The A-Z of Curious Devon E-Book

Suze Gardner

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 255

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

The lifestyles of the people of Devon have traditionally been as diverse as its spectacular scenery. Little wonder then that the county's curious stories are so numerous and so varied. Including a train trapped in a giant snowdrift in Devon's worst blizzard; Lapford's murderous parson; Devon's ill-fated involvement in D-Day at Slapton Sands; black magic on Dartmoor; visitations by the Devil in South Devon; as well as witchcraft; heroes; piracy; record breakers; villains and eccentrics, this cornucopia of the peculiar and marvellous elements of Devon's history will surprise and delight everyone who knows and loves this county

Leseprobe

For Dee, Marilyn and the Daves

Acknowledgements

During the writing of this book I have had a great amountof help and support and would like to thank the followingpeople for information and/or photographs:

My colleagues at Exeter’s underground passages and Exeter City Council and numerous Devon Tourist Information Centres; the staff of the Devon and Exeter Institution Library, Exeter Central Library and the West Country Studies Unit; Killerton House; Kitley House; Powderham Castle; the Church of the Holy Cross, Crediton and Chudleigh Rocks; the landlords of the Devil’s Stone Inn, Shebbear and the Tom Cobley Inn, Spreyton; the organisers of the Earl of Rone ceremony and the Ottery tar barrels event.

I would also like to thank my family and friends for sharing their ideas, lending me materials and for dragging me away from my computer from time to time to save my eyesight.

Lastly, but by no means least, I want to say a big thanks to my partner Seal who spent months driving me around Devon on his days off during the research/photography phase of the book. Also for putting up wth my vagueness about household matters during the writing-up stage.

All images are my own taken with permission from building owners/event organisers where possible. Several photographs of old pictures come from Devon and Exeter Institution, credited above. Thank you to Braunton Burrows visitor centre for permission to photograph the strip farming map.

Contents

Title

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Introduction

The A–Z of Curious

  A

  B

  C

  D

  E

  F

  G

  H

  I

  J

  K

  L

  M

  N

  O

  P

  R

  S

  T

  U

  V

  W

  Y

  Z

Copyright

Introduction

I have always loved history. From the very ancient to the very modern, it fascinates me. My work in the heritage sector, alongside other historians, has allowed me to share the stories I have picked up and to learn many more.

Quite often it isn’t the big events, discoveries or wars that are the most interesting or relevant. Sometimes it’s the seemingly less important things and the stories behind them that give a real insight into the past – and even a tantalising glimpse of what might happen in the future.

Some people dismiss ‘little’ historical curiosities as mere trivia. But concentrating on the wider picture can mean missing the ‘nitty gritty’ – the thoughts, feelings and actions of people from the past that can still bring them to life today. And, anyway, some of the little stories from the past have actually proved to be very important in the grand scheme of things.

People who enjoy history also tend to enjoy the curious and the two often go hand in hand. Devon certainly has enough curious stories to kill the proverbial cat! From smugglers and pirates to famous writers and poets; from eccentric vicars and awful bishops to monsters and ghosts; from hero soldiers and brave explorers to audacious fraudsters and the downright nasty – it’s all in this book.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. And remember, as the much more important writer (than me), Samuel Johnson once said: ‘Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind.’

Suze Gardner,

March 2016

The A–Z of Curious DevonDevon

A

ALPHINGTON

~ Social Climber ~

In 1839 a young Charles Dickens worked for a while as a journalist in Exeter, covering election campaigns and political rallies. During this time he paid the rent on Mile End Cottage in the nearby village of Alphington, for his parents. Apparently Charles, though based in London himself, visited his parents as often as possible. A devoted and generous son, you might think?

Well … not entirely. Charles’ father John was notoriously bad with money and had spent time in a debtors’ prison while his children were young. Charles had been forced to find a job in a factory to help sort out the family finances, which must have come as a terrible shock to him as his family had been reasonably well off. This meant that Charles missed a lot of his education, which he resented for the rest of his life.

So, far from being a dutiful son, Charles had moved his parents to Alphington away from the temptations of expensive London. He only visited as often as he did to keep a strict eye on their finances and to make sure that they were not likely to be pursued through the courts for debts again.

Dickens junior, you see, was rapidly gaining a reputation as a writer. In 1836 he had married Catherine Hogarth, the daughter of his boss – influential newspaper editor and writer George Hogarth. Not only was Hogarth a useful man to know, but marriage to his daughter helped Charles to climb the social ladder.

So, keeping his parents debt and scandal free was important to Charles. This was hypocritical to say the least. Later he was involved in scandals of his own. He was obsessed with his wife’s younger sister, Mary, and actually moved her into their home. This and his mistress Ellen Ternan, who was nearly thirty years younger than him, caused Charles to become estranged from his wife.

In Victorian England such indiscreet behaviour would usually have been enough to ruin a man’s reputation. By this time, though, Dickens was rich and famous and managed to cover up his scandalous ways. They only really came to light many years after his death, by which time his adoring public were less easily shocked.

Mile End Cottage in Alphington proudly displays its famous connections.

Exeter and its surrounds were almost certainly the inspiration for some of Dickens’ famous stories. The Pickwick Papers includes an account of rowdy crowds at an election and, as a junior reporter, Dickens was given the unenviable task of covering such an event in Exeter itself. At the Turk’s Head, his favourite public house in the city, he spent a lot of time observing customers, some of whom are later described in various tales.

APPLEDORE

~ The Quay to Success ~

Once a haven for pirates and smugglers, the picturesque little port town of Appledore was undeveloped for a long time. Locals tended to keep quiet about piratical activity, for obvious reasons – who would want to incur the wrath of a bloodthirsty cut-throat? Perhaps this meant that customs authorities paid the town less attention than they should have.

At first glance Appledore looked like nothing more than a tiny fishing village of narrow streets and tumbledown fishermen’s cottages with nets strung between them for repair and piles of empty fish baskets leaning against ramshackle walls. Not a place where its inhabitants made much money, the authorities thought.

Wrong. In the Elizabethan era Appledore imported a huge amount of tobacco. Of course, much of it was smuggled in to avoid paying taxes on it. Those tiny winding streets and little houses were ideal for hiding the ill-gotten gains from the prying eyes of the customs men.

Today Appledore has grown larger, but is a peaceful and pretty holiday destination with tourism an important section of the economy. A branch of Babcock Marine Engineers, a large company with Ministry of Defence contracts, is also located in the town providing work and money.

ASHBURTON

~ Ashburton Pop ~

Today few people know that the little town of Ashburton was once famous for the production of champagne. (Or a drink very like it – real Champagne being produced only in that region of France.) Folklorist the Revd Sabine Baring-Gould came across the reminiscences of an elderly man who enjoyed the drink in the 1770s.

The man recalled the richness of the ‘Pop’, which was given this name because the sound of the escaping cork was louder than those from any other fizzy drink.

At 2d a bottle the Pop was an affordable alternative to the real thing and was enjoyed to excess by many of the less wealthy locals.

After a Saturday night on the Pop and some rowdy and lewd antics, drinkers had Sunday to recover. Such dreadful behaviour seems to have scandalised polite society more because the drunks missed church on Sunday than for any other reason.

On Monday mornings it was common to see a long line of men waiting to be dealt with by the local magistrate, who handed out a lot of fines for drunk and disorderliness. Genteel ladies sitting at the back of the courtroom collecting material to gossip about were shocked at the appearance of some of the ‘criminals’, who were still hung over.

After particularly boisterous Saturday nights the brewer who manufactured the Pop often attended court to vouch for the usually good behaviour of some of his customers. After all, if any were sentenced to a prison term it could have a serious effect on his takings! However, his often repeated comment that the ladies should stay away from the proceedings if they found them so upsetting, didn’t endear himself to the judge – or the ladies themselves.

The death of the brewer was a blessing to the scandalised inhabitants of Ashburton, but a great blow to his customers. The brewer had no son to carry on the business and had not bothered to give his Pop recipe to anyone else. His knowledge of Pop’s secret ingredients went with him to his grave.

~ Throat Kutty ~

For hundreds of years the legend of Kutty Dyer has scared the children (and quite a few adults) of Ashburton. Kutty, as the story goes, is a nasty monster who lives in a drain near Ashburton’s King’s Bridge over the River Yeo. Kutty has a taste for human blood and, if he gets his hands on you, is likely to pull you under the bridge and slit your throat for your blood – his favourite drink!

Kutty particularly likes the blood of naughty children, especially when their noisy games get out of hand and disturb him while he is dozing. Adults, though, are not safe either, especially if they are making their way home after having too much to drink. Kutty, it seems, doesn’t approve of drunkenness.

Kutty’s sinister lair near King’s Bridge, Ashburton. Many people still give it a wide berth at night.

The legend of Kutty Dyer may date back to the early days of Christianity when St Christopher became the patron saint of bridges to protect the faithful from the evil effect of any monsters lurking in the water. Well, it seems that the worthy saint somehow managed to miss King’s Bridge.

A few people have actually seen Kutty and lived to tell the tale. According to stories written in the 1880s he is very large with piercing yellow eyes, long wild hair, teeth and claws like a wolf, and a terrifying expression. He is in the habit of wading about in the river while waiting for his next victim and doesn’t seem to be bothered by cold water in the winter.

For many years, since street lights were installed, Kutty has been a bit reluctant to show himself and cynics argue that most people who claimed to have ‘seen’ him were drunk. But you never know … many Ashburtonians of all ages are still wary of crossing the King’s Bridge on foot at night!

ASHILL

~ A Sad Storey ~

A rather awkward-looking building in Ashill hides a sad tale of unrequited love. Constructed by a builder in the late Victorian age, it was to be his home and that of his fiancée, a local beauty, after they were married. As was usual in those days, her father had inspected the house and the young man’s bank account to make sure that he could afford to ‘keep’ a wife. The bride’s father was more than satisfied and the wedding plans went ahead.

The father-in-law-to-be might have been happy with the builder’s financial situation, but unfortunately, the bride-to-be wasn’t satisfied anymore. She had had her head turned by a much wealthier suitor who tempted her with his large and luxurious mansion, and huge amounts of spending money. After hearing about all the exotic holidays her admirer was planning, the fickle young lady left her heartbroken intended without a backward glance.

Soon he was even more upset when the heartless lass and her new man were seen brazenly riding about in a shiny and very, very expensive motor carriage – then still a new invention. The young man’s family and friends rallied round, cheering him up and even suggesting other nicer young ladies who would appreciate him properly.

Sadly there was no happy ending for the unhappy young builder. In an attempt to win back the ungrateful Miss, he added lots of mod cons to his house, which cost a lot of money. The mercenary lady was still not impressed and his friends begged him to give up the chase before he got himself into serious debt.

Still determined to win back his former fiancée, the young man’s house improvements took a more drastic turn. Tearing the roof off the two-storey building, he added another floor and new attic rooms, making it much bigger. Unfortunately it also looked rather odd as the new part clashed with the older more mellow materials and the rest of the nearby houses were much lower.

Alas for the lovelorn builder – his former fiancée hated the clumsy alterations and was soon married to her wealthy new boyfriend. The builder sadly put the house up for sale, but it proved to be very unpopular with local house-hunters. After several years it was eventually sold for a very low price, leaving its unfortunate former owner out of love and out of pocket.

AXMINSTER

~ Burning to Sing ~

An ancient pagan fertility rite originating thousands of years ago still takes place at the twelfth-century Harbour Inn at Axmouth. Every Christmas Eve a 6ft-long bundle of hazel branches is burned in the pub’s large fire to encourage bounty and new life in the coming year.

Since Victorian times the tradition has taken on a Christian meaning. While the hazel burns drinkers sing Christmas carols. Hazel takes a while to burn and, unsurprisingly, the carols become less organised as the night wears on!

AXMOUTH

~ Slip Sliding Away ~

Crumbling cliff faces are not uncommon along much of Devon’s south coast, but the landslip that occurred east of Seaton on Christmas Day 1839 was far larger than any other in the area. Cracks had been appearing for several days before the main event, but no one seems to have taken very much notice of them. Perhaps they were used to seeing the ground shift, and anyway, the locals were farmers, not geologists

The rumbling and ground shaking that began on Christmas Eve was something new, though. This did disturb the farm labourers and their families, who lived on the clifftop. At four o’clock on Christmas morning the rumbling intensified. There was a loud crash, which was later described as being like an explosion. Then suddenly a 70-acre section of the coast, known as Dowland Cliffs, slid 260ft downwards, landing on the beach below and taking several, thankfully empty, cottages with it.

The landslip attracted geologists from all over the country. They soon worked out why the enormous rockslide had occurred: over the centuries, rainwater had saturated a vast layer of soft rock, causing it to slide and slip over harder rock beneath. The landslip left a deep and hazardous ravine, the outer edge of which formed a vast pool that for some time provided a natural harbour for fishing vessels.

The incredible extent of the landslip near Axmouth is still difficult to take in.

Some of the land affected by the landslide remained intact and an entire wheat field, which had slipped down the cliff, was soon stable enough for the wheat to be harvested safely. The field became known as Goat Island. One of the cottages also survived the drop and, until it was washed away in a storm, was used as a tea shop where curious visitors found refreshment.

Sightseers, including Queen Victoria and several of her friends and family, flocked from all over the country to see this curious natural phenomenon. The area was the setting for Winefred: A Story of the Chalk Cliffs, a novel by Sabine Baring-Gould, and was also used as a backdrop in the film adaptation of The French Lieutenant’s Woman.

The landslip site is now a wooded nature reserve and access is restricted to protect wildlife.

B

BABBACOMBE

~ Four Times Lucky! ~

There have been many miscarriages of justice in the past. Unfortunately, before the abolition of the death penalty, these have sometimes resulted in the execution of an innocent person. In the case of John ‘Babbacombe’ Lee, it is possible that an innocent man was actually spared by incredible circumstances. Or maybe that a guilty man got away with murder.

John ‘Babbacombe’ Lee was actually born in Abbotskerswell. But there is a very good reason for him being given the nickname ‘Babbacombe’, as this was the name of another local village where a notorious and very shocking crime took place. A crime which, if you believe the following story, was never solved.

In 1884 young John took a job as a servant living at the ‘Glen’, home of his elderly employer, Miss Keyse, in Babbacombe. John was known to dislike his job as a stable hand and gardener, and to resent his servile position. Unfortunately, work was hard to come by and he had failed to find a farm job with the heavy labour he considered to be a real man’s work. To make matters even more intolerable, his farm labourer friends and even his own father teased him unmercifully about his ‘woman’s job’.

Just a few weeks after John started at the Glen there was a fire there. After extinguishing the flames, horrified firemen discovered the body of Miss Keyse. She had been beaten with a heavy implement and had had her throat cut. Police instantly pointed the finger at John, who was the only man in the house at the time. After all, they reasoned, no woman could possibly commit such a violent and horrendous crime.

John had grumbled to other people about Miss Keyse being difficult and this came out in the investigation, meaning that he became the prime suspect. Then one of the other servants reported that John had been severely reprimanded by Miss Keyse in front of guests and that he had been very angry about it. Another point against him. All the servants disliked the elderly lady, who was very fussy and shouted a lot, but this seems to have been overlooked by the police …

Miss Keyse had been very rich, but detectives on the case seem to have discounted the possibility that the crime could have been a robbery that had gone horribly wrong when the villains were disturbed by Miss Keyse. The fact that nothing was missing seemed to point to John as the culprit. He was arrested, charged with the murder and convicted. His execution was set for 23 February 1885.

John pleaded innocence throughout his trial and continued to do so while awaiting the death penalty. Strangely calm, he said repeatedly that God would protect him and that he didn’t see any reason to be worried. Prison officers began to wonder if John was in a fit state of mind and, if not, whether the death sentence should be reconsidered.

The day of the execution arrived and John walked calmly onto the gallows, the noose was placed around his neck and the executioner pulled the handle …

Nothing happened! The trapdoor, which should have dropped John to his death, remained firmly shut. The handle was tried again. Still nothing. John was removed from the gallows and was taken back to his cell where he chatted happily to the unsettled guards. The trapdoor was tried again with a weight on it and worked perfectly.

John was again led on to the gallows still smiling brightly. He was put onto the trapdoor and the noose replaced. The handle was pulled and yet again the trapdoor stayed shut. An oil can was brought and the mechanism was liberally oiled and examined by a mechanic, who even removed some of the working parts to check for defects. Surely this time it would work? Even the usually calm and professional executioner was affected and his hands visibly shook as he approached the handle. He pulled the lever, but still to no avail.

John’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Several court officials were adamant that only God could have jammed the trapdoor. Others believed that the gallows had been interfered with by someone paid by John’s family, though how this could be done in a high-security prison was a mystery. John went cheerfully to jail claiming that God’s will had prevailed. He remained optimistic throughout his prison term, which lasted for over twenty years before his release in 1907.

Facts about his later life are sketchy but there are a huge number of stories.

Some suggest that he managed to fulfil his farming ambition by taking up cattle ranching in South America. Another story suggested that he had entered a monastery in France or joined a group of missionaries in Africa. ‘Sightings’ of John continued for years, in fact, if reports about the last time he was ‘seen’ are true then he would have been 108 years old!

BARNSTAPLE

~ A Bridge Too Few ~

Although generally very welcoming to American forces based locally during the Second World War, Barnstaple residents did have one gripe. The extra traffic made up of military vehicles was causing chaos. The single bridge, which had spanned the River Taw since the thirteenth century, just couldn’t cope. When people suggested to the council that a second bridge was desperately needed, they were met with the well-known response: ‘There is a war on you know!’

Soon petrol became harder for civilians to obtain and, although this meant an easing of traffic congestion, many people, given the earlier problems, remained scathing of the ‘Yanks’. Noisy American trucks continually rumbled around town on ‘official troop movements’ at all hours of the day and night. Locals suspected that this was a cover up for drunken soldiers out on a spree with American booze. Bitter arguments began to break out, as they did in other towns, between the Yanks and resentful civilians. To coin a phrase common in the Second World War, the problem with Yanks was that ‘They are over sexed, over paid and over here!’

One part of the problem was solved when it was announced that the US forces were being sent abroad. Barnstaple folk hoped that their days of traffic chaos were over. The war ended and, in 1950, so did petrol rationing. Like people everywhere in Britain the townsfolk must have felt that life was returning to normal.

Unfortunately, traffic congestion remained a serious problem, proving that the GIs hadn’t been completely to blame! The town was simply becoming too big for its old bridge alone and so residents began their demands for an alternative again. They had a long wait. Barnstaple’s new bridge wasn’t opened until 2007.

~ Not a Beggar’s Chair ~

Few people know that a famous writer came from Barnstaple. John Gay, who wrote The Beggar’s Opera in 1727, was born and lived in the town as a child and teenager. At Barnstaple Grammar School, John, who was an exceptional scholar, showed a particular aptitude for poetry and this later extended to include writing drama and opera.

After school he moved to London where his talents soon attracted interest from the wealthy and influential, most notably King George II. Although The Beggar’s Opera lampooned those in high society, the king, who enjoyed a good laugh, loved it. So much so that he showered gifts on John, beginning with jewellery and valuable paintings and proceeding to an expensive London house to put them in!

John’s prolific and popular writing career continued until his untimely death at the age of 47 in 1732. His estate was left to his grieving sisters, who still lived in Barnstaple. They were able to get rid of most of the household items in their relatively modest homes and replace them with John’s expensive furniture. One chair, which was a little tatty, was nearly thrown out. It had been a favourite chair of their brother’s for a long time and in a fit of sentiment one of the sisters decided to send it to be mended at a furniture restorers.

It was lucky for the sisters that she did because here the tale takes an incredible turn. The chair was far more valuable than it looked because unread material written by John was discovered under the lining of the seat. This was published, although being early works it didn’t make anywhere near as much money as his later material, and the chair itself was sold to a John Gay fan for an undisclosed but large sum of money, which kept his sisters in comfort for the rest of their days.

BEER

~ Escape Route ~

Creepy Bovey House near Beer dates back to the 1590s and, unsurprisingly for such an old building, has its own ghost story!

In the early 1700s the owner of Bovey House disappeared one night. For a while people thought that perhaps the man had gone to visit family, but he didn’t return. His servants were questioned closely, but there were no leads. The homeowner had been a kind and generous master, and no one bore him a grudge. In fact, it was obvious that everyone who had known him was very upset that he was missing. Over time his disappearance became a mysterious local legend. The house was eventually sold and a new family settled in happily.

Years later a farm labourer was horrified to find a man’s skeleton buried nearby. A pocket watch and other items with the body identified it as the long missing homeowner. The mystery of where he was had been laid to rest, but the murderer was never caught. This might be why the poor victim could not rest either!

The new homeowners soon began to complain of hearing horrible ghostly screams and bumps, and of seeing the vague shape of a man falling down clutching his chest. The unsettled family were forced to take action. Having paid a lot for the house, they were reluctant to sell it and move on so, determined to be rid of the spook, they called in a priest who performed an exorcism to send the ghost away.

The relieved householders couldn’t thank the priest enough. However, he informed the family that the ghost, although gone for now, would eventually return. Not straight away, they were relieved to hear, but … eventually. Time went on and the children of the family left home, then the lady of the house died leaving her husband alone. The ghost and exorcism had been very nearly forgotten, but to give himself an interest the widower began to research what had taken place.

Not a problem, you might think. In fact actually a very good idea. Unfortunately, he wasn’t very sensible in his choice of reading matter and purchased several books about the supernatural. This, of course, brought back all his old fears and he instructed his servants to keep all the doors open at night just in case they had to make a quick escape. The subsequent burglary was the last straw and the house was sold.

Perhaps that was good enough for the ghostly former owner. There were no more bumps in the night!

~ The People’s Hero ~

Jack Rattenbury was a notorious smuggler. He was born in the coastal town of Beer in the 1770s, where his family lived in terrible poverty. His father was pressganged when Jack was small and probably died of a fever in the Far East. Whatever reason, Jack’s dad was never seen again and the family were left with no protection and no means of support. As the oldest child, Jack had to look for a job.

There was only one type of career for Jack. As a small boy he had always been fascinated by the sea and his first work was as an apprentice fisherman, a particularly dangerous occupation. He soon realised that there were better-paid alternatives for a lad who didn’t mind taking risks and before long he became a smuggler.

During his illegal career Jack became notorious for his close shaves. As well as being constantly chased and shot at by customs officials, he regularly had to jump overboard from his boat in the dark and swim for miles to escape capture. Jack seemed to relish the danger and was also glad to have found a way of vastly improving the family finances.

To begin with Jack operated on a very small scale, but a disappointing brush with the right side of the law made him change his ways for the worse. One night he was alarmed to find that his small smuggling vessel had been taken by French pirates. It seems that their own vessel had sunk. Ordered to take the men to a French port Jack instead headed to England while the pirates got drunk on his brandy.

Jack turned the pirates over to the English authorities, but to his surprise didn’t receive the customary award. They had already heard of Jack’s smuggling exploits and felt they couldn’t reward such a villain. From then on Jack increased his illegal activities and made a lot more money. Bitter at such treatment, Jack was not above helping the French while they were at war with Britain in the 1790s and early 1800s. On several occasions he helped French sailors escape the clutches of the Brits and took them back to France in his boat – for a considerable amount of money, of course!

In spite of this, Jack became something of a folk hero because of the legendary tales of his cheeky exploits and escapes from under the noses of customs men. He was also generous to the poor. Remembering his own deprived childhood, he was particularly good to local families and gave away large sums of money and goods, paying for doctors and medicine as well as food.

Jack Rattenbury, Beer’s famous smuggler and unofficial philanthropist.