TORS OF DARTMOOR
a database of both lesser- & well-known rocks and outcrops
Cowsic TorMerlin's Cave
 About 50 metres upstream from the Beardown Clapper on the south bank of the Cowsic River is a small but interesting tor at the foot of a plantation of conifer trees. Easily accessed from the public footpath to Beardown Farm where camping is permitted with prior permission in an open field, most of the rocks are moss-covered and embedded in the turf. They extend for some distance below the trees, culminating in the largest part not far from the river which forms a tall, 3-metre high rock formation on the east side.  This is a most picturesque spot and although both William Crossing and Eric Hemery (p.396) describe the area, each giving information on the repair of the clapper bridge by the Dartmoor Preservation Association (DPA) in c.1890 after it was swept away in a flood, neither seem to mention the rocks, with the former describing a 'beautiful dell' and the latter a 'wooded ravine' here. Edward Bray, later Vicar of Tavistock, married Anna Eliza (A.E.) Bray and was the son of Edward Bray, who all believed in the druids. A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures and the Brays were spiritual. Mr. Bray, senior, purchased Beardown in c.1802, including Beardown Tors which were enclosed by a newtake.  In A.E. Bray's book, we learn that close to the Isle of Mona is an area known as 'Merlin's Cave', which we take to be what has been termed 'Cowsic Tor' in modern times. We believe this because the author describes it as 'a recess, or kind of grotto, that is contiguous to this island...' The intention was to put the following inscription here, but that has not been found in recent times: 'These mystic letters would you know, Take Merlin's wand that lies below.' With this magic wand, it is said that the bardic characters on two boulders at the west end of the Isle of Mona will be discernible, as the writing is not in English. Directly below Merlin's Cave and rediscovered in 2022 after it was cleared by Simon Dell is 'YE NAIADS VENERA', etched onto an earth-fast, pale smooth-faced boulder. This feature is at the lower end of a spectacular section of the Cowsic, where its waters wrap around the island and leap over huge granite boulders.
 A short way upstream of the rocks there is another inscribed stone just below the Devonport Leat Aqueduct at SX 6009 7540. Now very worn and difficult to decipher, it once read on its west face 'THIS STONE WAS REMOVED BY A FLOOD 17', and on its south face 'SWEET POESY! FAIR FANCY'S CHILD! THY IMPARADISE THE WILD.' The former inscription is not the work of Edward Bray but a more recent addition after the stone was supposedly shifted downstream during a flood.
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