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Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/388

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Of Dartmoor and its Borderland. 25 end being very remarkable. One represents a smith at work ; another a sow suckling a litter of eight ; and the third the head of a Turk. In the north transept, which was restored in 1862, is a stained window, with figures of the four evangel- ists, and in the east wall of the same is a brass, having engraved upon it the effigy of a female. It was discovered in the year just mentioned, close at hand, along with another, -which was unfortunately destrpyed. A portion only of the screen remains, but it is very beautifully carved. A little over three hundred years ago Ugborough Church vras the scene of a competition between two candidates for the post of parish clerk. In order to decide between them, an arrangement was made that they should ** tune the psalm,'* and this was accordingly carried out. The one who was defeated was John Prideaux, of Stowford, in the adjoining parish of Harford, and he felt the disappointment very keenly. But it was the means of introducing him to higher things. Not long after he left Ugborough and made his way to Oxford. Working first in the kitchen of Exeter College, he devoted all his spare time to study, and was at length admitted to its literary privileges. In three years he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and was afterwards raised by Charles I. to a bishopric. ^' If I could have been parish clerk of Ugborough," he used to say, "I had never been Bishop of Worcester.'* In the parish of Ugborough was born in 1620, Sir John Kempthorn, an eminent naval commander, who in engagements with the Turks and Dutch proved himself a brave officer. A relic of pre-historic times was found in 1889, on Wood- land Farm. This was a stone adze, 3^ inches in length, 2^ inches in breadth, the hole in it measuring i inch by ^ of an inch. In the portion of this parish that lies upon Dartmoor are not a few interesting memorials of the people who at an early period made the wild hills their home. Bidding Ugborough and its church adieu, we shall make our way to Owley Gate, which opens on to Ugborough Moor, below the Eastern Beacon, and for this purpose shall retrace our steps to Sandowl Cross, and thence proceed to Wrangaton Station. Crossing the line and entering the lane leading to the moor, a walk of about a mile and a half will bring us to the gate. Here we shall observe a rough track, pursuing which