The 15^th meeting on 9^th Dec 2010 at the Nog Inn.

It was good to see you all such a cold night.

There were several points discussed. One being the body found under the church porch, I remembered reading about a body in similar circumstances at Christow, near Exeter:

Nathaniel Bussell, the parish clerk, is said to have been shot by the Roundheads on February 19th 1631, and to have been buried in the porch where he fell, because he refused to deliver up the keys of the church for the building to be ransacked. The stone is there with the inscription:—Nathaniel Bussell 46 years clark here dyed 19th February, 1631. The date seems a little too early for him to have lost his life at the hands of the Roundheads [cf. Civil Wars 1642-1651].  Ref: http://www.wissensdrang.com/stabb049.htm

Chris. Saunders brought up a previous item regarding local brickworks, there was one situated at Street Raleigh, being a field name in that area. It would  be worth checking the tithe map for the field.


The research into the coats of arms on the church pews was passed around. The ones relating to the Northcote family have been found and indentified. But there are two that seem rather elusive, a single shield which fits to the name Chatterton, does anyone know of this name in relation to the village church? The other is has the arms of the Baldock on the right, one Elizabeth Baldock married William Gore, but the arms on the left of the carving seem to be of O’Connell, so some confusion there!!


There is to be a weekend of events to mark the re-dedication of the church over the week end 4^th,5^th and 6^th March 2011. The History Group have been asked to take part in the community parade on the 5^th. The theme is the 1800’s. We discussed various roles we could depict, the railway, farming, perhaps a pony and trap. Chris. Saunders suggested that Ottery Community Theatre would be able to help with costumes, contact Nora Palmer. The local Morris Dancers, perhaps they would be able to take part, I understand Colin Payne, one of our members is the man to ask.
Ideas for next year, a talk by John Michael Kennaway, a visit to Exeter and the Devon and Exeter Institute.


Mike Spry popped in to tell about the old Chapel sign board, it was repaired about 1980 ish from iroko wood and there is an older sign under the current “onion” one.
Alan gave us one of his fascinating talks, this time on “Sidmouth Road”, this road is shown on the OS Map as running from Langford to Weaver. The road was improved to take passengers from the trains at Hele to Sidmouth before the line to Sidmouth was built.


We had a chat about setting up a website for the Group, the Rootsweb organisation currently offer free space:  http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/  We will need a web master / mistress!!


Bill Knollman told us a bit about his life as an undertaker and of living near one of the London Airports leading to a discussion on aircraft!!
Mince Pies and Christmas Greetings were passed around to mark the season.