Situated on the south-west of the river Heddon is Halwell Farm, the property of Sir Thomas Acland, where is a circular British encampment, standing, as such encampments usually do, on a height. The trenches are about fifteen feet deep. There are two or three similar remains within a short radius, but they are less conspicuous and important. It is said that cannon balls have been dug up at Halwell Castle.
Mr Page does not speak too flatteringly of the scenery, but Parracombe Common, with its scent-laden breezes, is by no means destitute of charm, for the purple eminence of Chapman Barrows, the highest point in North Devon, and the lovely valley of Trentishoe below, compose a landscape fair enough for the most exacting eye. Beyond is Heddon’s Mouth, where Old Davy landed on a memorable occasion (Maid of Sker, chapter liii.), and on the road is that well-known and most quaint and attractive hostel, the Hunter’s Inn.
This, however, is to wander away from Parracombe, which is itself a quaint old village, while Parracombe Mill, Heal, and Rowley are picturesque hamlets. The old twelfth-century church has been abandoned, since 1878, for ordinary uses, but it still stands—about half a mile from the village—and the tower has been recently in part restored. And now, with a final reminder of East Bodley and Barton and Kinwelton (in Martinhoe parish), our pilgrimage has reached its goal. In a few moments we shall be tumbling downhill along the surprising curves of the Lynton railway, to re-enter the world of commonplace.
NOTES
I. Mr Arthur Smyth believes that the founder of the Quartly herd was Mr Henry Quartly, who married Betty Blackmore. His mother often visited her uncle Quartly, and he tells us that he had heard her speak of the care and attention they received, and how fat they were. They were brought to perfection by his son, Mr James Quartly, of West Molland House, who was one of the judges at Smithfield. Mr John Quartly of Champson never exhibited. Mr James Quartly had no children, and on his retirement the herd was dispersed.
II. Son of the before-named John Quartly, and grandson of Henry Quartly, he had never exhibited, but kept up the reputation of the family as breeders.
A sister of John and James Quartly married her cousin, the Rev. Richard Blackmore, of Charles, and another sister married Captain William Dovell, to whom at one time the novelist’s brother, Mr Turberville, bequeathed his property. Captain Dovell’s mother was a Blackmore. To what branch of the family she belonged is uncertain, but it was through her that Court Barton came to the Dovells.
Mr Smyth tells an extraordinary story of this gentleman.
“Captain Dovell,” he says, “was born at Killiton. He hated farming, and at last his family gave him his desire and he went to sea. He related a story of his wreck off the coast of Ireland, and how the natives fought for the wreckage. At last, as captain of an East Indiaman (his own), he took his wife and son, a boy of eight years, with him to sea. The vessel was wrecked. He never saw the boy, but he caught his wife and swam for hours; she died in his arms from exposure. He got ashore at last, and had to read the burial service over his wife. He was never the same after that. When I knew him in the early sixties, he was a powerfully built man of the kindliest disposition. I was an invalid then, and he would sit with me for hours relating stories of his boyish scrapes or playing for hours. He married again, and settled at Barnstaple, where he died about twenty years ago. His wife survived him only about one week; both are buried in the family vault at Parracombe churchyard.”