St Michael's Church, Musbury, Devon

The village of Musbury takes its title from the Old English name of the ancient hill fort rising above it, the name loosely, and amusingly, meaning 'ancient place overrun by mice'...a descriptive way of saying that it's deserted! The church of St Michael sits high above the village, partway on the hill beneath the fort. The oldest part of the present day church is the tower, which dates from 1420, but it is thought that an earlier structure would have existed on the same site; possibly a far simpler building without aisles, situated where the nave is now.

Like many buildings in the area, St Michael's is built of local flint rubble and freestone blocks; Beer stone having been used for the dressings to the openings, quoins, parapet coping and internal arches. Ham stone was also used, particularly in the tower parapet.

Quarry tiles were laid in the sanctuary and aisles when the church was rebuilt during the 19th century, and the old stone slabs let into their former places.

The most prominent feature of the church is the Drake family memorial, which was built in 1611 and further extended circa 1646. The family lived at nearby Ash, now known as Ashe House. The figures represent, from left to right, Sir John Drake and his wife, Amy Grenville, his son Sir Barnard Drake and his wife Garthrud Fortesque, and Sir John Drake (Sir Bernard's son) with his wife, Dorothye Button. The east window next to the memorial was dedicated to the memory of Robert Hamlyn Mervyn Drake in 1970. 

An interesting bit of information from Wikipedia about the supposed connection between Sir Francis Drake and the Drakes of Ash...

"The Drake family of Ash rejected a claim by Admiral Sir Francis Drake (c.1540–1596) of Buckland Abbey, whom they considered to be below the rank of gentry, that he was descended from their ancient Drake family of Ash, and a famous physical confrontation broke out in the court of Queen Elizabeth I between Admiral Sir Bernard Drake (c.1537–1586) of Ash and Admiral Sir Francis Drake of Buckland Abbey when the latter made claim to the armorials of Drake of Ash."

The addition of the south aisle, at the end of the 15th century, increased the width of the nave. This meant that the tower is no longer on the original east-west axis of the church. The west door was subsequently realigned to match the nave inside, as can be seen in the photo below. This answers a question of mine, as I have often noticed this anomaly on other churches I've visited and wondered why that was. 

The beautiful Venetian mosaic reredos of passion flowers set in marble, in the photo below, was one of many gifts bestowed upon the church by the Drake family. This one was presented by Sir William Drake in 1874.

I hope I don't offend anyone but I have to say that, despite the many lovely features and interesting history of the church, I felt it to be very cold in atmosphere and unwelcoming, even hostile. This is somewhat unusual for me as I find most churches, even the darkest of them, quite peaceful places. However, being rather sensitive to buildings, it does make me wonder why.

Oddly enough, I was showing some visiting friends around Seaton Parish church and they commented on how warm and welcoming it was. I told them about this church and how uncomfortable I'd felt, and the wife of the couple immediately picked up on it as possibly having been incumbert by stern, paternalistic clergy in the past. It would be interesting to find out if there's any truth to that, but there are no 'feminine touches' here, such as flowers or candles, so maybe the atmosphere has affected peoples attitude towards it.

The exterior, however, is delightful, and there are some lovely features both inside and out. Just outside the porch is a step in which fossils have been embedded; in homage to the Jurassic Coast perhaps?

And there are some lovely old gravestones in the churchyard.

Visited in March 2008, I continued up the hill afterwards to Musbury Castle Hill Fort, as seen in the previous post. However, I didn't quite manage to reach the top and only took some photos from about halfway up. It was a lovely morning out, though. :)

Musbury Castle Hill Fort, Musbury, Devon

Taken from the Old English translation, the name Musbury loosely, amusingly - and most delightfully - means 'ancient place overrun by mice'. In other words, abandoned and left to the wild. One of a string of Iron Age hill forts running along the east side of the Axe Valley, it is the second from the coast, the first being Hawkesdown at Axmouth whose original ancient name was Hocksdon. 

This part of East Devon was heavily defended during prehistoric times. The hill forts created a buffer zone between the Durotriges to the east in what is now Dorset, the Dumnonii to the west and the Dubonni to the north, jealously guarding a trade route through the Axe and Yarty Valleys, and culminating in what has been described as a Neolithic Clapham Junction at Hembury.
 

The first photo above was taken by the farm situated above St Michael's church. The next photo was just above the farm and looking down the track towards it.

Further up the track it was possible to see Hembury with its hill fort to the north.

The photo below shows the view to the south. The central gap is the coastal town of Seaton and the faint glints below that are the lakes at Lower Bruckland Nature Reserve some two to three miles inland. The prominent hill to the left is Hawkesdown, topped by its hill fort.

These next two photos were taken from as far as I could get to that day. Unfortunately, after visiting several places, I didn't manage to make it to the top before my next bus home - and I also had a really bad feeling about the path through a field crossing quite near to a large steep dip filled with trees, which put me off - although whilst chatting to someone at the bus stop I was told that I wasn't all that far from the top.
 

A large prehistoric univallate hill fort, it occupies a site at the end of a Greensand spur with naturally steep slopes, having a long, narrow enclosure aligned with the spur on which it sits. The photo below shows the highest viewpoint on the far right.

Visited in March 2010, I always meant to go back to finish my climb to the top and take more photos. Unfortunately, a worsening disability put paid to that. Maybe one day! ;)

Evangelical Chapel, Musbury, Devon

 

"There is a dissenting place of worship in the village, erected in 1859, but not, I believe, in connection with any special denomination." The Book of the Axe by George P R Pulman.

Having seen this tiny chapel whilst on bus journeys over many years, I'd often wondered whether it was still in use or not. It started to look a little forlorn, as if abandoned, so after taking photos of pillboxes in the nearby village of Whitford in February 2010 I decided to take the extra walk up the lane to investigate. However, it isn't derelict but still very much in use. Whilst taking exterior photos I noticed vans parked behind the building and shortly afterwards some people came out of the chapel. After a chat about the place I was kindly invited to take photos of the inside.
 

 Outside, a small path leads up to the front entrance. 
 

The man who founded the chapel was a local boy, called Walter Wills. A visitor to my website kindly sent me two long and very detailed articles of Walter's life and how the chapel came to be built - which, although very interesting, are too long for inclusion here. To summarise very briefly, it took many years of preaching before his parents were also converted, upon when his father decided to help Walter build the chapel.

There are a few gravestones in the small courtyard. The one in the photo below belongs to a Richard Wills.

An interesting bit of information that I found out about Richard Wills was in this extract taken from White's Devonshire Directory (1850).

"John Gregson, John Woolcot, and Samuel Parr, Esqrs., Mr. Richd. Wills, Mr. F. Gillett, and several other freeholders, have estates in the parish."

From the date, Richard may have been Walter's father.

As would be expected, the interior is beautifully simple, decorated in peaceful hues of pale blue and green.

The picture of Walter Wills as a man and preacher is situated behind the altar, which I was shown. I thought I'd taken a photo of it but I don't seem to have it, so perhaps not.

 

And finally, looking back along the short path towards the gate situated between two tall yew trees. A lovely little chapel on the side of the lane, which I was really pleased to get to see and take photos of at last. :)

Limestone Quarry, Beer, Devon

This abandoned quarry was originally called the New Quarry and began its life sometime before 1883, when work in the Old Quarry - now a tourist attraction called the Beer Quarry Caves* - gradually began to be phased out. The Old Quarry dates back to the Romans, sometime after AD 47 when the end of the Fosse Way was completed at Axmouth, and was exclusively underground. The new one, however, not only shows evidence of underground workings, but also later outside excavations together with the relatively more recent buildings such as workshops, stores, site office and loading sheds.

*Information about the Beer Quarry Caves can be found here.

Now known simply as Beer Quarry, these workings are on the north side of the road and separate from the original Old Quarry, in its later years worked by Hanson Aggregates until being completely abandoned. I explored it at the end of a lovely sunny day in late September 2008, along with a friend who was visiting on holiday.
 

Above is the rock face, at first glance looking like a fort. The entrance, below, followed by interior photos.  

We weren't able to get very far in. My friend ventured over a pile of debris to see how much of the caves there were but he had to give up too, as it was pretty much blocked.

 Next up were two large loading sheds.

Just behind those was an amazing workshop, complete with several pieces of machinery, lifting gear and various tools inside.
 

This cute little metal barrow was just outside.

  Interior photos below.

This was such fascinating place with the gantry lifts, workbenches and various tools. I loved the wrench and steel rule hanging on nails roughly hammered into a wall batten, plus what looks like a grinder, below.

Fab window covered with ivy.

As befits coastal Devon, I've often found a boat on explores in the most incongruous of places, including here in the workshop. I even found one on a WW2 airfield just over the border into Somerset...coming up in a future post.

And, inside an extremely dark storeroom leading off from the workshop, this funky little grinder machine....

 ...and a fabulous stack of old toolbox drawers.
 

  Outside again, to the mobile Site Office and weighbridge.

Welcome to Beer Quarry! We appreciated the greeting on the board inside the office, lol. What's often amazed me is the amount of paperwork and other things that are sometimes left when places are abandoned. It looks as if they just went out for a lunch break and are about to return back to work again. 

We had a walk further onto the site to find the outside excavations, seen below.

Ending up on top of the underground excavations, the final photo is the view looking down above the workshop and loading sheds.