PETER TAVY CIRCULAR via MARY TAVY

Approaching Peter Tavy along a narrow, moorland lane, our first sight of its church was its four octagonal pinnacles on a fine granite tower which were jutting out above the hedgerows. As the name of this Dartmoor village suggests, the church itself is named after St Peter. Parts of it date to the 12th century but we didn’t go inside as we were here to walk, another day maybe; we assembled in the small churchyard car park to meet Juliette who was to be today’s walk leader, the ladies were outnumbered by the men this week 11/7. Before setting off I volunteered to be back marker and then Juliette gave us a brief talk on the history of this area.

Not long after leaving the church on this sunny autumn morning we found ourselves walking past the Peter Tavy Inn where we were due to have lunch at the end of our walk; continuing onwards a gruesome-looking scarecrow confronted us, it was hanging from a gibbet so someone must have a strange sense of humour!

On we walked downhill along a narrow footpath with high hedges on both sides of us; the pleasant smell of damp earth filled the air. Soon we heard the rushing water of the River Tavy over to our left but when we reached a small bridge we didn’t cross it, instead everyone followed Juliette along the path ahead through the woods. There were many reminders of the area’s mining past dotted about in the undergrowth including an adit on our right, and this old chunk of metalwork near the water where Cyndy took this fun pic of our leader. Behind Juliette was a pile of clothes and trainers just casually left behind when someone went off somewhere; maybe they had gone wild swimming? After passing through two wooden gates as the path climbed higher, the pinnacles of St Mary’s Church with Brentor church beyond it were pointed out to us. Later everyone paused in an open space that was obviously used as a BMX track before we did an about turn back to the bridge we had passed earlier. A Speckled Wood butterfly kept me company as I followed along at the back but it wouldn’t sit long enough to have its photo taken! This time we did cross the bridge when we arrived there and made our way to Mary Tavy but not before we had all looked down over the wooden railings on both sides at the orange-stained water gushing over the rocks beneath. As I stood below the bridge to take this photo I disturbed some water mint and its aromatic smell wafted up all around me as I re-joined the group.

The whole of the village of Mary Tavy was at one time owned by the Buller family until it was sold off in 1891. The name of the Buller’s Arms was later changed to the Mary Tavy Inn. The old mine shafts were named after the families of the mine owners or their captains. Most of them had huge water wheels and one, 'Buller's Wheel', was said to be the largest in the world. Mary Tavy is very scattered and spread over a wide area, there is the original settlement around the church and a much larger development both sides of the main road but despite that there are said to be less inhabitants now than there were in the 19th century when mining work was plentiful.

Some of us went inside the church and some wandered around the churchyard looking for the grave of William Crossing, a famous author who once wrote books on Dartmoor. After leaving this church everyone followed Juliette back to Peter Tavy for lunch at the lovely old inn of the same name. It is thought that this Inn was originally built as somewhere for the stonemasons to live whilst rebuilding St Peter’s Church in the 14th or 15th Century. Back then the inn was probably a single storey building with a thatched roof. It is unclear what use was made of the building after the stonemasons left, but at some point a second storey was added and fireplaces and chimneys were built.

We sat eating our lunch, some of us outside in the shade because it had turned quite hot by this time and some of us inside where it was cooler with the inn’s stone floor and walls. As I waited for my food to be cooked, my mind turned to one of the more interesting local tales which concerns the infamous ‘Mad Axeman’ Frank Mitchell and the equally notorious Kray Twins; the story goes that the violent and extremely strong Mitchell was serving his sentence at Dartmoor Prison in the 1960’s, he had convinced the authorities that he was a reformed character so one day he was out on a work party with minimal supervision. During the day he managed to get away and meet his girlfriend at the Peter Tavy Inn; later two men arrived asking for Mitchell and were recognised by some as the infamous Kray Twins. In December 1966 it was the Kray Twins who helped Mitchell to escape before having him murdered shortly afterwards, apparently he knew too far too much about them and was a liability, some say his body is encased in one of the concrete pillars supporting the M1!