Bracken
Conservation at Keble Martin's Chapel
- Details
- Written by James Paxman
Keble Martin's old chapel is one of those little known gems of Dartmoor that would simply disappear if not looked after. As it is, overgrown with bracken and rushes, most people will pass it by, thinking it some extension of the nearby tin working remains. But this is a site with a different story.
The chapel was built in 1909 by the Martin brothers, committed churchmen, who spent many summers camping out on Dean Moor. Their life on the moor is described in their diaries.
"Each year we blocked the tumbling brook, the Warren stream, with rocks in order to make a bathing pool, into which we could take headers, ie, dive, in the early morning sunshine. The stream and pool were full of trout. And after catching about a hundred, there were nearly as many in the pool on the last day."
Sons of a churchman, and committed churchmen themselves, they raised a rudimentary chapel from the raw stone of the moor.
"We had Matins in a dell of rocks and ferns, on the way to the bathing pool. And it was on the spot where we just had Matins that we laid the foundations of the Church. It consisted of rough paving on the floor of the dell, then a flight of three solid granite steps with flanking boulders up to a small grass terrace and a granite pier with a cross on it, incised in the granite by Arthur with Jack's cold chisel and hammer."
Today the chapel is sadly overgrown with bracken and a hundred years of neglect has laid a carpet of vegetation over the stones where the Martins worshipped. Seeing the overgrown state of the site has inspired one of the members of the DPA to clear the overgrowth so that the chapel can be more fully visible and appreciated. "I surmise that over the last 101 years a great deal of brash has built up to a depth of about three inches, hiding the floor" says Dr Keith Ryan, who has now cut back the worst of the bracken and the soft rush. His work has also included exposing the stone with the ChiRho symbol which was almost completely hidden.
Before starting the work the DPA checked with English Heritage, and representatives of the Dartmoor Commoners Council and the local Commons Association on Dean Moor.
For those of you who want to take a look, the chapel is located at the ominous grid reference of SX 666 666. Of course this would have been unknown to Keble Martin as the grid reference would not have been established until after the national re-triangulation project began in 1936.
Further information about Keble Martin's chapel can be found here(opens in new window).
