Introduction Continued...

Phillpotts ran the gamut of literary styles.  He wrote mysteries, science fiction, fairy tales, poetry, plays, reminiscences, and essays, but his most important contribution to West Country literature is undoubtedly his series of novels about Dartmoor, which focus on local communities of the moor and their relationships with each other and the land.  There were originally meant to be fourteen novels in the series, beginning with Children of the Mist, first published in 1898, and ending with Widecombe Fair, first published in 1913.  However, Phillpotts went on to write four other novels and two volumes of short fiction that are also set on Dartmoor. These novels are all characterized by simple, straightforward dialogue suited to the simplicity of the characters, combined with Phillpotts’s flare for capturing local dialect that brings the characters to life.  Chapters also characteristically begin with a ‘setting of the stage’ in which the author removes himself from the context of the story in order to expound on the moor.  These novels also contain some particular themes that set them apart from the rest of Phillpotts’s work.  Patricia Milton argues that the Dartmoor novels are “infused with the author’s non-Christian ideology,” which proves to be a constant thematic thread, running throughout the series (172).  Phillpotts also continually puts the Dartmoorian in conflict with nature and with him/herself, intending to reveal a connection between the two. 

In his Dartmoor cycle Phillpotts has sought to diligently record all aspects of Dartmoor life and in doing so has created a detailed portrait of country living.  When beginning a new novel, Phillpotts would always go and spend time in the location where he wanted to set the novel so that he could be sure to capture the true essence of the land that he was writing about as well as the characters.  In fact, he would often take the actual names for his characters from gravestones in the town cemetery.  Phillpotts also spent a lot of time out on the moor sitting and describing his surroundings so that he could later put those descriptions into the novel in what have been termed “landscape paintings.”  Indeed, L. A. G. Strong has said of Phillpotts’s descriptions, “I know the scenes of several of these novels, and each bears witness to a careful, perceptive, loving first-hand study of the country at all seasons of the year…” (“Assessment” 34).  Such exquisite detail is present in all of the novels, but I will focus primarily on Widecombe Fair, since it was meant to be the last novel and culmination of the series.  

To read more about the Dartmoor Cycle click here

Widecombe Fair is loosely based on the famous annual fair held in the village of Widecombe-in-the-Moor.  This novel, though not as tragic as some of Phillpotts’s others, such as The Whirlwind or The Secret Woman, nor is it as concerned with such trades and industries of the moor as in Brunel’s Tower or Miser’s Money.  It is firmly focused on the people of the village and the sense of community that pervades every part of their lives.  As Strong has put it, “Widecombe Fair is not the most remarkable of the Dartmoor novels, but it is the kindliest, the warmest, the most lovable…The book keeps to the humdrum levels of ordinary rural life, its comedy rather than its tragedy, and makes them radiant with sympathy, [and] humor…” (Introduction v).

The novel also centers on the village folk and several of the major farming families are given roles.  It is the story of outlander, Tryphena Harvey, a young, innocent girl, who comes to live with relatives in this insulated village and subsequently unites the families and villagers in various ways.  There is no one true protagonist or antagonist; the plot and subplots focus on each family in turn and then make connections between them.  Milton states that all of the novels in the Dartmoor Cycle are “concerned with the same central theme, a romantic tangle ranging from two women interested in the same man to two men pursuing the same woman, with sundry suitors complicating the basic situation.  The most ruthless and guileful, or the most sexually attractive, succeed in winning the mate of choice” (174).  This observation holds true for Widecombe Fair with slight variations.  The main focus of the novel revolves around two sisters, Sibley and Petronell Shillingford, and their romantic interests, while Tryphena Harvey tries her best to help each sister find ultimate happiness.  Other satellite romances occurring in the village are woven into the larger fabric of the story to add depth to the over-arching theme of love and forgiveness.

Arguably, one of Phillpotts’s greatest achievements in his novels is the rendering of his characters and the authenticity that he brings to their speech and dialect.  “The certainty, the rhythm, the resonance of his rustic dialogue, the perfection of his ear and, above all, his power of character-drawing in depth, place it far beyond that of the professed writers of Devon speech” (“Assessment” 43). This mastery is especially notable in the dialogue of Phillpotts’s more colorful characters such as the Smerdon family in Widecombe Fair.  This little excerpt is from a conversation between Mrs. Smerdon, the wife of a farm laborer, and Gabriel Shillingford, a gentleman farmer:

‘Our childer comed in two batches,’ she said.  ‘Fust there was the grown-up lot, with Whitelock and Emma, as married Young Harry Hawke, and Jane, in service to Bag Park, and Ethel, the deaf one, to Plymouth, and Westover, the railway-engine stoker; and then I rested for five year—a most unheard-of thing, but a godsend to me, I’m sure.  I was ‘like a giant refreshed with wine,’ so my husband said, and at it I went again, and these five comed in nine years, not to name a pair of dead twins.’ (Phillpotts 109)

Strong asserts in his introduction to Widecombe Fair that “the folk in this story speak, to the last shade of expression, the speech you will hear up and down Devon if you have the ears to hear it, and especially the speech of Dartmoor, as they should…” (vi).  Of course, this aptitude with dialect is present in all of the novels of the Dartmoor Cycle and, more importantly, Phillpotts tailors the dialect in his novels to each specific community and setting.  Therefore, the dialect of the characters in Children of the Mist is thicker and slightly different from the dialect of the villagers in Widecombe Fair.  Compare this dialogue from Children of the Mist with the above excerpt from Widecombe Fair:

“The rising generation do take my breath twenty times a day,” said Mr. Blee.  “To think o’ that bwoy, in li’l frocks awnly yesterday, standin’ theer frontin’ two aged men wi’ such bouldacious language!”

“What would you do, Billy, if the gal was yourn?”

“Same as you to a hair.  Bid her drop the chap for gude’n all.  But theer’s devil’s pepper in that Blanchard.  He ain’t done with yet.”

“Well, well, he won’t shorten my sleep, I promise you.  Near two years is a long time to the young.  Lord knaws where a light thing like him will be blawed to, come two years.  Time’s on my side for certain.  And Phoebe’s like to change also.”

“Why, a woman’s mind’s no more’n a feather in a gale of wind at her time o’ life; though to tell her so’s the sure way to make her steadfast.” (20)

This little conversation towards the beginning of the novel gives a clear indication for what the dialect will be throughout the book: markedly different from the dialect of Widecombe Fair, and special for just that reason since it illustrates the point that Phillpotts was interested in revealing the incredible variety of life on Dartmoor and how drastically life can change from one village to the next.

To read more on Widecombe Fair click here

In terms of importance, it can be said that Eden Phillpotts is even more important today than he was at the time that these novels were originally published.  Today, his Dartmoor novels serve as a preservation of old customs and an old way of life that is quickly disappearing in our fast-paced, modern age.  Customs such as the wassailing of the apple trees at Christmas time are quickly disappearing, but the fact that Phillpotts has immortalized the event in Children of the Mist will help it live on for all of those who read the novel.  Phillpotts has set down a record of this country village and its plain Devon people in much the same way as Austen has documented the lives of the English country gentry, picking out the details with the belief that nothing about life is too small to be discounted.  Phillpotts’s novels should be of unquestionable interest to any Dartmoor enthusiast; they should also attract the fan of historical fiction, in their attention to period details of architecture and education, in the social habits and interactions of the characters, as well as the meticulous record of Devon dialect and custom. Strong sums up Phillpotts’s achievement in these novels the best:

One thing the student will be able to say with authority when he takes down a copy of Widecombe Fair [or any Dartmoor novel] and looks back across the centuries: this is how the people of Devon spoke, round about the start of the twentieth century, accent for accent, rhythm for rhythm, caught and set down with the faith and skill of an artist in words who knew and loved them (Introduction vii).

The Village of Widecombe

The actual village of Widecombe-in-the-Moor is nestled in one of the valleys of Dartmoor, surrounded by tors and downs, including the major topographical areas of Hamel Down, Honeybag Tor and Chinkwell Tor, Bonehill Down, and Top Tor and Pil Tor, with the East Webburn River bisecting it.  Seemingly, little has changed about the village since Phillpotts wrote about it in 1912; the village green looks very much the same as it did more than a century ago: St. Pancras Church stands out on the square among the other small businesses including the post office and the Old Inn, one of several pubs in town.  The square encircles a charming little green dominated by a great Yew tree at its center.   These days, some of the shops and businesses on the square have been converted to cater to tourists, such as the Sexton’s Cottage, which is now a National Trust shop.  However, as in Phillpotts’s time, villagers are still wary of outsiders and tend to keep to themselves.  I had a bit of trouble with this myself when I was taking photographs in preparation for this site.  I wanted a picture of one of the farms featured in Widecombe Fair, now converted into a pony trekking operation, and when I asked the proprietor of the farm whether it would be alright if I took a picture, she specifically asked if “lots of people” would see it.  I presumed she was worried that she would be inundated with tourists, and so I was quick to assure her that no names would be mentioned and that the photo would simply serve to illustrate a part of the town.  This incident is in many ways similar to one that Phillpotts had when he was preparing to write The Three Brothers (1909).  He had been trying for years to gain entry to a hotel in the area of the setting for the novel, but the landlady kept refusing, insisting that she would be put into a novel: “‘I don’t want en yur,” she told her daughter. “I knows the toad.  ’E’s mind to hearken to me, and put me in a book’” (“Assessment” 33).  After reading this account and experiencing the shyness of Dartmoorians first-hand, I came to the conclusion that all Dartmoor dwellers, not just the residents of Widecombe, enjoy their privacy.