Dartmoor Folklore
Created | Updated Jul 25, 2006
From Wizards and Buzzards And Long Tailed Lizards
And Things That Creep Through Other Folks Hedges
Good Lord Deliver Us.
- 'A Dartmoor Litany', unknown author.
It is easy to see why Devon's great National Park, Dartmoor, is so full of legends. Even on fine days, the craggy granite tors and picturesque villages have a mystical quality; but when seen through the all-too-regular fogs and mists the lonely stone crosses, ancient rows and ruins and endless bogs take on an almost ethereal quality. Transport yourself to a time before televisions and computers, imagine yourself sheltered from the storm in a village pub, and you will realise the timeless appeal of these tales.
Some of Dartmoor's folklore has its roots in true stories, embellished with the exaggerations of time, some from the imagination of forebearers who had too much time to spend dreaming by lonely rocks. What is clear is that these stories have a place; indelible associations with places that often gave name to places. To remove the Moor from its tales would be to denigrate the place as clearly as if one was to remove its mighty tors.
This Entry only describes some of the tales that have some basis in fact. There are well-described tales of the Hairy Hands, for example, which grasp the wheel of passing cars and steer them off the road (often further embellished by events that happened to a 'friend of a friend'). These have not been included, otherwise the Entry would be of a ponderous length.
Uncle Tom Cobley
Tom Pearce, Tom Pearce, lend me your grey mare
All along, down along, out along lee
For I want for to go to Widecombe Fair,
With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney,
Peter Davy, Dan'l Whiddon, Harry Hawke,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all.
- Widecombe Fair, traditional folk song.
So begins the famous folk song made famous by the Rev Sabine Baring-Gould, a locally famous Dartmoor chronicler, in 1890. For over 150 years1, the village of Widecombe-In-The-Moor2 has held an annual fair; originally in October but now on the second Tuesday in September. Although now the fair includes fancy dress contests, falconry displays and gymkhana, it was probably originally little more than a grand annual market. Even so, in days gone by it would have been quite an event, drawing traders from all over Devon.
According to the song, Tom Pearce's poor horse was forced to carry the whole gang on its back to the fair, but gave up ('a-making her will') and died on the Moor. The horse and its riders are still reputed to haunt the Moor today.
Of course, even if the horse wasn't to pleased, the locals have embraced the tale. There is a monument in Widecombe dedicated to Cobley's gang, postcards are sold and the sad tale is largely celebrated. Even the phrase 'Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all' has passed into English usage as a kind of 'et cetera'.
How True Is It?
The village of Spreyton has laid claim to Uncle Tom, claiming to have a picture of him on their website and that he is buried in their churchyard! There was indeed a Thomas Cobley buried there in 1844, but whether this is the same one is uncertain - according to legend, the original Uncle Tom Cobley died in Spreyton in 1794, and the gravestone may be that of his great nephew. The Brook family, still living in Spreyton, claim a lineage to the famous Cobley, and there seems little reason to doubt this.
Bill Brewer and Tom Pearce have been traced to nearby Sticklepath, so it is likely that at least some of the participants were real people.
