We
finalised the details of the talk by Jim Rider in the church on 21st
April Jim has his own projector. £3 on the door with tea, coffee and biscuits,
meet at the church 7 pm to set up.
George
asked if there was any interest on holding a
railway event in March 2017 to
mark the 50 years since the Sidmouth Line closed. It looks like we may do
something, so watch this space.
The
placing of the Boundary Stone is all in place for Sun 1st May at
2:30 pm and invites have gone out by email. Rev. Cate has kindly offered to do
the unveiling.
Graeme
Smith has confirmed he will be able to join us for the 2nd June meeting, when he will update us on his
finds in the area. Roy while metal
detecting found a railway badge
Geoff
who volunteers at the Devon Heritage Centre has seen a voter list dated 1759 / 60 list for Exeter
Parliamentary elections. Dan Defoe passed through Honiton in the 1720s and
mentions the parliamentary situation of some of the towns in the Southwest.
He
has been given the task of identifying photos of early railways including some of the Brunel broad gauge line in South Devon and the Pumping Station at time of the change
from broad gauge to standard gauge.
Brenda
has been looking up things in the old newspapers and we discussed the prize for
the farm labourer with most children given at Ploughing Matches, the more
children, the more free labour for the boss, but, it must have been so hard in
the old damp and near derelict cottages found on some farms.
We
nattered about research the other conflicts and if out menfolk from the village
would have been on the Boer war and Crimea war. Sadly, the many army lists only
mention the officers.
David has an Advowson relating the village, it
shows who had the right to present the Rector to Feniton Church. It lists many
names, some we know about as part of the Manor of Feniton, others no known, so
another jigsaw to collate.
The
title of Yeoman was discussed. This link helps define it:
Alan
bought along a map showing how the roads
in the old village had changed over time from 1700 to 1900, he used notes from Victor
Chown’s book and Donns map 1765.
The oldest route in Broadhill, was a sand
quarry which was worked out in the
1700s, then used as the cutting for Sandy Knapp/ Green lane about 1765 ish.
Rutts
Lane from Cheriton Hill used to run through Beechwood copse to Sandy Knapp in a straight line. Broad Hill was put in about 1830. Rutts Lane was too
high and was lowered to meet Broad Hill, closing the lane through Beechwood.
In
1840 Sir John Patteson who lived in the court, closed Church Lane which, at the
time was the through road to Curscombe. The top of Sand Knapp was too steep for wagons. The council lowered it,
the sides are still visible in the sand bank. The sand was used for building, Westlades
was built using material from the
quarry. Thank you Alan.
Brenda
raised a query about the land and garden around Sherwood Villa, seems to be an
old wall running across towards Appletrees. Does anyone when the Villa was
built?
David
told us of his visit to Beer Quarry Caves and suggested it would be somewhere
for a FHG group outing.
Brenda's
progress on her projects, we all love her excitement at what she has
discovered! Her current quest is the Feniton Inn situated where Parr Cottage is
now. It was run by Henry Darke, he married in
1823 to a farmers daughter, Ann
Burton.
The
old newspapers reveal it was the venue for the annual dinners held after the
ploughing matches. They describe a big
room with a huge roof and tent sides.
In the Railway Hotel the beer was dearer in
the lounge bar.
We spoke about the age of the new estate. Memories of the houses being built and even a
playground which never came too!! That rings a bell with the current new
housing development. Ely Close was built about 1972.
Looking
through the Vestry books in the Heritage Centre Brenda found that in 1873 St Anne’s chapel was sold,
the money to benefit the school but the Honiton Union said no. The Population at the time was 306.
Also
found was reference to Branscombe Mill at
Fenny Bridges, this is something we have not heard before. In the back of the Church wardens book is a 1806 description of walking the boundary.
This
concluded another wonderful evening, thank you all.
