William Keble Martin 1887-1969
Keble, Arthur and Jack were the sons of the Rev Martin of Dartington and in 1904 along with some friends they all embarked on a camping holiday to the moor. This was to be the first of many such vacations over the next 9 years beside the Wella Brook. At this time the nearby Huntingdon Warren was still occupied and so fresh milk, eggs, Bread and the odd Rabbit were supplied. In his autobiography he wrote....
Each year we blocked the brook with rocks in order to make a bathing pool the brook was full of Trout and after catching about 100 we had permission from the Duchy of Cornwall to shoot Rabbits. We had a little sheltered Gully in the rocks which was our Church and Arthur inscribed a cross at one end. We had morning service here we called the area Mattins Corner.
He Describes Adders which caused no harm, Foxes hunting with dripping wet coats, Red Grouse, Caterpillars and skylarks. It must have been idyllic.
Keble would later became a priest in Wath-upon-Dearne in the midlands then a Chaplain in the Army during WW1. In 1921 he was offered the benefice of Haccombe and Coffinswell in Devon and in 1934 Great Torrington.
Keble was a keen Botanist and Illustrator and in 1965 when the author was 88 his book was published The Concise British Flora. The book was the result of 60 years meticulous fieldwork and exquisite paintings and became an immediate best seller.
The Chapel itself held a marriage of a local geocacher; Dartmoor Deliverer on the 12th May 1990! There is a little sign that says the last divine worship was held on 11th July 1982.
