A Pictorial Journey Around South West England Quiz

Answer: Gulf Stream

Consisting of one hundred and forty-five islands, the beautiful Isles of Scilly occupy a position in the western approaches to the English Channel. Their location, bathed in the warmer waters of the Gulf Stream, blesses the archipelago with a fine sub-tropical climate in which even bananas have been known to grow without the assistance of greenhouses! The warm water often brings wildlife more accustomed to the islands of the Caribbean to its beaches. Turtles are frequent visitors and examples of fish species such as Trigger Fish have also been captured by fishermen in these waters. The Isles of Scilly are one of the best habitats for bird-watching in the United Kingdom with colonies of Manx Shearwaters and Puffins providing excitement for the 'twitchers' amongst us. Of the total number of islands in the archipelago, only five are inhabited; these being St. Mary's, St. Martin's and St. Agnes with Bryher and Tresco as the remaining pair.

This picture is the view looking eastwards from the island of Tresco toward a small group of uninhabited islands. With its crystal clear waters, perfect white sands and proliferation of palm trees, sadly out of shot in this picture, if it wasn't for the vegetation in the foreground, you could be forgiven for thinking that this was view from any of the chain of Caribbean islands.

Answer: Agatha Christie

There can be few who are unaware of the great crime novelist Agatha Christie. She was born in the Devon seaside town of Torquay on the 15th of September 1890. Her first novel, which was published in 1920, was 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles' and over the decades to follow she became one of the world's bestselling and most read authors, her works having sold in excess of two billion copies worldwide. Greenway house and estate is located near the Devon village of Galmpton on the northern bank of the River Dart and has been described as 'the loveliest place in the world'. Now under the custodianship of the National Trust, the house is open to the public and throughout the year theatre groups stage performances of plays within the grounds; there is also an opportunity for budding writers to attend workshops in the most relaxing of surroundings.

Agatha Christie's play, 'The Mousetrap', is the world's longest running stage play; it is still being staged at the time of writing after being first performed on the 6th of October 1952!

Answer: Widecombe-in-the-Moor

The phrase 'Uncle Tom Cobley' never actually referred to a specific individual, unlike the other names mentioned in the song 'Widecombe Fair'. In this case it is a term used to refer to anybody, anyone or all and sundry; the other names mentioned in the song are all believed to be those of real persons from the village of Spreyton and the surrounding area. The grey mare mentioned in the song was believed to have belonged to another Spreyton resident, Tom Pearce, whose grey mare died after being borrowed to transport those wishing to travel to Widecombe and attend the annual fair.

The view of Widecombe-in-the-Moor that the traveller is presented with as they descend from the high ground of Dartmoor is a sight to behold. The building that first catches the viewer's eye is the Church of Saint Pancras, the 'Cathedral of the Moor', and then the small groups of houses clustered around it, all surrounded in turn by a patchwork of fields, hedgerows and copses. Although one of the largest population centres within the Dartmoor National Park boundary, Widecombe-in-the-Moor has a resident population of around just six hundred souls.

Answer: The Hundred Years War

This picture, which should lead you to the correct answer, is a well known artwork which shows a scene from the Battle of Sluys which is attributed to the contemporary artist Jean Froissart. This action, which took place in June 1340, is generally accepted as the first battle of the Hundred Years War.

Dartmouth Castle is situated on a rocky outcrop on the southern bank of the River Dart, just a stone's throw from the open sea. Surprisingly, this small and apparently insignificant building was of crucial importance to England during the Hundred Years War with France. Work on the castle started during 1388, a period during which Dartmouth was one of the most important ports on the south coast of England. During the final years of the fifteenth century improvements were made and Dartmouth Castle became the first coastal fort in Britain equipped with cannon heavy enough to sink any vessels that may try to enter its deep water harbour.

Answer: Exeter Cathedral

Hopefully the clue that I have selected here should lead your thinking toward Roman Britain and the only Roman city in this part of England is the city of Isca Dumnoniorum, better known today as Exeter.

Superbly preserved, Exeter's Roman city walls were constructed long before work on its magnificent gothic cathedral began. The bell known as 'Peter' or 'Great Peter' to the local population, is located in the cathedral's massive Norman north tower and is one of the heaviest bells in England weighing in at 80cwt. The current bell which was cast by Thomas Purdue in 1676 replaced the original bell which had been in existence in the tower since 1484. In addition to 'Peter' the cathedral possesses a peal of fourteen bells in its south tower which is the second heaviest peal of bells in the world, the honour of first place being held by Liverpool Cathedral.

Salisbury Cathedral, located in the city of Salisbury, Wiltshire, possesses the highest steeple in Great Britain at 404 feet in height and is home to the best of the four surviving original copies of the Magna Carta. Truro Cathedral is relatively young by any standard being constructed during the 19th century and is the largest building in the only city in the county of Cornwall. Insignificant today, Crediton Parish Church, formerly the Church of the Holy Cross in Crediton was, at one point in history, also a cathedral; it housed the seat of the diocese of Crediton until that seat moved to Exeter in 1050CE. It was also at Crediton that Winfrith, known later as St. Boniface, the patron saint of Germany, was believed to have been born in circa 675CE.

Answer: Saint Michael's Mount

According to legend, long ago in a cave at the summit of the rock upon which the castle now stands, lived a giant by the name of Cormoran. This giant would wade ashore at night and cause distress, death and disruption amongst the local population; that was until he was trapped and killed by a young local man who became known as 'Jack the Giant Killer' and, if you look very closely on the ground as you ascend the rock, you may see the large blackish stone known as the Giant's Heart embedded in the pathway to the summit.

The rock only became an island around four thousand years ago when Mount's Bay became flooded by rising sea levels and it was at about this time that humans first occupied the island. During the Sixth Century a meeting here between the Saints Cadoc and Keyne was alleged to have led to the establishment of a religious community on the island and recent archaeological finds have helped to lend weight to the theory that a pre-Norman community of monks and hermits were living here. In around 1080 the island was linked to Mont St. Michel, Normandy by a grant of Robert, Count of Mortain and the half brother of William the Conqueror. Over the centuries ownership of the island has passed from monarch to monarch and from family to family, often through violent means. In 1588 the first beacon warning of the arrival in the English Channel of the Spanish Armada was lit on Saint Michael's Mount and in 1646 the island, until that date a supporter of the royalist cause, surrendered to parliamentary forces in order to prevent further loss of life and damage to the castle and church at the summit.

In 1659 the island was purchased by Colonel John St Aubyn whose descendants still occupy the wonderful group of buildings on this Cornish gem today.

Answer: Tor

The granite massifs known as 'tors' can be found across the south west, although they are more usually associated with Dartmoor thanks, in the main, to a number of literary references.

The tor in this view is known as Haytor and is one of the most accessible and popular destinations for a day out in Devon's Dartmoor National Park. The terrain around a tor should always be treated with respect; many of the more remote examples are surrounded by dangerous bogs known locally as 'mires'. The incredibly dangerous mires that surround Fox Tor were made famous by the author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle when he renamed them Grimpen Mire for use in his popular novel 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'. The highest tor on Dartmoor is High Willhayes at six hundred and twenty-one metres whilst the summit here at Haytor reaches a height of four hundred and fifty-seven metres. The highest tor on Cornwall's Bodmin Moor is known as 'Brown Willy' from the Cornish 'Bronn Wennili' or 'Hill of Swallows' which stands at four hundred and twenty metres; this is also the highest point in the entire county.

Answer: The Mayflower

Hopefully, any of our American friends who have visited the city of Plymouth in south Devon will have visited the city's Barbican district and will have seen the innocuous flight of steps down to the water known as 'The Mayflower Steps'. It was down this flight that the Pilgrim Fathers and their families descended to be transferred to their vessel, the Mayflower, on the 6th of September 1620... It is surprising just how few people who live in this part of England realise the importance of this site; the last piece of British soil that these heroic families walked upon before settling in the New World. Today the embarkation of the Pilgrim Fathers is commemorated by a small portico which was constructed in 1934 from Portland stone.

The 'Mayflower' in this picture was built in 1861 by GK Stothert & Co; she is the oldest surviving Bristol built steam tug and the oldest still operating steam tug in the world. The 'Mayflower' is preserved and based at Bristol Docks where she is maintained by a number of volunteers and enthusiasts, earning her keep through offering river and harbour rides to paying members of the public.

Answer: Newquay

Any visitor to the seaside town of Newquay could be forgiven for believing that the town is anything but a magnet for surfers and party-goers whilst it is, in fact, still a busy fishing port. Of course, most of the visitors to Newquay head straight towards its impressive collection of wide and relatively safe sandy beaches. Just a short distance to the west from this popular beach and from the town centre lays Fistral Beach, one of the United Kingdom's meccas for surfing and those that follow the surfing lifestyle.

The beach in this picture is Towan Beach, one of Newquay's smallest and the tiny island here always attracts crowds of sightseers. Known as 'Towan Island', it is cut off by the sea with each and every high tide. Access to the private residence which was built in 1901 and which is eighty feet above the beach, is gained across the narrow and privately maintained suspension bridge that can be seen in this view.

In 2003 the residents and owners of this house, Lord and Lady Long, found themselves the centre of controversy after complaining to Newquay Council about the noise from the raucous parties on the beach below which led to many revellers nefarious activities being banned... I'm not surprised that the couple sold up and left the area in 2010!

Answer: The Great Western Railway

Resplendent in their green and chocolate and cream livery, the locomotives and passenger coaches operated by the Great Western Railway were a common sight in the south west of England before the nationalisation of the railway companies to form British Railways in 1948. The Great Western Railway or GWR was founded in 1833 with its first trains being operated in 1838. The network which was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, one of Great Britain's foremost engineers, originally used a wide seven foot gauge track which was contrary to every other railway company at that time; it was necessary for anyone travelling from the north, east or south-east of the country to have to change trains as they approached the areas of the midlands, Wales and south west England serviced by the GWR. After a series of amalgamations, the GWR eventually adopted the standard four foot, eight and a half inch gauge which is still in use in the United Kingdom today.

The striking Royal Albert Bridge pictured here spans the River Tamar between Plymouth and Saltash in Cornwall, and was completed in 1859. The bridge carries the name of its designer and architect at each end as a tribute as Brunel died just five months after it had been officially opened by Prince Albert on the 2nd of May 1859.