On Tuesday 18th October 2016 seven eager Dartmoor Society volunteers, namely Tom and Elisabeth Greeves, Barrie Quilliam, Tanya and Barry Welch who brought along some of their tools, Simon Booty and Alex Booty who kindly brought their Land Rover as well as some tools, all met at the start of the track to Nun’s Cross Farm. The purpose was to complete the conservation work relating to the three remaining PCWW (Plymouth Corporation Water Works) standing stones.
Special thanks must go to Graham Colton for the use of his tractor and trailer and his tractor driver Mark Cole whose help was truly invaluable.
In 2017 it will be the 100th year Anniversary of the original erection of these stones and the Dartmoor Society felt that it was important to restore them to their former glory prior to their anniversary ensuring that they are all standing upright and not waterlogged, etc.
Sadly due to the excessive rain we had all experienced over the previous few days it transpired that after reaching the third and final stone to be repaired, sited towards Eylesbarrow, both the tractor and trailer unfortunately got wedged in soft ground and proved to be totally stuck.
A very special thank you must go to Simon and Alex Booty who went all the way back to their Farm at Sherril and then returned to the site with their own tractor and trailer to assist with the situation.
After transferring the growan/subsoil from Mark’s trailer into the other trailer by hand and then attaching chains to the front of Mark’s tractor we were then able to gently pull Mark’s tractor and trailer to firmer ground.
The Dartmoor Society is greatly indebted to everyone involved with this project, and thanks to the restoration work carried out on the PCWW stones on three separate occasions this important work is now complete.
Next year the Dartmoor Society will be arranging a special walking event with the stones as the centrepiece in order to celebrate this vital part of Dartmoor history.
Write-ups regarding the two previous work days are available under ‘Archives’ dated 27th October 2015 with an automatic link to the project day prior, which had taken place on 2nd October 2014.