Local People

Josephine Collingwood

Photographer and author

As a member of the Dartmoor Search and Rescue Group and author of a well-regarded book on the moor’s tors, it’s no surprise to learn that Josephine Collingwood has always felt a strong pull to the stunning landscape we are lucky enough to enjoy on our doorstep.

Brought up initially in London, her family moved to Totnes when she was 16. Although she went away to university, she and her husband, whom she met in a machine gun trench while with the Officer Training Corps, settled back in Devon following the death of her mum and they’ve stayed in the county ever since.

Although she already had a geophysics degree, in the 1990s Josephine embarked upon a three year photography course at Plymouth College of Art. It may have been a familial influence - her Dad was a film cameraman while her grandfather was a pioneer in aerial photography during World War I, working with the Royal Flying Corps. After graduating, she spent some 20 years specialising in freelance architectural work, taking pictures of multi-million pound houses for glossy brochures.

She has also done a fair bit of web design work, but one of the projects clearly close to her heart is her Dartmoor Tors Compendium, a 336-page book describing all the moorland tors in quite incredible detail, accompanied by Josephine’s stunning photographs. Not only did she research, write and illustrate the book over several years in her spare time, she set up her own publishing company to produce it.

‘I’m so glad I did it that way,’ said Josephine. ‘I could do the book exactly how I wanted it to look. The design decisions were mine, and it made sense really, as so much of my background involved desktop publishing. It’s been a great success, I’ve had some lovely feedback from people and as it’s

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timeless, it just keeps selling, which I am delighted with.’

Josephine paid tribute to Dartmoor National Park Authority, who were very supportive of the book and following its publication, asked her to produce the moor’s official visitor guide.

Flushed with the success of the compendium, she’s now working on another Dartmoor book, this time concentrating on its geology - and she’s also designed a ‘Dartmoor Overground’ map of all the ancient and modern tracks and paths on the moor, in the style of the London underground map. It would seem only natural that someone with such a depth of knowledge of the moor should want to put this to good use and Josephine has been a member of the Dartmoor Search and Rescue Group’s Tavistock section for several years now, where her intimate knowledge of the landscape is a great asset.

She said: ‘A friend of mine had been talking about the rescue group - I’ve always loved the outdoors and climbing and while I was doing a route for the compendium, I came across this bloke who had broken his leg on King’s Tor. I stayed with him until help arrived and thought “I‘d really like to do this.”

‘I applied, did the interview, did the training and I love it. You have to be a team player, you could be in the middle of nowhere with a casualty, it’s blowing a hooley and you are stuck in this Kisu [survival tent], so you need to get on with people and work together - but to be able to help save a life is just marvellous.’

A very practical person, Josephine and her husband have renovated a barn together and she can turn her hand to most skills except plastering. The couple have three children, 23-year-old Lizzie and twins Poppy and Michael, who are just 17 months younger - as Josephine said wryly: ‘Those first three years were difficult, it was a bit crazy for a while!’

In addition to walking, Josephine loves to climb and to travel - but is always happy to come back to home - and Dartmoor.

‘I don’t know what it is about it; It’s multi faceted, like a living museum; it’s dangerous, but beautiful and benign; at other times it’s dramatic and unpredictable,’ said Josephine.

‘I love black and white photography, it strips away extra information so you just see the contrast and drama - and a lot of Dartmoor is really good for this - but I also love the colours of the moor, they are so subtle. Then there’s the smell of the turf, the tannin in the water; I adore granite and then there’s the whole history of its geology. It just gets under your skin ...’

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Chris Walpole

Film fanatic and history lover

Chris comes from just about as far from Belstone as it’s possible to get - even though he’s lived nearly all his life in this tiny Dartmoor village.

He was borne in Tasmania - his father, a conscientious objector, died within a month of his birth and his mum later re-married. His stepfather was a scientist with ICI in China and former Far East prisoner of war.

Chris left Tasmania aged eight and in 1963 settled with his mother, grandmother and stepfather in the house he still lives in today. His father’s family held a strong faith and he was sent to a Quaker boarding school in Somerset between the ages of eleven and 18 - an experience that obviously took some getting used to.

‘It was a shock,’ remembered Chris. ‘I was a bit of a mummy’s boy and an only child - I used to get incredibly upset when we’d drive up at the start of each term, I remember having to stop in lay-bys because I had right boohooing fits, but I was pretty much OK once they’d left me!’

Chris studied geography and surveying at Newcastle University before he started working life with the Hydrographic Office in Taunton. He spent 20 years there as a civil servant, turning seabed and coastal data and port information into nautical charts used by shipping worldwide. It was while working in Taunton that he met Marion and they married in 1992, the year after his mum died.

Chris was lucky enough to retire at the very young age of just 42: ‘It was the week Tony Blair came to power - I remember the bunting everywhere and the air of euphoria - it was quite something.’

He might have retired early but he’s never been one to ‘doss around’. From a young age he has been fascinated by films and a room in his house is devoted to a lifetime of amateur film-making, on subjects as diverse as local history and nature, to Westerns and horror movies. He’s recorded the Belstone ‘Beating of the Bounds’ (a once in seven years occurrence) five times, preserving a unique perspective of a Dartmoor community - and spent a good part of the coronavirus lockdowns uploading his work onto YouTube.

‘I did try to make a few feature films - there was a Vietnamese war movie, a concert film starring me and Bob Dylan, an antinuclear epic - they were all going to be serious films but ended up comedies,’ said Chris somewhat wryly, admitting his efforts to commit one Dartmoor legend to celluloid involved gluing carpet to the back of his mum’s hands.

‘As you can imagine, The Hairy Hands wasn’t terribly convincing - that one didn’t get finished either,’ he said.

Chris is also very interested in local history - so much so, the imminent new millennium in 2000 sparked a project to write a book about Belstone.

‘The idea was that each chapter would be written by a different expert - I ended up writing it all, but I did enjoy it once I got into it, and Marion edited it. Many of the people we interviewed have died now, but we got in just in time with the locals that had spent their whole lives here - they had some wonderful stories.’

Chris is now planning a second edition of the book - he also pens a monthly history piece for the ‘Beacon’ parish magazine and occasional articles for the Dartmoor Magazine, while helping with the production of the local Dartmoor News.

Not surprisingly for a man with a strong sense of community, Chris has been involved with a variety of village organisations for many years, including fundraising for the village hall with walks and talks, and Belstone Cricket Club.

‘I used to play a bit - these days I say “I’m available if you are short” and hope to goodness they aren’t!’ said Chris, who is also a keen hill walker. He’s enjoyed many mountain holidays in Scotland and has even trekked to Everest Base Camp - twice!

‘That was absolutely fantastic, quite incredible - I made a film of that called The Sherpa’s Song, one of my better efforts,’ said Chris.

I’m not sure if this particular film has made it to YouTube yet - but Chris is proud his recording of Belstone Players cutting the pantomime baddie in half in the village hall has now notched up 1,000 views in a month.

‘I think it might be something to do with the title, Magic Box - I think some people thought they were going to see dodgy material!’ laughed Chris.

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