Thursday, July 14, 2011

Salcombe Regis



Across the cliffs from Dunscombe and Lincombe and we finally descend the steep path into Salcombe, to take a look around the churchyard. Salcombe must be one of the smallest and prettiest villages around here, a collection of maybe not even a dozen houses and a few small farms, no shops or pubs and just the one lonely phone box. If you like a nice quiet beach, there is a good mile walk down the combe to Salcombe beach, accessed by a hundred or so steps. The walk back to the top of the hill from the beach can best be described as knackering.

The complicated history of Salcombe Church is best explained by W.G.Hoskins in his book: Devon, published in 1954.

"The village is situated in a warm and fertile combe facing S., about a mile back from the sea. The church (St. Peter) was originally a 12th century building with a N. aisle. About 1300 the chancel was lengthened, a S. aisle added, and the arches of the N. arcade remodeled, leaving the Norman pillars. About 1430 the aisles were widened, and given new windows, and the W. tower added."

The church also went through extensive renovation in about 1850. The landscape is remeniscent of the painting 'Our English Coasts' by William Holman Hunt, which was actually painted in Kent. We leave the village by climbing the small but steep hill to the west, pausing for a rest on the war memorial situated at the top of the hill. Even a parish as small as this one has its own stone memorial to the local men killed fighting in the two world wars, no village seems exempt from this.

13 comments:

P2P said...

you truly have found a paradise on earth. what a scenery to document with a camera. I am very much of a city person due cities being in a constant process of change and under the effect of so many people from today and the days ranging past even hundreds of years, but boy does that sphere of life of yours produce as intriguing images as mine.

nobody said...

Doesn't this one hang together well? I really liked it. Perhaps your best yet.

john said...

Hi P2P. It really is an interesting landscape to photograph as there is much diversity here.

I have lived in larger towns and have photographed them too. I became partial to a large industrial estate that I used to live near so had lots of photos of businesses in low sunlight. Then I became interested in the small gaps between buildings, little mostly forgotten spaces which nature reoccupies.

I was enjoying your photos and specifically the one from a while ago with the moon and the church steeple, that was very good I thought.

john said...

Cheers nobody. I can't really tell how the photos are going when I am taking them, so look through them later on the computer. In the case of this walk it was when I got to the church photos that I went wow, as I wasn't really expecting them to come out as nice as this. I try to remember which stuff makes me go wow and put those up.

Had a really good walk from South Zeal down the eastern edge of Dartmoor the other day looking for a stone circle. These stone circles aren't always easy to locate what with them being small stones in a vast landscape covered in stones.

I did find the circle and took a few photos of it and then my battery conked out so had to miss the fantastic views from the other side of the hill looking east. Luckily the very few photos that I did take came out really nice.


Still working on the Matisse haiku, it's tricky sometimes isn't it?

nobody said...

Ayah! Too slow John. There's a new pic up already.

Or did you get it finished? If you did, pop it in there. I'll read it if no one else does. Or you can pop it in this week's comments if you like. No reason not to.

nobody said...

Otherwise I thought there was a really appealing linear aspect to these pix ie. a journey starting here, going through this, and arriving at the destination, a good look round, with the close-up as the full stop. Very nice. And then there's the fact that there's several strands of metaphor going on. And not forgetting the gorgeousness of the pix of course.

Anyway as clipboard wielding time and motion man, I declare you this month's All Boxes Ticked Award winner - round of applause.

john said...

Dang! and cheers nobody. Then I'm late again. I had this trouble the last time you put a Matisse up. if I get it finished I'll put it up still. Thanks very much as well, that's an interesting way of seeing the blog, the linear part is not always easy or possible as the sequence can be tricky and I have to limit the amount of photos a bit.

Have to rush off again as I'm off to have a look round a very old derelict mill today. There will be photos hopefully. Off I go now, cheers.

Anonymous said...

lighted passage
union whispers
dynamic streams
essence glistens
solar pathways
flowers rare
natures stroll
of all aware
secret gardens
hidden places
dreams of summer
moonlight hazes
changing times
deepened roots
all is one
in living truth

..peace..


have a poem john,nice pictures, scary stuff at the end,peaceful though, am looking forward to the next round of photos..

and good to see you mr nobody

respects ...neil

nobody said...

Hullo Neil, we do like a poem.

reem said...

Thanks John for these beautifull photos,it seems nice and very quiet place ،i think it's good to get a time to be there faraway from all thus terrible events around the world،and take a rest for your soul.

Actually i hate graves ،mybe because i hate to think about the death ,but in your photos ،i like thus white flowers near the old graves ،they tell us how is important to enjoy the life and tell us life sometimes is very short .

In my town there're tow churchs ,one of them is old and since long time the moslems and the christians have repaired it .

Life here is quiet and people enjoy the cool weather everyday in their farms ,still apricot season ،still geting time for painting .

Have good time.John and thanks again .

john said...

Cheers Reem, you are very welcome and I am glad that you are enjoying the photos.

In many graveyards here the grass is cut to within an inch of its life, part of an english obsession with lawns. In Salcombe the wiser gardener has worked with nature to create a place of beauty. I like churches and it is very nice to hear that in your town the moslems and christians work together to look after these places, it is the way it should be.

It is good to hear that you are getting time for painting and that people are enjoying the cooler weather. I hope all is well with you and thanks again Reem.

john said...

Hullo nobody. I got to the mill the other day, a fairly sensational place. Larger than I thought it would be, as well as being a microcosm of local history. The weather was very much against me as it rained pretty much all day, but I managed to get a few photos of the place. I may pop back again when the weather is better.

john said...

Cheers Neil and thank you very much for the comment and the poem, as nobody says; we do like a poem.

I hope that other people are reminded of our history when they see these war memorials. Even in these idyllic and out of the way locations the hands of dark forces reached and pulled these unfortunates to their deaths for what appears to be a way of making large amounts of money. They don't and never have cared for the lives of ordinary folk. People don't want war and as we have seen, we are continually lied to about such things, we can thank our complicit media for this as much as anyone.

I was interested to see that back in March The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said he would investigate Gaddafi for crimes against humanity, but I see no such speed in getting our own war criminals into any court. People like Blair and all the others who went along with it should have been jailed years ago.