The 17^th meeting on 17 Feb 2011 at the Nog Inn 

As there was so few of us we had a good natter over a glass of beer!!

Alan discussed with us about the alignment of the Straight Way Head Road to Taunton. The lanes in the old village, had been altered, the left hand lane into Green Land from the Old village was an old quarry and the original road would have passed through the property known as Beechwood.

In 1841 the Turnpike Trust proposed a road from Fenny Bridges to Broadclyst Heath, and also from Fairmile to the Country House Hotel.

The Ottery /  Payhembury road four cross way, now known as Patteson’s Cross was called Spence Cross. Now with the monument to  John Coleridge Patteson (1 April 1827 - 20 September 1871) was an Anglican bishop and martyr. Patteson was educated at The King's School, Ottery St Mary, Eton and then Balliol College, Oxford. He was ordained in 1853 in the Church of England. His old tutor at Eton, George Augustus Selwyn, was the first Bishop of New Zealand, and he persuaded Patteson to become a missionary to the South Seas. In 1855 Patteson set out to found the Melanesian Mission. He founded a college on Norfolk Island for native boys, toured the islands on the ship Southern Cross, and learned many of the local languages. In 1861 he was made Bishop of Melanesia.

On 20 September 1871 he was murdered on the island of Nukapu in the Solomon Islands, where he had landed alone. Natives killed him as revenge against the abduction of some natives by white men months earlier. Two Norwegian historians (Thorgeir Kolshus and Even Hovdhaugen, 2010) have claimed he was murdered because he had an inappropriate, non-sexual relationship with the chief’s wife  Patteson’s brother confirms this in a letter. His death became a cause celebre in England and increased interest both in missionary work and in improvement of the working conditions in Melanesia.

His life is celebrated in the Church of England as a saintly one, and he is commemorated with a Lesser Festival on 20 September. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coleridge_Patteson 

Now don’t forget we are taking part in the Church Parade on Sat 5^th March, 1:30 pm at The Nog / Station in dress suitable to depict the 1800s.