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HOLCOMBE JOTTINGS Produced by Bryan Weston & published by Holcombe Residents Association |
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THE LEGEND OF THE PARSON AND CLERK Once upon a time, there was a Bishop of This parson had a violent temper, and
his continued visits to the sick man did not improve this, for his journey
was a long and dreary one and the bishop, he thought, took an
unconscionable time In dying. But he had to maintain his reputation for
piety, and so it happened that on a winter night he was riding towards
Dawlish through the rain, guided, as was his custom, by his parish clerk. That particular night the clerk had lost
his way, and, long after he and his master should have been in comfortable
quarters at Dawlish, they were wandering about on the high rough ground of
Haldon, some distance away. At last, in anger, the parson turned upon his
clerk and rebuked him violently. ''You are useless,'' he said; '' I would
rather have the devil for a guide than you.'' The clerk mumbled some
excuse, and presently the two came upon a peasant, mounted upon a moor
pony, to whom they explained
their plight. |
The stranger at once offered to guide
them, and very soon all three had reached the outskirts of the little
town. Both parson and clerk were wet through. and when their guide,
stopping by an old, tumble-down house, invited them to enter and take some
refreshment, both eagerly agreed. They entered the house and found there a
large company of wild-looking men drinking and singing loud choruses. The
parson and his servant made their way to a quiet corner and enjoyed a good
meal, then, feeling better, agreed to stay for a while and join their
boisterous companions. But they stayed for a very long while.
The drink flowed freely and both grew uproarious, the parson singing
songs with the best of the company and shouting the choruses louder than
any. In this manner they spent the whole night, and it was not until dawn
broke that the priest suggested moving onward. So none too soberly he
called for the horses. |
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unearthly laughter broke out all around
them. Then the now terrified men observed that their boisterous friends
were dancing about in glee and each had turned into a leering demon. The
house in which they had passed the night had completely disappeared, and the road in
which they stood was transformed into the sea-shore, upon which huge waves
were breaking, some already submerging the clerk. With a wild cry of
terror the parson lashed once more at his horse, but without avail. He
felt himself growing stiff and dizzy - and then consciousness passed from
him.
Neither he nor his clerk ever returned
to their parish, but that morning the people of Dawlish saw two strange
red rocks standing off the cliffs, and later, !earning this story, they
realised that the demons had changed the evil priest and his man into
these forms. Time and weather have wrought many changes in the Parson and
Clerk Rocks, not the least curious being to carve upon the Parson Rock the
semblance of the two revellers. From certain positions you may see today
the profiles of both men, the parson as it were in his pulpit, and the
clerk at his desk beneath him. A
slightly edited version of the legend published by the Great Western
Railway in 1922 in a booklet titled “
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IT’S A DOG’S LIFE
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I'm all right now though and went around the Village meeting all my friends and telling them what had happened. I got such a lot of fuss from my doggy friends and the humans too - it was lovely. Time to go now because I can hear someone getting my
food for me. Lovely. See you
around. Bye-bye everyone. By Gerry & Carol Chambers
We
take for granted our sea wall promenade between Holcombe and Teignmouth.
We are fortunate that it was built in the first place and fortunate that
it still remains. Our good fortune started over 170 years ago. In
1836 I.K.Brunel surveyed 2 routes for a new line connecting |
A
direct line across Dartmoor was proposed, but the promoting Company
(becoming the Brunel
changed his mind after re-surveying the route, now preferring the sea wall
concept.. Earlier difficulties with Box Tunnel on the Only
Parson's Tunnel in Dawlish was shown on the deposited plans, Brunel
wanting to blast away the cliffs to avoid the cost of further tunnelling
between Dawlish and Teignmouth. A sea wall with a parapet wall on top was
to be constructed between Hole Head and Teignmouth to "protect the
trains from the wind". Brunel was convinced that the highest of
tides would "not reach the foot of the wall". This is a
good example of Brunel's over-optimism that down the years has been rather
costly. |
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to
the tunnel route. He did not share Brunel’s optimism about the minimal
effect of the sea on his line. He required the line be moved inland by
about 20 yards to preserve the coves and cliffs near Dawlish, but needing
much more cliff demolition south of Hole Head. The Company accepted Brunel's
confidence that the sea would not reach the foot of the wall must have
been badly shaken in February 1855 when the sea exposed the foundations of
the sea wall at This
was not the last problem with the line: not without reason, this stretch
of line is the most expensive to maintain in the network. Perhaps if
Brunel had been less persuasive or the South Devon Railway directors been
less in awe of the great engineer, the line along the coast and the sea
wall promenade might never have been built.
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Land was purchased and the route laid out overland with concrete posts. World War II intervened and the plans were never resurrected. Moving the main track inland could have meant the promenade would be unusable by now. Would a sea wall secondary rail route have survived Dr. Beeching’s "axe? If not, would our impoverished rail and other public authorities have been willing to afford the very high costs of maintaining the sea wall? If not, would the sea wall have collapsed in places by now and made our promenade unusable? Our third piece of fortune?
By Bryan Weston This appeared in black and white in the last edition. I thought you might like to see it in its glory. The artist lived in Holcombe over 100 years ago.
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