West Country – Drewsteignton, coach roads … part 2

Our first night was in this village at the very good restaurant with rooms – The Old Inn – highly recommended by us.

 

Looking into the village square from The Old Inn

The pictures and photos I took of artwork in The Old Inn, and other interiors … I’ll show in the next foodie – drool post!

Looking from the Church towards The Old Inn (side view)
beyond the red cars

Drewsteignton was on the Old Coach Road west from Exeter into Cornwall, via Okehampton.  

Spinsters' Rock

There’s a lot of history here with settlement going back to the Neolithic period: Spinsters’ Rock is a chambered tomb from that period, dating about 3,000BC … I’ve some more dolmen and stone circles to show you later on.  I’m just glad to escape the spinsters …

Granite Altar in side Chapel
in Church

The village was mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086), and by the medieval period was relatively prosperous … as a wool producing area, the quarrying of limestone and the mining of tin at a small local mine.

Spectacular granite pillars - each pillar is one piece of
granite and carved as such 

The east-west coach road, crossed another north-south one … an essential cross route in those days of horse and carriage travel … which gave further prosperity to the village shown through the high quality of some of the buildings – The Old Inn, the Church (1400s origin), the Drewe Arms (pub) and the now closed school.

Carved Pew End

Coaching inns provided a vital link to inland transportation from early medieval times until the arrival of the steam engine, replacing the tired teams of horses and extending hospitality to those travelling the road.

The pub's sign

While coaching inns were normally spaced seven miles apart, distances could vary, particularly in more inhospitable or remote areas such as Dartmoor.

Henry VIII started the network of Posting Inns in 1516, when he arranged for mail to be delivered from London to wherever he happened to be at the time. 

The Post Inn a few
miles west of the village

A ‘line of posts’ was set up where the King’s courier could get fresh horses – the coach road – Turnpike as it became - formed part of the London to Penzance route.  Henry didn't make it to Penzance, but his daughter Elizabeth I knew about the town in Armada times.

Anyone who read my “X” post during the A-Z this year might remember that the Romans traded with the Cornish for their tin … the Guide/Gate post at Trethevy in Cornwall near Boscastle and Tintagel indicating this wealth in trade … ancient routes linking the main trading stations.

 

Medieval Carved Window in cob walls

So we had started our journey encountering really early times … but also moving into medieval eras of lime rendered cob walls … the buildings of which can last 1,000 years … which would indicate that some had been occupied by Celts, prior to the Anglo-Saxons arriving.

My sister-in-law gave my mother one of these Olive Wood
Crosses, which she enjoyed holding ... 

Historically over time these changes can be seen – 5,000+ years of history … much recorded in writing, or can still be found in the surrounding landscape.

Dusk came quite early … but after a brief walk to Holy Trinity Church we were ready for a drink, by the fire … and some sustaining fare – it was stunning too!

Drewsteignton Clock in Church
tower - lightened up .. it was nearly
dark!

The church clock duly told us it was time to move along … and I gather from a local magazine in 1890 that “Discussions were being held over the erection of a clock in the Church tower.  £5.10s.6d. was raised towards its cost and George Aggett was asked to measure up” …

Yew tree in churchyard - large girth

The Sun had gone well over the Yardarm … at which time we were permitted to have a drink!

Hilary Melton-Butcher

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