Ilsington St Michael's Church Lych Gate, Ilsington, Dartmoor National Park

Ilsington St Michael's Church Lych Gate, Ilsington, Dartmoor National Park

Just west of Ilsington St Michael's Church is Ilsington St Michael's Church Lych Gate. A local information board reads:

'The first building on this site that we know of was likely to have been of medieval origin, for in the year 1639 it was being used as a schoolroom for about 30 boys, taught by Hannibal Corbyn. However, on 17th September of that year (a very wet day and with only 17 at school) and with the time "near upon eleven of the clock", the schoolmaster and his pupils were getting ready "to depart" for their dinner when a woman passed through the heavy gate underneath and let it slam in the windy weather - with dramatic consequences. In fact, before she had gone very far the whole structure collapsed like a pack of cards - walls fell outwards and the roof onto the floor of the room, so that "not once stick, stone or pin of the whole structure remained where it was placed".