In the rolling Devon countryside

Different terrain for this week's Sunday afternoon jaunt. No coast, no moors but rolling, open countryside around the hamlet of Kelly just over the border in Devon. And none the worse for that! In the event, slightly longer than intended and along footpaths that were not as distinct as they could have been - hence the strange deviations on the map where we had to retrace our steps to find the route or revise where we were going because the track disappeared into an impenetrable hedge.

This one started and ended just outside of Kelly House and took us over fields and lanes for about 6 1/2 miles. Rather unexpectedly it was not particularly easy, so a moderate difficulty level. And the weather? Rather warm and pleasant. We took in a trio of churches at the end - Kelly, Bradstone and Dunterton.

Rolling English countryside with sheep in the meadows and blue skies

Luckily we did not have to wade across the ford, the footbridge was a most welcome sight.

One of the two Air B & Bs we came across, although this one was fair less attractive than the other one.

A horse-drawn potato/root crop lifter. The large wheels drove the shaft that propelled the tines to lift the crops out of the ground. They would have been thrown out sideways to the direction of travel of the horse. It's always fun, when we come across these old pieces of agricultural machinery, to try and work out what their original function was. Sometimes, as with this one, it's fairly obvious. Other times, less so.

A rather inquisitive herd of calves in a field of buttercups. They seemed quite frisky but kept a respectable social distance from us.

We took the correct footpath but it directed us straight into a hedge. Not very helpful but, in the scheme of things, a very minor inconvenience.

This appears to be the childrens' playground at Meadwell, a hamlet just outside of Kelly. It makes the one in Luckett look well equipped, and that is saying something.

Although it's been a good year for bluebells, it was still a surprise to come across them in this shady copse just outside of Meadwell.

A carpeting of pussy willows, making the track look as if it's covered in dead caterpillars. A little bit weird to walk on.

Looking westwards towards Bodmin Moor. The first hill to the left of the clump of trees is Hawkstor, where we walked last week. 

Looking down on the last mile of the walk, heading to Kelly church in the distance. 

The first of the three churches we visited, albeit briefly for each one. This is the church of St Mary the Virgin at Kelly. Dating from the 14th century, it is pleasant enough and has close associations with the eponymous Kelly family, of Kelly House, almost next door. The Kelly family have obviously been generous benefactors of the church over the many years (900!) they have lived in the area. Once upon a time, Mrs P and I used to work with the present chatelaine.

As we drew up to our second church, St Nonna's at Bradstone, we were surprised to see this gatehouse to the Tudor Bradstone Manor. It can now be rented out as an Air B &B and is probably far more comfortable than the one I mentioned previously.

A newspaper cutting showing a photograph of William Henry Lovell whose monument in Bradstone church is shown below.

William Henry Lovell was born in 1892 at Lifton to Robert and Patience Lovell. William enlisted with the 7th Battalion of the  Duke Of Cornwall’s Light Infantry (Regimental No. 28869) as a private. He gained the rank of Lance Corporal. He was killed in action on August 16th, 1917 during the Battle Of Langemarck. His body was never identified but his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Cemetery near the town of Ieper, Panel 80 to 82 and 163A. At the time of his death, his parents were living at Bawcombe, Bradstone but later moved to the Old School House, Milton Abbot. 

St Nonna's, named after the mother of St David, dates from the 12th-century. The oldest parts of the church building are early medieval, with the addition of a 15th-century tower and it was dedicated by Bishop Brondescombe in 1261. It is built of stone rubble with ashlar dressings, beneath a slate roof. The interior features a wagon roof with carved bosses. A dedication stone outside the church commemorates John Coumbe, reputed to have lived from 1484-1604, which would make him aged 120 at his death. The church is no longer used for regular worship and is preserved by the Churches Conservation Church. It has a rather bare interior with very few embellishments.

And finally All Saints at Dunterton, primarily to visit the grave of a recently buried friend, Raymond Chudley. The church stands in splendid isolation and was once known locally as the ‘Plague Church’ as tradition has it that when the ‘Black Death’ was encompassing the area, much of the population around the church perished. To escape the disease, several children took refuge in the church and survived. There was apparently a village around the church but this disappeared after the time of the Black Death. 

It is is thought to date from the early-mid-1300s, but the nave was largely rebuilt, with the north aisle and west tower added, around the 1460s. According to British Listed Buildings the church started life prior to 1460 as a chantry chapel for the monastery at Tavistock. But a local source places the chantry chapel nearby and states that the remains are now part of a cow shed.

Frank Thomas was the only son of George and Rosa Thomas who lived at Greystone Bridge. He joined the 13th Hussars on 16th March 1917, then under the command of Lord Baden Powell. Frank soon found himself in Mesopotamia, fighting to capture Baghdad. He continued to fight in that country, after the war in Europe had stopped, in fact until November 1918 when he was judged by a military hospital to be injured so badly that he was issued with a Silver Badge, discharged as physically unfit to fight and sent home to Dunterton. He lived on until February 1920, without hospital care or, presumably, pain relief as so many men did, until he died on February 13th in that year aged 21. It seems likely that he was injured in the Battle of Sharqat (October 23th - 30th, 1918) the final battle of the Mesopotamian Campaign which was concluded by the signing of an armistice which gave the British access to the oil fields near Mosul. This had all along been the target because it ensured unlimited fuel supplies for the British Navy in the future.