his land and his workmen robbed the nearby Childe's Tomb of most of its stones for the building and its doorsteps.
In 1902 William Crossing
William Crossing
William Crossing was a writer and documenter of Dartmoor and Dartmoor life. He lived successively at South Brent, Brentor and at Mary Tavy but died at Plymouth.-Early life:...
wrote that he had been told by an old moorman that some of the granite blocks from the tomb's pedestal had also been used to make a clapper bridge
Clapper bridge
A clapper bridge is an ancient form of bridge found on the moors of Devon and in other upland areas of the United Kingdom including Snowdonia and Anglesey...
across a stream flowing into the River Swincombe near the farm. The moorman also said that they had lettering on their undersides. This encouraged Crossing to arrange to lift the clapper bridge, but no inscription was found. However he did locate nine out of the twelve stones that had made up the pedestal, as well as the broken socket stone for the cross.
Reconstruction
Crossing rediscovered the original site of the tomb in 1882 and said that all that remained was a small mound and some half buried stones. He cleared out the kistvaen, reporting that it was 5 foot 6 inches (1.7 m) long by 2 foot 8 inches (86 cm) wide and that unlike most kistvaens found on the moor, the stones lining it had apparently been shaped by man, which led him to suggest that it was less old than most. Having located most of the stones of the original tomb, Crossing thought that it could be rebuilt in its original form with little effort, but it was not to be.J. Brooking Rowe, writing in 1895, states that the tomb was re-erected in 1890 under the direction of Mr. E. Fearnley Tanner, who said that he was dissatisfied with the result because several stones were missing and it was difficult to recreate the original character of the monument. Tanner was the honourable secretary of the Dartmoor Preservation Association
Dartmoor Preservation Association
The Dartmoor Preservation Association, or DPA, was founded in 1883. It is a charity, which provides an independent viewpoint on the current issues affecting Dartmoor and performs valuable conservation work on archaeological sites...
, and this reconstruction was one of the first acts of that organisation. The replacement base and cross were made in Holne in 1885.
Childe the Hunter
Kistvaen
A kistvaen or cistvaen is a tomb or burial chamber formed from flat stone slabs in a box-like shape. If set completely underground, it may be covered by a tumulus. The word is derived from the Welsh cist and maen...
(burial chamber) of Childe the Hunter, who was Ordulf, son of Ordgar, an Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
Earl of Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
in the 11th century. The name Childe is probably derived from the Old English word cild which was used as a title of honour.
Legend has it that Childe was in a party hunting on the moor when they were caught in some changeable weather. Childe became separated from the main party and was lost. In order to save himself from dying of exposure, he killed his horse, disembowelled it and crept inside the warm carcass for shelter. He nevertheless froze to death, but before he died, he wrote a note to the effect that whoever should find him and bury him in their church should inherit his Plymstock estate.
His body was found by the monks of Tavistock Abbey
Tavistock Abbey
Tavistock Abbey, also known as the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Rumon, is a ruined Benedictine abbey in Tavistock, Devon. Nothing remains of the abbey except the refectory, two gateways and a porch. The abbey church, dedicated to Our Lady and St Rumon, was destroyed by Danish raiders in 997 and...
, who started to carry it back. However, they heard of a plot to ambush them by the people of Plymstock, at a bridge over the River Tavy
River Tavy
The Tavy is a river on Dartmoor, Devon, England. The name derives from the Brythonic root "Taff", the original meaning of which has now been lost...
. They took a detour and built a new bridge over the river, just outside of Tavistock. They were successful in burying the body in the grounds of the Abbey and inherited the Plymstock estate.
The first account of this story is to be found in Risdon
Tristram Risdon
Tristram Risdon was an English antiquary and topographer, and the author of Survey of the County of Devon. He was able to devote most of his life to writing this work. After he completed it in about 1632 it circulated around interested people in several manuscript copies for almost 80 years before...
's Survey of Devon which was completed in around 1632:
Finberg pointed out, however, that a document of 1651 refers to Tavistock's guildhall as Guilehall, so Guilebridge is more likely to be guild bridge, probably because it was built or maintained by one of the town guilds.
In popular culture
DevonDevon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
folk singer Seth Lakeman
Seth Lakeman
Seth Bernard Lakeman is an English folk singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, who is most often associated with the fiddle and tenor guitar, but has also mastered the viola and banjo...
sang about Childe the Hunter on his 2006 album Freedom Fields
Freedom Fields
Freedom Fields is a music album by Seth Lakeman published twice in 2006. It is his third album as a principal performer. It is named for a park in Plymouth, England, where the Sabbath Day Fight is commemorated.-First edition:...
.