Brentmoor House (remains of)

 ruins, place with historical importance, abandoned / shut down, estate (manor / mansion land), mysterious, haunted place, interesting place

You can see the entrance to the garden area, but the house, stables, barns, dairy, servants’ quarters, cottage, kennels are now nothing but heaps of rubble. Altogether this was the hub of a 3.000 acre estate mostly on the west side of the Avon. The ghost of a nursemaid who suffocated one of her small charges and was said to haunt the mansion also disappeared when the house was demolished.

On the way up to the main site of the house, keep a look out on you left hand side for here stands a memorial on a ledge which is almost hidden under dark evergreens. It commemorates (Margaret/Mary?), the young daughter of Francis Meynell, who died after a riding accident. The spot was not so gloomy as it is now and there was a lily pond at the foot of the rock although the memorial is now very faded it reads:

March 27th 1865
My lovely little Lily
thou were gathered very soon
In the fresh and dewy morning
not in the glare of noon
The saviour sent his angels
To bear thee hence my own
And they`ll plant thee in that garden
where decay is never known

Brentmoor House had been an ordinary 17th century farmstead with animal housing and an orchard until it was bought by Francis Meynell in 1855, who expanded it into the status of a mansion for his family to live in after he retired from the East India Company where he also painted images of slavery to actively protest against it. After he died of illness and a series of tragic deaths in the house, it was passed on and became the Hunt masters lodge at the turn of the century. Between the Wars it became a holiday home and one such vacant was William Prichard, a well-known pianist who held musical events for the local children at the grounds of the house. During WW2 it became the site for the evacuation of deaf children. After WW2 it became a successful Youth Hostel until it was shut down by the water company in 1955 (exactly 100 years after Meynell bought it) when the Avon Dam reservoir and its associated treatment works were built. After concluding it was in the water catchment area in case the dam burst (Strangely properties nearby though some more vulnerable were left alone), it was blown-up in 1968 as a Royal Marines exercise. Prior to destruction it had also deteriorated and was in poor repair due to vandalism. The site was later sold by South West Water, and requests to redevelop have been refused by Dartmoor National Park. The site of the house is open to access and is surrounded by the Dartmoor Commons.

To get here simply park at Shipley Bridge car park and follow the tarmac water authority road up the river Avon. It should only be a five or ten minute walk (unless you really took your time) at maximum to get to the site of the house. You will know when you enter the grounds because the open moorland will give way to rhododendron and tall conifers, you will also have to pass through a formal gateway. The first thing to take note of is the memorial of (Margaret /Mary?) Who died in a riding accident/disease? The memorial is a stone structure perched above a granite ledge on your left hand side not far from the entrance gate. A depression before the granite slab indicates where a lily pond had once been. Continuing on will take you along a usually damp and sinister part of the road cut between the thick rhododendron and conifer woodland and the river. On the other side of the river (east bank) is the remains of an orchard, once accessed by a footbridge.

You will emerge into a large opening with remains of walls and gate posts; this is the site of the original house. The first part is the front garden, on the first entrance way can be seen the figure ‘1947’ carved into some concrete. Further on, a second entrance will mark the northern perimeter and the first entrance the southern perimeter of the house. The flat area north of this was the vegetable plot, beyond that can be seen the concrete foundations of the dairy and possible kennels. Another flat area at the northern most perimeter of the property is littered in broken glass indicating the presence of a one-time green house. If you dare venture into the undergrowth of the rhododendron on the far west side, you will find the remains of the stables and ‘cottages.’ A small opening in the rhododendron near the front area of the house leads to a heavily overgrown water system and terrace gardens. To the right will lead you to the foot of a series of ghostly, dangerous and very steep steps rumoured to lead to a cache. There is a modern geocache up there now.

WARNING
The area around the house is thick in rhododendrons and conifers of which many are diseased and hence could fall in strong winds, visit with caution.