Widecombe Village

Widecombe Village

[ May, 2015 ] The village of Widecombe, in Dartmoor, England, is a very pretty place, where the simple stone houses surround the village green.

The St. Pancras Church in the village, which has a tall tower, is called the ‘Cathedral of the Moors’.

Inside this church, we found an interesting ornament.

This figure of 7 men sitting on a horse shows a scene in a famous song, which apparently most English people know.

The song goes “7 men borrowed Tom Pearce’s horse and went to the Widecombe Fair, but because they got drunk, they all rode the horse together and the horse died”.

They think this is a real story which happened at the beginning of the 19th century.

The Widecombe Fair, which is a livestock fair, is still held every September.

Next to the church, there is a Church House.

Some Japanese people were organising an exhibition of Japanese ink paintings there.

This house was built in the early 16th century originally as a brewery, which became a school later and now, it is a meeting place.

I was surprised to see that there is a small Japanese community here in this countryside in England.