Buckland-in-the-Moor
| Buckland-in-the-Moor | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
 St Peter's Church, Buckland Brewer | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SX720730 |
| Location: | 50°32’37"N, 3°48’24"W |
| Data | |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Teignbridge |
Buckland in the Moor is a village in south-eastern Devon, on Dartmoor. The 2001 census recorded a population of just 94.
According to Elias Tozer (1825–1873), a ritual until recently had been observed in the village of Buckland-in-the-Moor on Midsummer Day in which the youth of the village would sacrifice a sheep on the block of granite and sprinkle themselves with the blood. He could not find what the significance of the ritual was,but says it was thought to have pre-Christian Celtic origins.[1]
Parish Church
The parish church is St Peter's. The church is built of stone quarried on the moor.
The face of the clock on the church tower spells out My Dear Mother.
The font is Norman, and decorated with leaves and stars.
tands about half a mile up the road. This small moorland church stands majestically on top of the hill and looks out over splendid wooded views of the Webburn valle
Buckland Beacon and the Ten Commandment Stones
Nearby there is a viewpoint called Buckland Beacon (1,282 feet) and at its summit stands a monument known as the Ten Commandment Stones.
In 1927, Parliament rejected a proposed revision of the Book of Common Prayer in which the Two Commandments given by Jesus would have been used at Holy Communion instead of the full Ten Commandments given to Moses. In celebration, the Lord of Buckland Manor, Mr Whitley, engaged a stonemason from Exeter, W A Clements, to engrave granite stones in situ on Buckland Beacon bearing the Ten Commandments. Clements started work on 15 December 1927 and completed the job on 14 June 1928. Whilst engraving the stones he lived in a cow shed on the site and was supplied each week with a loaf of bread by Mr Whitley.
In later years Mr Clements said, "Day after day I was on my knees chipping away and I wondered if the originator of the Commandments suffered from an aching back and sore knees as I did".
If you glance at the stones you will find eleven commandments the eleventh inscribed, 'A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another. John 13 v34.'
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Buckland-in-the-Moor) |
References
- ↑ Page, John Lloyd Warden (1892), An Exploration of Dartmoor and Its Antiquities: With Some Accounts of Its Borders, Seeley and Company, Limited, p. 34, https://books.google.com/books?id=jbMuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA186, retrieved 2016-08-28