• In 1807, a poetry collection by Mary Ward included a poem about Okehampton Castle (from which the above lines are taken). Ward titled the poem ‘Oakhampton Castle’. Although from our C21 perspective the poem is written in old-fashioned language, its laboured iambic lines project an appropriate mood of gothic splendour. As yet I’ve not established much information about the poem’s author - except that she may have come from Brixham and dedicated her book to the Countess of Loudon. If anyone out there knows anymore about Mary Ward do get in touch ... #writtenindevon #Okehampton #OkehamptonCastle #Devon #poets #C19poetry #lostwomenwriters #Brixham #Devonhistory #Dartmoor #Dartmoor365
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    In 1807, a poetry collection by Mary Ward included a poem about Okehampton Castle (from which the above lines are taken). Ward titled the poem ‘Oakhampton Castle’. Although from our C21 perspective the poem is written in old-fashioned language, its laboured iambic lines project an appropriate mood of gothic splendour. As yet I’ve not established much information about the poem’s author - except that she may have come from Brixham and dedicated her book to the Countess of Loudon. If anyone out there knows anymore about Mary Ward do get in touch ... #writtenindevon #Okehampton #OkehamptonCastle #Devon #poets #C19poetry #lostwomenwriters #Brixham #Devonhistory #Dartmoor #Dartmoor365
  • ‘Went through a little beech-wood where the foliage was breaking like a green mist among the grey stems; onto Yannadon Common...Many skylarks singing aloft in spite of the wind. Saw a Hawk poised over the eastern side of the down. Gathered some Whinberry blossom. A few shaggy little Dartmoor ponies were cropping the gorse on the down; one with a wee brown foal by its’ side.’ (From ‘April’, in ‘The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady’, by Edith Holden). If you want to wallow in the nostalgia of England’s/Devon’s once nature-filled landscapes, try a re-read of artist/author Edith Holden’s now iconic texts. Between 1902-1910 Holden often stayed at Dousland and from there walked, wandered and avidly watched the flora & fauna about her on Dartmoor. Yennadon Down (she called Yennadon) was one of her most frequently mentioned places. Dartmoor ponies also often popped into her notes and illustrations. They may seem disarmingly twee, but Holden’s texts are so relevant today - full of a keen naturalist’s close attention to detail - and reminding us of a world we have all but lost. #edithholden #dartmoor365 (Q6) #Devon #Yennadon #Dousland #Dartmoor #authors #flora&fauna #Burrator #Dartmoorponies #womenwriters #womenartists #writtenindevon
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    ‘Went through a little beech-wood where the foliage was breaking like a green mist among the grey stems; onto Yannadon Common...Many skylarks singing aloft in spite of the wind. Saw a Hawk poised over the eastern side of the down. Gathered some Whinberry blossom. A few shaggy little Dartmoor ponies were cropping the gorse on the down; one with a wee brown foal by its’ side.’ (From ‘April’, in ‘The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady’, by Edith Holden). If you want to wallow in the nostalgia of England’s/Devon’s once nature-filled landscapes, try a re-read of artist/author Edith Holden’s now iconic texts. Between 1902-1910 Holden often stayed at Dousland and from there walked, wandered and avidly watched the flora & fauna about her on Dartmoor. Yennadon Down (she called Yennadon) was one of her most frequently mentioned places. Dartmoor ponies also often popped into her notes and illustrations. They may seem disarmingly twee, but Holden’s texts are so relevant today - full of a keen naturalist’s close attention to detail - and reminding us of a world we have all but lost. #edithholden #dartmoor365 (Q6) #Devon #Yennadon #Dousland #Dartmoor #authors #flora&fauna #Burrator #Dartmoorponies #womenwriters #womenartists #writtenindevon
  • ‘The seats were of dark red wood and the rafters of the roof were black. Everything else - save the tiny red lamp, a large missal, a prayer-book or two and a rosary of ruby beads ... - was purest white. (From ‘My Lady of the Moor’ by John Oxenham). The chapel is now neglected. Olive Katharine Parr - pen-name Beatrice Chase, was once a Dartmoor celebrity and she is still remembered fondly for her iconic Dartmoor texts. #BeatriceChase #OliveKatherineParr #Dartmoor #Devon #Womenwriters #writers #widecombeinthemoor
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    ‘The seats were of dark red wood and the rafters of the roof were black. Everything else - save the tiny red lamp, a large missal, a prayer-book or two and a rosary of ruby beads ... - was purest white. (From ‘My Lady of the Moor’ by John Oxenham). The chapel is now neglected. Olive Katharine Parr - pen-name Beatrice Chase, was once a Dartmoor celebrity and she is still remembered fondly for her iconic Dartmoor texts. #BeatriceChase #OliveKatherineParr #Dartmoor #Devon #Womenwriters #writers #widecombeinthemoor
  • #Devon #poet and #fiction writer #Frances Bellerby (1899-1975) lived at #Clearbrook overlooking #Roborough Down, near #Yelverton, during the early 1950s. She noted that ‘It is not likely now’ came to her one night as she knelt at her bedroom window and had finished the poem ‘almost from dictation’ the following day. Bellerby was then suffering from what was later to be diagnosed as terminal cancer and later said she’d spent ‘three and a half unhappy and artistically sterile years’ in the hamlet. However, reading her work it’s as though, paradoxically, the isolation she experienced at #Clearbrook inspired some of her best poetry. Read Bellerby’s poems and about her life in ‘Selected Poems by Frances Bellerby’, Ed., Anne Stevenson (Enitharmon Press, 1986) #devon #womenwriters #Dartmoor365 #S4
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    #Devon #poet and #fiction writer #Frances Bellerby (1899-1975) lived at #Clearbrook overlooking #Roborough Down, near #Yelverton, during the early 1950s. She noted that ‘It is not likely now’ came to her one night as she knelt at her bedroom window and had finished the poem ‘almost from dictation’ the following day. Bellerby was then suffering from what was later to be diagnosed as terminal cancer and later said she’d spent ‘three and a half unhappy and artistically sterile years’ in the hamlet. However, reading her work it’s as though, paradoxically, the isolation she experienced at #Clearbrook inspired some of her best poetry. Read Bellerby’s poems and about her life in ‘Selected Poems by Frances Bellerby’, Ed., Anne Stevenson (Enitharmon Press, 1986) #devon #womenwriters #Dartmoor365 #S4
  • Where have you brought me ...This is not our home.’ (From #HannahCowley, The Belle’s Stratagem). The #blueplaque at 10 Bridge Street #Tiverton #Devon, showing once home of #HannahCowley, C18/19 #playwright, #poet and pioneer champion of #women’srights, who lived here from 1801. #womenwriters #Devonwriters
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    Where have you brought me ...This is not our home.’ (From #HannahCowley, The Belle’s Stratagem). The #blueplaque at 10 Bridge Street #Tiverton #Devon, showing once home of #HannahCowley, C18/19 #playwright, #poet and pioneer champion of #women’srights, who lived here from 1801. #womenwriters #Devonwriters
  • ‘There is no looking-glass here, and I don’t know what I am like now ... now they have taken everything away. What am I doing in this place and who am I?’ (Jean Rhys, in Wide Sargasso Sea) #JeanRhys, #novelist, lived in #CheritonFitzpaine #Devon from 1966 - 1979. Whilst there - though she was apparently hostile to her surroundings - she completed #WideSargassoSea. #Devonwomenwriters #Devon #fiction
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    ‘There is no looking-glass here, and I don’t know what I am like now ... now they have taken everything away. What am I doing in this place and who am I?’ (Jean Rhys, in Wide Sargasso Sea) #JeanRhys, #novelist, lived in #CheritonFitzpaine #Devon from 1966 - 1979. Whilst there - though she was apparently hostile to her surroundings - she completed #WideSargassoSea. #Devonwomenwriters #Devon #fiction
  • In the summer of 1931 Canadian writer Mazo de la Roche moved to the Old Rectory at #Hawkchurch in #Devon, where she lived for a couple of years with her friend/cousin and two adopted children. At Hawkchurch Mazo wrote several books including #TheMasterofJalna from the #Whiteoaks series. She was known as a notoriously private writer, and even now if you visit Hawkchurch the house is more or less completely hidden from view. #Devon #MazodelaRoche #womenwriters #novels #mysterywriters #Hawkchurch
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    In the summer of 1931 Canadian writer Mazo de la Roche moved to the Old Rectory at #Hawkchurch in #Devon, where she lived for a couple of years with her friend/cousin and two adopted children. At Hawkchurch Mazo wrote several books including #TheMasterofJalna from the #Whiteoaks series. She was known as a notoriously private writer, and even now if you visit Hawkchurch the house is more or less completely hidden from view. #Devon #MazodelaRoche #womenwriters #novels #mysterywriters #Hawkchurch
  • #Historical #novel by #RoseMacaulay was set in #DeanPrior & Deancombe in C17 at time of #RobertHerrick #vicar #poet 'she saw it now, as she stood at the top of the lane that dipped steeply down from Dean Wood to Deancombe village.'
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    #Historical #novel by #RoseMacaulay was set in #DeanPrior & Deancombe in C17 at time of #RobertHerrick #vicar #poet 'she saw it now, as she stood at the top of the lane that dipped steeply down from Dean Wood to Deancombe village.'
  • The gardens in #Exeter where during lunch hours away from war-work, in 1915/1916, E. M. Delafield (EMD), drafted her first novels - Zella Sees Herself & The Pelicans. #Devon #authors #novels #EMDelafield
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    The gardens in #Exeter where during lunch hours away from war-work, in 1915/1916, E. M. Delafield (EMD), drafted her first novels - Zella Sees Herself & The Pelicans. #Devon #authors #novels #EMDelafield