Feniton History Group held the 63rd meeting in the Nog Inn

A near full house of our members, and as usual we had a wide ranging discussion.

Jenny and George are arranging a visitor to talk about archaeology finds relating to the Western Uprising.  This be in the Nog Inn at our February meeting on the 4^th Feb.

We confirmed the event in the Church on the Thurs. 17^th March when Jim Rider will talk to us about flight G-ARBY, the airliner that crash landed on Bishops Court Farm on 17 Jul 1980.

I mentioned I was having a chat on social media regarding the origins of the name for the village of Talaton, here are my thoughts:

The origins of the village name, Talaton. i.e. ton being a hamlet,  and Tal, may be from the River?

The River Tale, a tributary of the River Otter has its source in the hills behind Broadhembury at Hanger Farm, OS map ref: ST 11864 06059. It then meanders through Broadhembury, Colliton, Danes’s Mill, Payhembury, passing the hamlets of Higher and Lower Tale on the high ground, Tale Common Head to Tuck Mill, to Talewater, through Colesworthy, Clapperentale, Escot, Fairmile, to Cadhay, here it meets with the River Otter, OS map ref: SY 09207 95911.

The village of Talaton lies over a ridge from the Tale Valley, geographically it does not share the Tale Valley, apart, from the River Tale being part of the parish boundary between Feniton and Talaton, where is runs through Talewater and Colesworthy. 

Chris Saunders came to give us an update on the possible restoration of the monument at Patteson’s Cross. The Ottery Heritage are in full support for this repair and this repair only, they will not adopt the monument or take responsibility for it after this.

The ownership of it is still unknown, but Devon Highways tend the grass island it sits on and will allow its repair. So advice from a conservator would be welcome. Chris will potter on searching for the best way to progress this, if we come across anything relevant please pass it to Chris.

Chris  then spoke about a book he has received via a visitor who stayed at his house, unbeknown to her that she was staying in the area where Bishop Patteson resided!. In the under croft of her home in Auckland she found the diaries of one Thomas Kerr, a Meteorologist, he took part in the same mission as Bishop Patteson.

The book is called “The Search for Thomas Kerr: Mariner, Mapmaker, Missionary, Meteorologist”. There’s something irresistible about a diary, especially one from over 150 years ago discovered under a house. Scrawled cryptic entries on water-stained pages, near-impossible to read, but hinting at the story of a man’s adventures sailing in the South Pacific. That random find sent author Jean Day on a fifty-year journey of discovery where she found uncanny parallels between her life and that of the long-departed diarist, Thomas Kerr. This book is the story of how she unravelled the tangled threads of the careers he followed; his travels across the globe, from being an orphan in Devonport England; to becoming a naval officer and taking part in charting NZ on the HMS Pandora and fighting in the Chinese Opium Wars. His life as a Melanesian missionary in the islands around Vanuatu; and then as Vicar of Devonport NZ; and his final years as a meteorologist at Valentia, Ireland; until his death in 1875.

Chris also explained there were two vessels called “Southern Cross”  This link gives more detail: http://www.solomonencyclopaedia.net/biogs/E000302b.htm

David related his current research into one Bishop Phillpott of Exeter, with whom our own Rev. Head  clashed  over teaching the catechism.  Rev. Head was dismissed from his post because  of this, but was welcomed back to Feniton with much jubilation, his horses being unhitched from the carriage and he was pulled into the village by the parishioners! He was a man who took his faith seriously, but did not follow the popish ways, he said this: Water is water, bread is bread, wine is wine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Phillpotts

Paterson was ordained by Philpott.  Bishop Phillpotts was involved with the slave trade, on an estate in the ownership of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/18347  The slaves were branded with the word Society.

Thank you  all  for such an interesting evening. I look forward to seeing you all in February 2016!  Happy Christmas. 

Feniton History Group held the 62nd meeting in the Nog Inn

As usual we covered a wide range of topics.

It being the 5^th November the strange tradition of the Tar Barrels was mentioned.

More details here:

http://www.otterytarbarrels.co.uk/history/

Also Hatherleigh has a similar event:

http://www.hatherleighcarnival.co.uk/tar-barrels/

Alan remembers traveling to Ottery Carnival on his NSU Scooter.

Another fire event is the Ashen Faggott,

http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/christ_fagg.htm

On their return from the Devon History Society lecture by Mark Stoyle on 'The South Western Rebellion of 1549 Revisited'. George and Jenny were chuffed to tell us about some metal detecting finds including Bodkins.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodkin_point

The Rev. Blackstone says the Devon rebellion 1549 was caused the  Cornish came to Fenny Bridges.

 I recalled the local agent, the late Geoffrey Whitton, and his son’s called Wakefield a surname from the female line.

Geoffrey and his father looked after the Feniton Court Estate and many local farmers affairs. They would ride out from Exeter on horseback in the early days.

We nattered about Quakers in Devon, they were not allowed to go to university,  so set up in trade. Hence Frys and Cadburys the confectioners.

There are nonconformist graves in the Exeter Catacombs, less persecution followed the act of Settlement in 1701.

 The work of the Landmark Trust building restoration relating to recent TV series

We are organising a talk by the author Jim Rider on the airliner crash near Tipton St John.

I hope I have remembered everything correctly. 

Feniton History Group held the 61st meeting in the Nog Inn

We had a good old natter, as usual, though I think talked too much!! 

George has spoken to an author who would be able to do a book talk for us relating to the  plane that crashed near Tipton St. John in July 1980. 

The very interesting evening with Colin Harris raised £108 for the Church. His book is a wonderful mix of Devon yarns. It is on sale in the Church.  

The boundary stone. The parish council are keen to use this part of the village history as an   important factor in the Neighbourhood Plan, so the placing of the boundary stone is important. Now the time has slipped away I think the October date is lost, the Group agreed to aim for Rogation Sunday 2016 which is Sunday 1st May.  

Brenda  and Chris Saunders have  attended a School Seminar organised by Devon History Society  to mark the 50th anniversary of Devon schools. Brenda is now looking for primary sources of documents relating to out schools.  

Geoff mentioned a railway exhibition where there was a display on Treacle mines, and   Talaton Toothpaste Quarry, I cannot glean anything new on this, love to hear from anyone who knows more, perhaps it was exported Luppitt Harbour!!! Remains of Roman baths in Talaton was also mentioned. 

Our ongoing research into local roads raised the name Oakenhay Street, Old British Road,  it is thought that the  old roman road ran under the footings of the  Fenny  Bridges Hotel, now a private house.  

Through the Devon History Society, I have  been asked to take part in a project to document WW1 farming in the village , need to find market reports details of  food rationing and how crops were marketed and managed. Looking forward to talking this. 

Chris Saunders raised the poor condition of Pattesons Cross, and how best to find an owner, or who is responsible for the upkeep. It would be a great loss if the decay was not halted. It was demolished in a road accident in 1981. George has kindly offered to liaise with Chris and Ottery Heritage on this. 

We also discussed book marketing, when do you stop researching and David told us that deeds and documents have been handed to him by Barclays Bank, We look forward to hearing more about these. 

Next meeting 5^th November.

Remembering Robert HANSFORD who was killed on this day 100 years ago 25 Set 1915

HANSFORD, Robert George, DCM. 

Born : Dulverton C1876

Baptised :

Parents : John and Emily Hansford

Married : Rebecca Fry – 16^th April 1906 – St Andrews, Feniton

Died : 25^th September 1915

Buried : No known grave - listed on the Loos Memorial to the missing at Dud Corner Cemetery.

1881 Census : Causeway End, Broadhembury – aged 5

1891 Census :

1901 Census :

1911 Census : Lower Elstone, Chulmleigh – aged 35

Occupations : Labourer. Farmer in 1911.

Address on enlisting :

Regiment : 8^th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment

Rank : Serjeant

Service Number : 3/7458

Service Dates : 22^nd June 1895 to 21^st June 1907.

CWGC listing : Yes

Soldiers Died Listing :

Devon Roll of Honour : Yes under Dunkeswell

National Roll of the Great War :

Medal Card (NA WO372) : WO372/8/219636

Service Record (NA WO363) :

War Memorial : Feniton

Newspaper Listings :

Notes : He says he was exactly 19 years old when he signed his attestation papers on the 22^nd June 1895 and joined the Devonshire Regiment (number 4288) giving his next of kin as his father – John Hansford of Wolford, Dunkeswell. He lists himself as a labourer who had lived at his father’s house for the last three years. He had never been an apprentice, is not married and has not been to prison. When he enlisted he was already a member of the Militia (4^th Devonshire Regiment) but was taking up a full 12 year Short Service agreement (7 years with the colours, 5 years in reserve or if overseas 8 years and 4 years). He was 5’ 4” tall and weighed 123lbs, had a fresh complexion, grey eyes and light brown hair.

He served at home from 23^rd June 1895 until 8^th September 1896 when he went to India until 20^th September 1899. He then served in South Africa until 18^th January 1902 and was Mentioned in Despatches on two occasions for his bravery in the Second Boer War. He was presented with the Queens South Africa Medal in 1900 with clasps for Belfast, Elandslaagte and the Defence of Ladysmith; Kings South Africa Medal, 1901-2, with 2 clasps; 1914-15 Star, and the British War and Victory Medals. He most likely earned his DCM for the action at Wagon Hill. During late 1899 and early 1900 the 1^st Devon’s were engaged against the Boers in the Siege of Ladysmith, in South Africa. Ladysmith is surrounded by hills and the garrison units were tasked with keeping the Boers from taking the heights to prevent Ladysmith coming in range of their artillery. On the 6^th January the Boers made a determined effort to assault Caesar’s Camp and the Devon’s were tasked with preventing its capture. Wagon Point formed part of Caesars Camp and it was successfully cleared by the Devon’s during a thunderstorm. During this action a Lt Masterson won the Victoria Cross.

Robert then returned to India until 25^th March 1903 when he came home and was transferred to the reserve from 27^th March 1903 until his discharge on 21^st June 1907. He was made a Lance Corporal on 18^th January 1900 and a full Corporal on 4^th January 1902. He had passed his Sergeants promotion exam on 19^th December 1902.

 

At the start of the First World War Robert re-enlisted as a Private in the 8^th Service Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. At some stage he was promoted to Sergeant the rank he had when he was killed (although he is listed as a Private in the Devon Roll of Honour). The 8^th was formed at Exeter on 19^th August 1914 as part of K1 (Kitcheners first volunteer army). They went to Rushmoor Camp, Aldershot (Barossa Barracks) in November 1914 as part of the 14^th Division. From December 1914 they were in billets in villages south of Farnham and came back to Aldershot in March 1915. They left the 14^th Division in May 1915. On the morning of July 25^th 1915 they moved to Southampton for embarkation and landed at Le Havre on 26^th July 1915 and were attached to 20 Brigade, 7^th Division at Carvin on 4^th August 1915. The 8^th were later attached to the 21^st Division and in late August moved to the area south of the La Bassee canal. On 24^th September preparations were made for the 8^th to attack positions around the villages of Hulluch, Cite St Elie and Haisnes on the 25^th during the battle of Loos. It was during this battle that Robert Hansford was killed. When the 8^th finally left the battlefield on the 30^th September they only had 6 officers and 263 men left out of around 1000.

Feniton History Group held the 60th meeting

It was good to be back together again, thank you all for an interesting evening.

We confirmed the details of the talk by Colin Harris on the 16^th Sept.

We had a discussion on how easy it is to lose saved data as things like floppy disk slots are not available on the modern computers.

Brenda is attending a seminar on schools 1844 to 1864 and asked if we have any notes that cover those years.

Jenny told us she has been working on her Notley ancestors from Cerne Abbass, one Thomas Notley went to America where he became a Judge in the 1600s.

Geoff related his work as a volunteer in the Devon Record Office. He has been cleaning and listing papers from the Payne family of Uffculm. It is a huge task and painstaking using a sponge to remove years of dust.

David told us about his research with Roger into the River Otter area at Fenny Bridges. This research confirms the name of the Roman Road in the area:

“The Roman Road at Fenny Bridges is usually considered to be the most south westerly end of the Fosse way from Exeter to Lincoln. The Fosse Way represents the first Roman/British 'frontier' line established in the first few years of the Roman take over. 'Street Pol'(meaning the pool by the road) is a marker in the Anglo Saxon boundary clause from Ottery's 1061 Charter. It refers to quite a large pool in the river Otter located on the south of the old A30 at Fenny Bridges. It was still there in the 1840s and is recorded on Ottery's tithe map (clip attached). It had disappeared by the time of the first large scale OS maps in the 1880s although the straight bank on the southern edge of the pool is still easy to spot.”

They have also found various records detailing the bridges, floods and lack of repairs. A trust of ten men was set up to correct the problems:

Hon. William Wells Addington, Sir Edmund Lansdown Prideaux, Bart. Sir John Kennaway, John ? Oliphant Esq., William Porter Esq., Charles Gordon Esq, Edward Simcoe Drewe Esq.,William Rennell Coleridge Esq.,             Daniel Bishop Davy Esq. and Rev John Huyshe this is dated 19 Sep 1750.

Other local names are Skinner, Northcote, Wright,  Kirkham and Pring.

David also noted that the name of   the stream running through Feniton was called the Fine and the name of the village derived from this phonically as the V and F sound very similar.

I omitted to say at the meeting that Jenny and I have put together a general history of the village to be used as part of the Neighbourhood Plan. I attach my document, which may well become an aid to the writing of our village book?

Next meeting is booked in the Nog Inn on  1^st October at 8pm. Looking forward to seeing you all on the 16^th Sept for Colin’s talk, just some help needed with teas and the door. Thank you.

Devon Map Links

In searching for something else, we came across this really nice blog posting on your website athttp://www.devonhistorysociety.org.uk/2015/01/ordnance-survey-maps-six-inch-england.html about the OS six-inch maps, so many thanks for this.

My real reason for writing was just to say that we have recently added all our holdings of the more detailed OS 25 inch to the mile maps of Devon (1855-1943) to our website too.

The home page for the OS 25 inch series is at: http://maps.nls.uk/os/25inch-england-and-wales/index.html and you can search and view all the maps of Devon through a map interface at:
http://maps.nls.uk/geo/find/#zoom=9&lat=50.7203&lon=-3.7485&layers=64 

There is also a list of the OS 25 inch sheets for Devon in sheet order at:http://maps.nls.uk/os/25inch-england-and-wales/devon.html 

We are in the process of georeferencing the sheets too – at present the georeferenced coverage is just for south-east England at:http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=8&lat=51.4686&lon=0.0404&layers=176 but we hope to cover Devon too in the next month or so.

Reasonably enough, people don’t think of visiting the National Library of Scotland website for maps of southern England, so we are always keen to alert those that might be interested in case they can help spread the word.

With kind regards,

Chris Fleet
National Library of Scotland
159 Causewayside
EDINBURGH
EH9 1PH

One Place Studies detailed report for Feniton

The full report is available here:

Society of One Place Studies Link

I want to thank the Group for all their notes and research that has made this possible.

Feniton History Group held the 59th Meeting

Another good natter over a pint. Good to see Bob after his health problems.

We looked at my notes from the talk given by Chris Wakefield, which led to us discussing the Hayridge Hundred and how it came about:

The hundred of Hayridge was the name of one of thirty two ancient administrative units of Devon, England. It was originally known as Sulfretona and this name was still used in the Geldroll of 1084 but two hundred years later it was called Harigg in the hundred Role of Edward I after the place where the hundred courts were held which is now Whorridge farm. The parishes in the hundred were: Bickleigh; Blackborough; Bradninch; Broadhembury; Cadbury; Cadeleigh; Cullompton; Feniton; Kentisbeare; Netherexe; Payhembury; Plymtree; Rewe (part); Sheldon; Silverton; Talaton; Thorverton. According to White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Devonshire, (1850) it "Is of an irregular figure, extending about 16 miles from east to west, and varying from 9 to 6 in breadth."

The Domesday tells us we had 5 pigs and 15 sheep, but it was suggested this meant Feniton had 5 pig keepers and 15 shepherds.

Alan raised the point about the name of the Roman road that passed along the Old A30 at Fenny Bridges, I had assumed it was the Fosse Way, but it seems I am wrong, can anyone help with the correct name?

David had brought along his laptop and was able to add to the discussion with his extensive notes.

The boundary stone is here and we look forward to erecting it after the crops are harvested and we will plan that event then.  Chris's talk raised £48, so £20 will be used to cover the VAT on the stone and I have asked David to accept the remaining £28 to cover the coat of the church for the evening.

Colin Harris has written a book on Papermaking in the Culm Valley and has offered to  do a talk on the subject. David, Colin and I will sort this out for a date in October.

I have a Timeline file, which was set up by David and extended to cover all manner of happenings in Feniton. I attach a copy for you all, please add anything you think relevant, or I have made a error, using a red font, so I can pick out the new entries and send it back to me. Thank you.

In writing up the time line I asked if we ever had a serving policeman in the parish, it seems Feniton was covered by the Broadhembury Police House at Colliton Cross. Mr. Tolman and Mr Gibbins were Special Constables. 

I also asked about the arrival of the telephone in the parish, Brenda has kindly sent me her notes from the council minutes:

May 1927: The Telephone Authorities were willing to install a Telephone Call office at Feniton P.O. if a guarantee of £19 for an open telephone & £25 for a closed cabinet could be found. The PC did not feel justified in guaranteeing that amount!!!! It must have been installed by September 1930: Mr. Chown reported that on 2 occasions when the Public Call Office was shut he had to wait some considerable time before the attendant answered him. He asked the Council if it were possible to get a night bell fixed outside the Office.

The parish clerk has raised the query that some of the Feniton Parish Council minute books are missing, Brenda confirmed this, I offered to check the books held by Devon Record Office, this is the reference to the holding:   4214A - Feniton Parish Council  dated 1930 - 1982.

Jo has asked about the cobbled pavement by Court Barton. It is shown in some of the old photos I have on file. We thought it would have been just that a pavement, the road would not have been cobbled. David and Brenda both confirmed that it is recorded and may not be covered.

 I went to Escot Church Open Weekend and History Display. It was fascinating.  The WW1 research caught my eye as, of course, two of the names have come up in our Feniton research, Arbery and Flay. So need to check those out. Also a name new to us from WW2 is EM Wood who has a War Grave in Escot Churchyard, but not recorded on the war memorial, Richard Powell who did the research for his book, "The Men on the Cross, the Great War in Escot and Talaton" suggests that EM Wood was a Feniton man killed in the second world war, I have no record of him, yet.

We chattered about WW2 memories, the bombing of Exeter, seeing the fires from Bitterly Cross, and Alan told us that a German plane shot up the railway station and the Railway Hotel. The bulldozing of many old buildings after the war was a great loss, but back then heritage was not in the mind of the planners who had it all demolished for the new.

VE Day, no one had any recall to a celebration in the village, but I have found a paper cutting to the contrary.

We next meet in September. I am still hoping for someone to take on the Group admin, please?

Don't forget the wedding dress event in the Church on the 16 / 17 May, Brenda has researched the History of the Wedding Dress for the event.

In July, date to be confirmed there is a talk on Stained Glass in Escot Church, which has some very high quality work.

Now I have thank Bill for the wonderful plaque to place on our displays to show who had produced the project. I am thrilled with it, wonderful craftsmanship. Bill is also carving names to place on the heraldic pews to identify the families. Fitting that we have a continuing craftsman adding to the history of the church today.

  

VE Day Feniton 8 May 1945

Feniton & Ottery St Mary Boundary Talk

Feniton History Group would like to thank Chris Wakefield for a very interesting and imformative evening.

Where there was water and shelter a community would perhaps make  base, as first they would have been hunter gatherers.

Some clearing by fire  for grazing animals some 5000 years  of arming in the Neolithic age followed by a

1000 years of governmental orders and the defining of  boundaries.

Arable era caused settlers, and to avoid crop damage by the grazing livestock so they had to fence to control  the animals.

Trade movement lead to the making of tracks.

 The A30 through Fenny Bridges is on the line of the Roman road.  The road was cut through a ancient bank topped with a hedge between Ash Farm and Higher Gosford. The bank runs down to the River Otter and back towards Sweethams. It is much older than the Roman road. Parts of ths bank are lost due to farmers re ordering their fields.

One of the earliest roads was the one from Woodbury to Hembury Fort.

The lords of the Manor at the time of the Domesday were absent land Lords, held in high favour by King William.

Ottery St Mary has its charter describing its settlement in 1061. Feniton borders Ottery so we too share this history from Campfield up Tower Hill and the down to the River Tale., and also at Fenny Bridges.

Devon had more pigs than anywhere else, I looked up pig breeds known to have originated in Devon and found the British Lop from Tavistock and possibly the Large Black.   

Taxation  was by hide a not very consistent measurement, so then One Hundred hides  became a judicial area called Hundreds. The Church used this framework to raise funds.

Parish boundaries developed during the C9th to  C12th.  

Sir John Kennaway was in correspondence with Talaton Parish as to the River Tale boundary being changed by the flow of the water in 1844.

Mrs Frances Rose-Troupe The Anglo-Saxon Charter of Ottery St Mary printed in the Devon Trans. 1939 Vol 71.

Maintaining roads was the responsibility of the parish, Ottery got off lightly as the two Fenny Bridges  were in the Feniton Parish!

George Herbert's (1593 - 1633) description of Rogation Sunday:

 “1. a blessing of God for the fruits of the field:

  2. Justice in the preservation of the bounds;

  3. Charitie, in living, walking and neighbourliy accompanying one another, with reconciling of differences at that time, if they be any;

 4. Mercie, in relieving the poor by a liberal distribution of largess which at that time is or oght be made. 

Long wands are shown in some photos and even they waded in the river seemly dressed in Sunday suits!!

Change of plan

The talk with Chris Wakefield in Feniton Church on Thurs 30th April at 7:30 goes ahead as planned,

but,

sad to report that we have to postpone the stone unveiling and the boundary walk,   on 10th May, until September, two reasons,

One. The stone is on the high seas somewhere between China and India!!! Delivery date unknown.

Two. Farmer, Husband, Boss and Son have asked that we don't walk across the cropped fields at this time of year!!

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you all on the 30th.

Feniton History Group held the 58th Meeting

What an interesting evening, many thanks to Roger who dropped by to share with us his interest in Fenny Bridges Mill. He has a death certificate gleaned for his interest in postal history. The certificate relates to Edward Coombe, Miller who died in 1840 and buried at St Anne's Chapel, but the graves there where re interred at Feniton Church. This is the inscription on the grave:

Edward COOMBE  of Feniton Mills in this Parish who gave land for the building of this Chapel 

d. 10.3.1840 in 44^TH year of age

Also in the same vault  Sarah COOMBE his wife  d. 9.1.1860

(re-interred from Fenny Bridges Chapel 1949) 

Roger explained the marks on the folded death certificate gave the date of receipt and  the recipient would have paid the postage, envelopes were not used to the cost down.

More can be read here:

http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/explore/history/rowlandhill/

http://www.earsathome.com/webgil/bishop.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamps_and_postal_history_of_Great_Britain

Regarding the roads in the village Jo kindly sent this note:

My Dad used to tell me  that he remembered the remains of the 'old road' which come down through a cleft in the rock behind Nap Cottage.  A cross road went North to Rutts at the top of the rise where Rutts Lane is now. 

He said there was an old woman's  cottage built into the cliff at the back of Nap Cottage garden and he and his mates used to climb up above it and drop stones on the roof.  I think it was of corrugated iron so they were typical little horrors!!  [Alan said his father was one of the little horrors!]

He remembered the new road being built as the Council needed to buy some of the Glebe Lands belonging to the Rectory (then Feniton House) and they lowered Broad Road gradually as it rose towards the Station so that the slope to Rutts was passable too.  They built the wall along the length of the Glebe Lands so as to keep the field up instead of buying more land to make a slope.

When I was on the Parish Council, Devon County wrote to ask who owned that wall as it was in bad condition.  I was able to give them the above details and to assure them that they owned it themselves!  To my knowledge, no repair work has ever been carried out by them since that date!!    Jo Chown 

Thank you Jo.

 Our work on the display for the Patteson Event  was very well received, thank you, the credit goes to all who helped.  Jackie went on the walk  to Alfington and a wonderful spread was lovely put on by Alfington Church.

Geoff explained there are still van loads of documents, including letters to Santa!!,   to be indexed and sorted in the Devon Heritage Centre, a work in progress.

 

Brenda asked us for photos suitable for the Parish Magazine cover, must have good definition to reproduce in black and white.

Memories of the snow in 1963 were discussed.  

Our earlier discussions on the coach Bishop Patteson would have taken to the train at Cullompton led Brenda to spot a print in an auction sale at Ottery of Russell's Flying Wagons.

 This link is very interesting:

http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/russells.php

Brenda also found out that Russell bought farms along the route to rest the horses, one being at Redloft Farm Offwell, no longer there now.

The railways, of course changed all this.  Brenda's great grandfather worked on the construction and was killed in a fall while working on a tunnel at Fowey in 1874.

Bill reported he is working with David to carve oak name plaques to place on the pews with coats  of arms on so that the families are identified to visitors. He has also kindly offered to make one for the History Group to place by our displays, following Brenda saying we should have put our name up on the boards to say we had done the work on the boards. Thank you Bill.

Our next event is the talk with Chris Wakefield from Ottery Heritage on Boundaries in the Church on 30th April. To be followed by the Rogation and Beating the Bounds walk on 10th May.

The Friends of St. Andrew's are holding a Wedding Dress display in the Church weekend of the 16th May. Brenda is writing up the history of wedding dresses to accompany the dresses.  

Our next meeting will be on Thurs. 7th May in the Nog Inn.

To close we must pass on our Congratulations to David and Sheila on the celebration of their Golden Wedding Anniversary.  

Talk on Boundaries

Feniton History Group invite

you to a Talk on Boundaries

in St. Andrew's Church Feniton

on Thursday 30th April at 7 :30 pm.

 Chris Wakefield of Ottery Heritage Society will be the speaker.

Admission £3.00 to include Coffee and Biscuits.

Feniton History Group held the 57 th meeting

We had a jolly good natter covering a wide range of topics.

The detail of the Patteson Display was sorted. I hope you can come to the farm on  Thursday 19th at 2:30 pm. We put the display up  on the Mon 23rd 2:30 in the church.

There is a talk on the 25th and a walk from Feniton to Alfington with a bring & share picnic on the Sunday. Katie Drew of the Melanesian Mission is the organiser. .25th Mar  160 years ago Patteson left the village for Melanesia. I have to thank Chris Saunders for his wonderful Patteson file we can use to choose from to enhance the display. I have not used his original documents, but scanned in and printed them.

The other outstanding project is the boundary stone, since the meeting we have been offered  a grant of £50.00 from Feniton Parish Council and I understand that another £50.00 has been offered by Ottery Heritage. On Thursday we can discuss the actual site for the stone.

Chris Wakefield is kindly leading a talk on the Boundary in the church on Thursday 30th Apr. 7:30 pm. The Beating of the bounds is on 10th May.

Jo Chown and  Jill Walker have been advised on how to repair the Church Cope .It would seem to date from the late 19th century. Rev.  William Hart in post 1899 to 1918  or  George Barons Northcote 1869 to 1899,  could have left it in the Church.

.Alice Eveleigh was born 1881 in Ottery St. Mary, dau. of Richard and Elizabeth Eveleigh, I have not found her death.  Her memorial label remains a mystery.

 Sadly we have not had a good response on Old house names in the village. Val's house was Mylea, Myreen, 1926  or so. The other properties in the same road all ended in "lea". Appletrees  was once Bricklands,  Skinners Cottage. The field behind Nog Inn was also  called Bricklands, sadly the deeds for this property are lost.

Movement of families, work skills and Devon's step valleys!  Also William Morris fabrics.

Next meeting in the Nog Inn is booked for 2nd April at 8 pm.

Update: The placing of the boundary stone has been confirmed by the land owner, and the order has been placed with the stonemason. Many thanks to the organisations involved for making this possible.

Feniton History Group held the 56th Meeting

We had some good discussion until about 9.30pm 

We decided not to spend any time researching the Baker's monument as it is in Whimple parish and probably the Whimple Heritage Group have information on it. (I have contacted Whimple, awaiting a reply)

We are going to try and find out a bit about Alice Eveleigh - date of death etc as David still has had no feedback from anyone regarding the plaque in the Church.

No-one replied to a request for old house names but Bill suggested we try to find the oldest houses in Feniton through the magazine - does anyone know how old their house is? I have spoken to the owner of Apple Trees, sadly he has no idea about the age of the house, he does not have any deeds.

Brenda is going to write a piece for the magazine on 'Where did John Patteson catch the coach when he left for Melanesia? - based mainly on David's notes - as the Church will be marking the 160th anniversary in March.

David asked for help needed for the Patteson display. perhaps we could chat about this and involve Geoff.  It was confirmed and welcomed that the History Group can put on a Patteson display and Katie Drew will try and get some other items

We discussed the state of roads and transport at that time. Alan said the road from Ottery to Fairmile was poor and that a coach from Sidmouth to Cullompton would have used the Gosford route.

 Brenda and David.

Many thanks to the Group for carrying on in my absence.

I will arrange a meeting at the farm to sort out the Bishop Patterson display towards the end of the month.

Next meeting 5 March in the Nog Inn.