<< Our Photo Pages >> Ten Commandments Stone - Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature in England in Devon
Submitted by AngieLake on Tuesday, 01 June 2010 Page Views: 13178
Natural PlacesSite Name: Ten Commandments Stone Alternative Name: Ten Commandments StonesCountry: England County: Devon Type: Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
Nearest Town: Ashburton Nearest Village: Widecombe in the Moor
Map Ref: SX735731
Latitude: 50.543944N Longitude: 3.786692W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
Internal Links:
External Links:
I have visited· I would like to visit
TheCaptain visited on 7th Dec 2022 - their rating: Amb: 5 Access: 3 A day to myself, and decide to go to Totnes, but first go the scenic way through Buckland, then decide to walk out to Buckland Beacon for a look at the Ten Commandments stones. The views from here are fantastic, right down to the sea all around the south, including right along the Teign estuary. Great to spend time looking all around the north and west trying to figure out all the various tors and bits of Dartmoor previously visited. Magnificent. There is a very interesting series of Boundary stones to the north, one of which looked to me like an old cross originally.
ChasDrown visited on 1st Jan 1954 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 4 Access: 4
DartmoorDog visited - their rating: Cond: 4 Visited since the inscription was renewed.
AngieLake have visited here
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 4.5 Ambience: 4.5 Access: 3.5
Two large flat slabs of granite lie, like an open book, just underneath the southern slopes of Buckland Beacon's rugged tor.
To quote from www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/ten_command.htm :
"In 1928 Parliament rejected the adoption of the proposed new Book of Common Prayer. This was seen by many as a victory for Protestantism as the new book was considered a 'popish trend'. One that certainly shared that view was the then lord of Buckland Manor - Mr William Whitely of Wellstor. To celebrate this 'victory' he commissioned a sculptor called W. A. Clement to engrave the Ten Commandments on two 'tables of stone' on Buckland Beacon. Gunnell, 1977, pp25-6, interviewed Mr Clement who informed him that he and a colleague first dressed the two selected stones, Clement then with prayer book in hand started engraving them. Work was started on the 23rd of July 1928. The wording on the left-hand slab was the first four commandments and then the dates December 15th 1927 - June 14th 1928. These dates represent the dates of the readings of the bill in parliament. Following this at the bottom were the words of a favourite quotation of Mr Whitley's." ......
"On the second slab the remaining six commandments are written. Clements then realised there was a large blank space and suggested to Whitely that an eleventh commandment was added, this being "John, Chapter 13 Verse 34," along with the third verse of the hymn, 'Oh God Our Help in Ages Past'. " .....
"The work was finally completed on August 31st 1928, and Mr Clement had earned the nickname of 'Moses'. When he was first presented with his new name he said he was nothing like Moses because he was not going to carry those huge slabs down from the beacon. During the task 'Moses' lived in a 'cow shed' at the edge of the nearby woods. His bed was some wire netting and his light a candle, a nearby stream allowed him to wash and obtain drinking water. Although this feat may not seem that difficult imagine day in and day out being knelt beside the stones chipping away in all weathers, Buckland Beacon is a very exposed promontory to say the least."
And a little more about Buckland Beacon:
"Buckland Beacon stands at a lofty height of 1,253ft (382m) and is one of the chain of Dartmoor frontier heights which was and is used as a fire beacon. An inscription on a rock records that it was used in 1935. It reads: "Buckland Beacon. A beacon fire one of a chain lit here by the Parishioners of Buckland-in-the-Moor in celebration of their Majesties' silver jubilee May 6th 1935. And the people shouted and said 'God save the King." Buckland Beacon was part of the fire chain of beacons for both the Millennium and Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee celebrations."
I didn't notice that one on my visit yesterday.
(More info on the above-quoted website.)
Before leaving I had a look around the area, especially to find 'Stidwell' (Spring), marked in blue on the OS map, just south of the stones. This was located on the east side of the wall, after walking downhill on a steep, well-worn track adjacent to the west side of the dry-stone wall.
I also climbed the stile to the east of Buckland Beacon and took a look at Welstor Rock, part of which looked like the prow of a wrecked ship. (Assume I got the correct one here .. not one rock, as such, but a whole pile of granite rocks of all shapes, typical of Dartmoor's Tors.)
There is also info on the walk there on Richard Knight's excellent website: http://www.richkni.co.uk/dartmoor/10command.htm
He says:
"This is an incredibly easy walk of less than 1 mile over flat ground. However the views are worth it from the Buckland Beacon. You can see over much of the South Hams and in good conditions - the English Channel. On the north side much of the Northern Moors can be seen. Below the beacon lies the 2 rocks of the Mosaic Commandments. These were commissioned in 1928 by the Buckland Manor. An Exmouth mason took around ten weeks to complete the task.
Park at Cold East Cross (SX 740742) and take the southerly track towards Buckland Beacon. Dead flat over easy ground but you are high up here and exposed. The 10 Commandments Rock is just below the Beacon. Very popular family walk - especially in summer."
Well, I wouldn't say it was dead flat, but it wasn't difficult. It was very breezy up there, though!
I actually parked at/near Cold East Cross where the 'P' is shown on my OS map, but the car parking arrangement shown in Richard Knight's description of the walk is actually several hundred yards south of the crossroads. I began my walk from there, and followed the wall upslope til I got to Buckland Beacon, but returning, I followed a N/S line of boundary markers which brought me back to my car on a more level walk, to rejoin the road about 100 yds + NW of my car.
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