Post by Dave on Nov 5, 2017 15:52:42 GMT
Parke House & River Bovey Walk 5th November 2017
It was just too good a day to stay in with the sun shining bright even if it did feel rather cold. So off I headed to the Parke Estate near Bovey Tracey.
Bovey Tracey was an established Saxon community and takes its name from the River Bovey. The name first appears in Domesday Book as Bovi and possibly earlier as Buui. The town gained its second name from the de Tracey family who were lords of the manor after the Norman Conquest, and was first documented as Bovitracy in 1309.
The original Parke House was believed to have been built in the fourteenth century, sadly there is little information regarding the old house but it appears to have been essentially medieval with some later additions. Fragments from it appear to have been incorporated into the new house and its setting. The old house was demolished by William Hole in 1826 and the new house constructed by 1828.
At the time of William Hole's purchase of Parke the house was accounted to be in a bad state. A contemporary description states that 'the house has an ancient appearance but is in a dilapidated condition. I have not been able to find one single picture of the old house, but at least we know why it was knocked down and a new house build on the site. No remains above ground remains of the old house, but alleged markings can be made out on the lawn in dry weather.
Today it is owned by the National Trust who rent it out to the Dartmoor National Park Authority. Many people park in the car park and use it as a base for walking along the River Bovey and even onto Lustleigh which is a very beautiful village. Within a pretty courtyard and garden setting close to the house you will find the Home Farm Cafe and Restaurant which was very busy today.
I do wonder if the old house was damaged by Oliver Cromwell when he was in town in 1646. During the English Civil War on 9 January of that year, Oliver Cromwell and a contingent of his Roundhead army entered Bovey Tracey after dark and caught part of Lord Wentworth's Regiment by surprise, catching a number of officers playing cards in an inn.
Many of Wentworth's Royalist troops escaped, but Cromwell did capture about 400 horses. If local legend is to be believed, the Royalists escaped by throwing coins from the windows in order to distract the poorly paid Roundhead troops. The next day a battle was fought on nearby Bovey Heath ending in victory for Cromwell's army.
I got to the Parke Estate around lunchtime and was so close to leaving straight away as the car park was full, but I waited around for a while and managed in the end to park the car. It is a shame you are unable to go into Parke House as I believe it has some wonderful features inside.
The walk along the banks of the River Bovey is a pleasant walk but it can be a bit muddy at times as was the case today. It is very popular with dog walkers who today were making the most of the sunshine.
A little way along the walk you come across a medieval weir. The leat close by was created to power a water mill in Bovey Tracey.. The earliest map showing the leat is dated 1641, In the 1920s the owner of Parke, Major Hole, was concerned about aspects of the water in his leat being used to develop Bovey Tracey's electricity supply. According to correspondence, an inspector from the Dartmoor Electricity Supply Company Ltd was impeded from checking the leat on 9 November 1922.
I walked a good way along the banks of the river before turning around and heading back to Parke House and really enjoyed today’s walk,
