Steve Grigg & Frank Collinson
Meldon Hill – in search of a golf course.
The Autumn 1989 edition of the Dartmoor Magazine had an article by Luke Darlington on the old Chagford Golf Course, which was open from Whit Monday 1908 until April 1930. At that time (around 1990), I (Steve) did find a few holes, but it wasn’t until this year (2020), I found a copy of the course on the internet and so a new exploration was called for !!
The 9 hole course was 2,728 yards (approx 2.5km), but took 7.5km of walking and searching to locate the majority of the tees and holes
This is an extract from the original Dartmoor Magazine article.
https://www.chagfordlocalhistorysociety.org.uk/commons-6/
The picture above is the overlaid course on an OS map, with enhanced (yellow) lines added and tees / holes labelled.
On parking up, we met by chance, Claire Northmore, who lives in the house which was the site of the original club house. She kindly let me photograph this (see above), which is a 1979 picture of the house.. We believe the garage in the bottom right corner of the photograph was the location of the green keepers tool shed.
With permission, the house today. Claire also gave me a postcard showing the course layout. Thank you so very much, it made my day.
This is from the Chagford website and is labelled: “Tea outside the clubhouse at Meldon golf course, 25th July 1914” where “Mrs Norton gave tea on the golf links”
..and so to the first tee, where a memorial bench now sits.
The first tee. The slightly raised and levelled ground is the giveaway.
The first fairway, now a well worn path
The greens are quite well defined and cut in on the up slope with a small raised bank on the downward slope
We had great difficulty finding the 2nd tee and hole due to the undergrowth, a return in the winter may be required. We are 99% confident with all these NGRs except the 3rd tee, which appears (if I have the correct place) to have sunk down.
This is 3rd Tee possibly. It might be the 2nd Hole on reflection.
The 3rd green, very clear and discernable with the raised bank and cut in, to level the ground. The 4th tee couldn’t be located.
Note the trig point on Meldon Hill Summit Tor
This picture taken pre WW1 from the Chagford website
Re-creating the flag holder. The cut in for the green, once again is easily discernable.
The 4th green is surrounded by the Meldon series of tors / outcrops. This is Meldon Hill North West Tor
Meldon Hill North West Tor.
…..and so onto the 5th tee. The 5th fairway is now covered in gorse. However, the green is close to an outcrop known as Tunnaford Rocks.
An easy find. View across to Cosdon.
A minor diversion to the rock basin at Tunnaford Rocks and some bird photography.
Taken from the rock basin. A yellow hammer.
Also taken from the rock basin, a pair of stonechats
..back to the course and the 6th tee. A raised platform once more.
Surrounded by gorse and ferns but 6th green found after some searching. Sadly, we were not successful at finding the 7th tee or hole.
8th tee. The hole / green quite obvious from here as quite a large raised bank was built.
The fern bank of the 8th green
The 8th hole, waist high in ferns
The raised bank on the left clearly showing a man made structure.
The 9th tee, also a raised bank.
The 9th green / hole. The bench of the first tee in the background, now where is that tea Mrs Norton?
Robert Butt August 22, 2021
My name is Robert Butt – my Gran, mother and aunt were the first occupants of what was then old club house. I have also wondered where the old golf course was – being born in Chagford and living there until the age of 21 when I moved to London. It was not until a visit to Chagford to see my dad a few years ago that I came across a postcard in one of the shops that showed a layout of the course.
SteveGrigg1961 August 22, 2021 — Post author
Lovely story Robert. Thank you for sharing
Betting On Open Golf March 24, 2023
Thanks for this awesome content. It’s a good read. This article is really helpful for us beginners.
SteveGriggDartmoor March 24, 2023 — Post author
Thank you for your comment