High upon Dartmoor's rough bounds lies a simple granite rock which from a distance appears as a natural feature on the landscape. However,closer inspection reveals the stone's secret. Inscribed are the words..Ted Hughes OM....1930- 1998.
For the stereotypical dour north countyman who became one of the nation's greatest poets,it was the rolling expanses of Devon in 'the soft south' which became his spiritual home.
In 1961 Ted Hughes moved to the small village of North Tawton which is just outside the boundaries of the National Park. During the 1970's he worked on his father-in-law's farm where he recorded his experiences in a collection of poems called 'Moortown'. He also loved to walk the moor and again the Taw and Dart rivers gave him the inspiration for another collection of poems called 'The River'. In 1984 he became the poet laureate. Ted Hughes died of cancer in 1998 and was cremated on the 3rd of November. In accordance to his wishes and will his ashes were scattered at a private ceremony near to Taw Head. He had also expressed a wish that a simple granite stone be engraved with his name and sited near the rising of the Taw, Dart, East Okement and Teign rivers and the task was given to his friend Ian Cook. It is current Duchy policy to deter the erection of any memorial on Dartmoor and despite having the Prince of Wales' sanction it was not until the November of 2001 that the memorial was flown by helicopter to its specified location. In order for this to take place permission had to be obtained from English Nature and the Dartmoor National Park Authority who took advice from their ecology and archaeology experts.
The memorial's exact location was kept a close secret . It was thought that if the whereabouts of the memorial was known it could possibly became a shrine which would be contradictory to his private nature. Another theory was that in light of the suicide of his former wife, Sylvia Plath, there was a very real danger that the memorial would be vandalised by sympathetic feminists. There was also some talk of the military objecting to the memorial because Ted Hughes was a vocal conservationist and campaigner against the use of Dartmoor for military training. The actual granite for the memorial is thought to have come from an area just east of Beardown Woods.
As with many things on Dartmoor it is only time before an sharp eyed walker comes across a 'new' feature and this memorial was no exception. In the summer of 2003 the location of the stone was reported in the national press and it did not take long for the grid co-ordinates to become local knowledge.
The memorial's exact location was kept a close secret . It was thought that if the whereabouts of the memorial was known it could possibly became a shrine which would be contradictory to his private nature. Another theory was that in light of the suicide of his former wife, Sylvia Plath, there was a very real danger that the memorial would be vandalised by sympathetic feminists. There was also some talk of the military objecting to the memorial because Ted Hughes was a vocal conservationist and campaigner against the use of Dartmoor for military training. The actual granite for the memorial is thought to have come from an area just east of Beardown Woods.
As with many things on Dartmoor it is only time before an sharp eyed walker comes across a 'new' feature and this memorial was no exception. In the summer of 2003 the location of the stone was reported in the national press and it did not take long for the grid co-ordinates to become local knowledge.
However,only a true devotee of the great man would seek out this simple lump of granite atop the rolling moors and there it lies to this day. Mute Witness to the elemental cycle of Dartmoor in all it's transient moods and colours.
Moors
Are a stage
For the performance of heaven.
Any audience is incidental.
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