A collection of walks, discoveries, insights and pictures of exploring Dartmoor National Park
November 4, 2025
Dolly Trebble
To any Dartmoor enthusiast, the Dolly Trebble Story, or indeed ‘Legend’ will no doubt have been encountered at some stage or another. The story of Dolly’s life on Dartmoor with her husband and family from late 18th century and through the 19th century is intriguing and interesting from a social history perspective but the prominence of Dolly is unlikely to have reached such notoriety over the following century or so had it not been for the pen of Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould.
In his ‘Book of Dartmoor’, Baring-Gould wrote 3 pages of a rather fanciful account of Dolly, describing her life from being an orphan, to attracting the romantic attentions of both Thomas Tyrwhitt (of Princetown fame) and the Prince Regent (who would become George IV) before being married to a moorman called Tom, to working at a Tin Mine in her 80’s and finally to being bestowed a typical Dartmoor Funeral with her coffin being carried many miles across the moor by Tin Miners whilst women mourners sang psalms along the way. Other Dartmoor authors have repeated many of these stories in subsequent publications up to a century later.
It would seem that the only accurate part of Baring-Gould’s story of Dolly in his book, is the location of a cottage where she lived for part of her life, namely; Dolly’s Cott near the East Dart river below Brimpts. Baring-Gould even got the name of her husband wrong, an error which Eric Hemery around 80 years later seems to have repeated.
There is a rather fabulous very well researched article, written in 1989 by the then editor of the Dartmoor Magazine, Elisabeth Stanbrook about Dolly Trebble, which is well worth a read. In the article, Elisabeth Stanbrook takes the reader through the whole of Dolly’s life, including where she lived, who her husband and children were, all their occupations and what eventually happened to them. It is this article plus information from other Dartmoor authors such as William Crossing, Eric Hemery and Mike Brown that this post has been compiled in an attempt to separate fact from fiction regarding the life of Dolly Trebble.
Bibliography
Sabine Baring-Gould – (2002) – A Book of Dartmoor (3rd Facsimile Edition) – Pages 196-198
Elisabeth Stanbrook – (1989)- The Dolly Trebble Story – The Dartmoor Magazine – No. 16 (pages 16/7).
Mike Brown – (1998) – Dartmoor Field Guides – Vol. 18 – Swincombe Valley – Whiteworks – West Dart Valley, East of Princetown
C.D. Linehan – (1966) – Deserted Sites and Rabbit-Warrens on Dartmoor
Eric Hemery (1983) – High Dartmoor – pages 363/4, 412, 560 and 576
William Crossing (1985 reprint) – Guide to Dartmoor – pages 458/459
Royal Commission for the Historical Monuments of England(RCHME) – (1987-1993) – Duchy Farms Project
Sabine Baring-Gould (28 January 1834 – 2 January 1924) came from Lewtrenchard and was an Anglican priest, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist, folk song collector and eclectic scholar. He was part of the Dartmoor Explorations Committee along with Robert Burnard, with whom he organised the first scientific archaeological excavations of hut-circles at Grimspound during 1893. His ‘Book of Dartmoor’ was first published in 1900 by Methuen and Co, where the Dolly Trebble story was first recorded
The above paragraphs are a synopsis of the Dolly Trebble story as portrayed by Rev. Sabine Baring-GouldThe above table is a timeline of Dolly’s life comparing the fanciful account by Baring-Gould with the more detailed and researched reality conducted by Elisabeth Stanbrook. The only accurate piece of information penned by Baring-Gould was where Dolly and her husband lived by the East Dart, which is now known as Dolly’s Cott. Dolly and William may only have lived in Dolly’s Cott for a couple of yearsThomas Tyrwhitt – He was a MP between 1796 and 1812 and was knighted in 1812 as a result of being appointed Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod. As well as being an MP he was the auditor of the Duchy of Cornwall in 1796 and Lord Warden of the Stannaries in 1803. He had Tor Royal built (started 1795), when his interest in turning Dartmoor from what was then a ‘desolate waste’, into a thriving place to live and work. He never married and would have been around 57 years old when Dolly and William Trebble got married
George IV (12th August 1762 – 26th June 1830) was King from 29th January 1820 until his death in 1830. It is thought, as Prince Regent, his last visit to Devon was in 1788, to see his brother, the Duke of Clarence, off on a voyage (ref: Crossing). This would have been 7 years before Dolly had been born and before Tor Royal was built. Ironically, George IV was born on the same day as Thomas Tyrwhitt in 1762.
St. Petrocs Church, Lydford where Dolly and William (not Tom) Trebble married. They were unable to write their names and left their ‘X’ marks. Intriguingly, Hemery (page 560) mentions a Tom Trebble as a young peasant and suggests he was related to William Trebble (who lived in Sherwell in 1825). The church wass mentioned in the 13th century and with earlier church having been sacked by the Danes in 997. The tower and south aisle were built in the 15th century and church was restored in the 19th century.This annotated map shows the location of Dolly’s Cott. It lies alongside a track which leads from the East Dart River to Brimpts. On the brow of the hill is a clump of trees called Seven Sisters.Approaching Dolly’s Cott from the river. Through the gate the path leads to Brimpts. This would have been the home of Dolly and William Trebble around 1823 to 1825The ruins of Dolly’s Cott in the 21st century consists of a remarkably well preserved south western gable end (the gable reaches 6m with the eaves 3.4m). Internally there is a large fireplace with shelving grooves to each side, which projects into the room; it is 1.4m wide, 1.25m high and 0.7m deep, with a dressed-granite lintel. The two storey building measures 6.4 metres by 4.1 metres (measured by RCHME) with its entrance centrally placed in the south eastern wall. There are fragmentary remains of the other three walls. There are two other structures associated with the ruin, one is a linhay and the other a possible undefined platformThe cottage is depicted in 1802 in a surveyors drawing and the plot was recorded in 1840 (Tithe Map) as “Northern Cottage, linhay and plots”, which was part of Brimpts Farm. It appears to have been abandoned before 1884.
Hornets Castle near Sherwell, known residence of Dolly and William Trebble from circa 1825 (ref: Stanbrook and Hemery). It was originally a labourer’s cottage for the farm Middle Sherrill. Hornet’s Castle was once called as Horner’s Castle as a family called Horner who used to live there. It appears to have been re-named circa 1949 (ref: Beeson and Masterman)
This annotated map shows the location of Dolly Trebble’s Cott, as named by Eric Hemery in High Dartmoor (page 364). The Dartmoor Magazine article (Stanbrook) suggests the Trebble’s may only have been here for a year or so, around 1850Gateway adjacent to Dolly Trebble’s Cott. The Swincombe Valley and Fairy Bridge can be seen in the composition. The enclosure in which the building is situated measures c.42 x 15m, the long axis E-W, and is five-sided.According to Eric Hemery in High Dartmoor, this settlement pre-dates 1780 because of the corn ditch-type enclosure wall and he cites structure as being “Swincombe Cottage” or “Dolly Trebble’s” house – it is more commonly known these days as Dolly Trebble’s Cott. Intriguingly, although William Crossing mentions the ruin (i.e. the two gateposts), but he never gave it a name.The RCHME provide an interesting insight into the ruin following their survey in July 1988. They state: ” the site cannot be said to be Medieval. Indeed Linehan (1966) records it as a deserted site, probably of C18th or C19th date”. They continue: “here is no record of the site on the OS survey of 1802-3, nor on the Lydford Tithe map of 1840 and is depicted as unroofed in 1886 (OS map)”. They conclude that “It is probably the cottage of a moorland worker. The enclosures are of different constructional form and could be earlier: taken with evidence for a rebuilding of the cottage, this might suggest more than one period of use”From around 1851 to 1877 (ref: Census returns and known year of death of William), Prince Hall was where Dolly and William lived. First as Cottage No. 1 then at the Lodge. During this period, William was employed as a Farm BailiffHill Cottages at Foggintor, where Dolly lived out her life between 1877 and 1879 with he son, William and his familyPrincetown Church, the believed final resting place of William Trebble (died 1877) and Dolly Trebble (died 1879) in an unmarked grave. The funeral procession of 6/7 miles across the moor to Widecombe for Dolly seems to be a final myth penned by Baring-Gould. Indeed, Hemery adds to the myth suggesting the Tin Miners (fellow workers) who bore the coffin were from Henroost Mine – the name of mine was never mentioned by Baring-Gould. This author would like to think that Dolly (and William) would have been quite amused had they known the stories that were to be written of their lives.
