Pixies' Pool, Ina's Coobe, Tavistock ([1836])

Bray, Mrs. The borders of the Tamar and the Tavy. London: W. Kent, 1879. Vol. II. pp. 137-8. There is one place in Kilworthy which deserves peculiar notice; it is where formerly a pond was supplied by a pretty little streamlet that runs meandering through the grounds. Above this, at the spot I allude to, an old broken bridge of a single arch, and miniature dimensions, still crosses it. The spot is so hung with aged trees, their roots starting from the banks, and overshadowing with their green arms the rippling waters, that it is the very scene in which one would fancy the pixies and fays make their haunts. Here the space is not large; the eye cannot wander beyond its green enclosure of deep boughs. All is still and apparently remote from human habitation: so sheltered is it from the winds that they seldom wander here in rude gusts. The birds are very fond of building their nests in this place, and seldom have I visited it without being struck by the peculiar effect produced by that wild music, so sweet to the ear of fancy, that they made among the boughs, whilst the vocalists themselves were often unseen. The notes of the blackbird and thrush mingled delightfully with the very gentlest murmur of the very softest stream. […]This place has, since I endeavoured to describe a scene suggested by it, received the name of the Pixies' Pool. Few scenes, indeed, will afford to the mind of the painter and the poet a more calm and contemplative pleasure, than that experienced whilst listening to the wild songs of the birds, and looking on the still and clear shadows in the Pixies' Pool.[Text may be taken from a different source or edition than that listed as the source by Somers Cocks.]

Wood engr vign

133x104mm