The Parson and Clerk rocks of Dawlish

"On the south-east coast of Devon, about twelve miles from Exeter, lies the picturesque town of Dawlish. It possesses a long stretch of sandy beach, which encloses a small bay of the English Channel. At the southern extremity may be seen two rocks, lying a short distance from the mainland, known as the Parson and Clerk. The story of these rocks, as told by the gossips of Dawlish is as follows :
 

A certain bishop of Exeter fell sick, and thinking that the pure air of this charming village would restore his lost energy took up for a time his residence there.

An ambitious priest, whose aim was to succeed to the See in the event of his superior's demise, frequently rode to Dawlish accompanied by his clerk to make enquiries after the condition of the dying bishop. The clerk was usually the priest's guide; but one night, in a tremendous storm, while crossing Haldon they lost their way, and worn out with the long journey found themselves miles out of the beaten track, The priest boiled over with rage. He abused the clerk, and exclaimed " I would rather have the Devil himself, than you, for a guide." At this moment a horseman rode by and volunteered to pioneer them to Dawlish. They thanked him and jogged comfortably along at his side, unmindful of time, distance, or invalid. The storm still raged and the long ride had sharpened their appetites, therefore, as they approached a brilliantly-lighted mansion, they gladly accepted the stranger's invitation to partake of his hospitality. They enjoyed a sumptuous repast, and indulged freely in the good wine provided so lavishly by their host.

In the midst of their merriment news was brought that the bishop was dead. The priest was eager to be off to secure the first chance of promotion, now that the bishop was out of the way. So master and man mounted their steeds and made ready to depart. But the horses were not anxious to go. They were whipped and spurred but all in vain. "Devil take the brutes," exclaimed the priest in his rage. "Thank you, sir," said their host, "Gee up." The horses did "gee up ! "with a vengeance, and galloped madly for the cliffs : then over they went, that of the clerk first, then followed the parson and his steed plump on their backs and there they are to this day looking see-ward (sea), monuments of disappointed ambition."

Hewett 1900

 

A Torrington case of Entrapment, Bishops and the Long Road...

Bishop of Exeter Frederick Temple by James Joseph Jacques Tissot [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

"Dr. recently held a visitation at Torrington, North Devon, and while his carriage was being harnessed for the return journey to Barnstaple, intimated that he would walk on. The bishop took the old hilly road, which is now but little used, and the coachman, unaware of this fact, drove off, via Bickford [Bideford?], quite in another direction. For five miles his lordship trudged on, and becoming fatigued, and seeing no sign of carriage, on arriving at Newton Tracey he asked a respectable publican and farmer there to give him a lift. Boniface had a cart, but the cart was unlicensed, and he pleaded this objection against complying with Dr. 's wish. But the bishop was equal to the emergency ; he was desirous to proceed, and would pay the cost of a license. This anxiety aroused the publican's suspicions, who rejoined that if his visitor " would zit down and take a drap ov zummut 'e wid go tii Barum and get a lishens." But for this preliminary the bishop could not wait and urged his host to harness his cart at once, and take out a license on reaching Barnstaple.
 

More convinced than ever of the character and occupation of the pedestrian, Boniface broke out, emphasizing his denunciations with strong expletives. 

"I knaw thee. Thee art wan ov they supervisor fellers that be alwes agwaine about the country, a-trying tii trap poar men awver their lishenses and their carts." 

The astonished prelate mildly endeavoured to assuage the wrath of the irate publican, by the statement that he was the Bishop of Exeter. 

"Tez a d lie and nothing of the zort," retorted the other, "yii want tii trick me, zames yii did my neighbour tother day. Why, Bill Smith was armed five pound and yii wan'th tii git me intii the zame box, but I'm burned if yii dii." 

So the bishop had again to sally forth, until he was picked up about four miles from his destination by the carriage, which had meanwhile been sent out in quest of him from Barnstaple. The publican chuckled over his own cuteness in doing the supervisor, and to a friend who called a few days later, he narrated the incident with great glee.

"I knawed," said he, "who the chap was ! He was a-dressed up like a zort of genelman varmer with a pair of black gaiters and breeches, and a rummy zort of a hat 'pon his head ; but he didden git awver me, I cude zee by the twinkle of his eye he was wan of they excise chaps and he wanted to zar me zames he did Bill Smith. He, poor blid, was fined five pound tuther day for just a-taking his missus who'd been bad for just a little bit of a turn round a bit." Shortly after, Boniface learnt the true state of the case, when he said, "Bless my sawl, what a fiile I've abin, mayhap if I'd diied what his lordship axed me, he mid a-made me Dean of the Katheydral !"

Slightly altered from report in the Tiverton Gazette" [1872]

Hewett 1900


Map - Barnstaple
Map - Exeter
Map - Newton Tracey
Map - Torrington

Unlucky in Devon - 35, 36, 37 & 38 (baptism and confirmation)

Roman Catholic Baptism

 It is unlucky -

"To reveal a child's Christian name before it is presented at the font for baptism.

To receive the left hand of the bishop on the head, at confirmation. It conveys a ban instead of a blessing.

For a child to refrain from crying when presented at the font for baptism. It is thought the more it yells and screams, the quicker the evil spirits will quit it.

For an unmarried person to be sponsor at a baptism : for "First to the font, never to the altar.""

Hewett 1900

Lucky in Devon - 8

A non-Devon Confirmation at St. Jude Roman Catholic Church H.E. Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais March 4, 2008 Some rights reserved by Jim, the Photographer  http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcapaldi/2316932121/sizes/l/

It is lucky -

"To receive the right hand of the bishop on one's head at confirmation."

Hewett 1900

Lightning protection of church bells

A contemporary woodcut of The Great Thunderstorm, Widecombe, Dartmoor, Devon, England which occurred in 1638.  Any lightning defense attempted here obviously didn't work very well!

"IN ancient times church bells were anointed with holy oil, exorcised, and blessed by the bishop, from a belief that when these ceremonies had been performed, they had the power to drive the devil out of the air, to calm tempests, protect from lightning, and keep away the plague.

The passing bell was anciently rung to bespeak the prayers of all Christian people for a soul just departing, and to drive away the evil spirit who stood at the bed's foot to hinder its passage to the other world.

Men's death I tell by doleful knell,
Lightning and thunder I break asunder,
The winds so fierce I do disperse,
Men's cruel rage I do assuage.

A very frequent inscription on church bells in the fifteenth century, was voce mea viva depells cunta nociva.

This is a proof of the belief that demons were frightened away by the sound of bells."

Hewett 1900

[Again - Caution should be taken with Sarah Hewetts work - while it is ostensibly to do with Devon, and has many uniquely Devon stories in it, it is sometimes hard to ascertain when she is referring to a Devon tradition, and when it is simply a general British or European thing. In this case I am giving her the benefit of the doubt, and including it because of the inscription.  I have no idea whether this was ever written on any Devon bell though!]

The Olive, The Crown, The King and The Church - part 1

"Bath Cathedral was founded by Bishop Oliver King in the reign of Henry VII. 

"Lying at Bath," we are told, "and musing, or meditating one night late, after his devotions and prayers for the prosperity of Henry VII. and his children (who were all in most part living), to which king he was principal secretary, and by him preferred to his bishopric, he saw (or believed he saw) a vision of the Holy Trinity, with angels ascending and descending by a ladder, near to the foot of which there was a fair olive tree supporting a crown, and a voice that said, 'Let an Olive establish the Crown, and let a King restore the Church.'..." [cont.]

Valentine (undated)

Bath and the Monk from Tours

Bath Abbey - By Diliff (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-2.5 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

"In the insurrection of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, against William Rufus, both the town and abbey were burned and destroyed.

And then a strange thing occurred. A monk of Tours actually bought the ruined city of Bath from Rufus for the sum of 500 marks! His name was John de Villula. Like many of the Churchmen at that time he was a skilful physician, though probably not of the profession of leechcraft, as he is called by the historian Warner a quack. He lived in Bath, where he had made a large fortune by healing the invalids who came for the waters. He could not have belonged to an order vowed to poverty. It was doubtless with great regret that this intelligent man saw the beautiful Roman city where he had lived and toiled, reduced to ruins. As we have seen, he bought it of Rufus, and then he set himself the task of restoring it.

By his liberality and wonderful power of organising he achieved this great work. He restored its chief edifices, and the church and monastery. He then resolved to get the See of Wells removed to Bath, and he succeeded in this also."

Valentine (undated)

Map - Bath

Madron - Saint Madern or Doom Well - Part 2

"...In the year 1640, John Trelille, who had been an absolute cripple for sixteen years, and was obliged to crawl upon his hands by reason of the close contraction of the sinews of his legs, upon three several admonitions in his dreams, washing in St. Madern's Well and sleeping afterwards in what was called St. Madern's bed, was suddenly and perfectly cured. 

Of all writers, Bishop Hall, sometime Bishop of the diocese of these western parts, bears the most honourable testimony to the efficacy of this well. In his Mystery of Godliness, when speaking of the good office which angels do to God's servants, the Bishop says "Of whiche kind was that noe less than miraculous cure whiche at Madern's Well, in Cornwall, was wrought on a poor cripple, whereof, besides the attestation of many hundreds of the neighhours, I saw him able to walk and get his own maintenance. I took strict and impartial examination in my last triennial visitation. I found neither art nor collusion, the cure done, the author an invisible God."..." [to be cont.]

 Hope 1893

Ugborough and the Bishop of Worcester

"There are two good brasses of the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries in this church [Harford Church].  The former is a knight in armour, Thomas Williams, Speaker of the house of Commons, the other a coloured brass to the Prideaux family, placed here by John Prideux, Bishop of Worcester, in 1639.

Of him it is told, that as a young man in Harford he competed for the post of parish clerk, in the neighboring parish of Ugborough, but failed to get the appointment. He went to Oxford, and worked in a menial position. Afterwards a patron kindly procured for him admittance to a college, where through his ability he rose from one position to another until he was made bishop of Worcester; and was wont to remark "If I could have been a parish clerk of Ugborough, I had never been the bishop of Worcester."

Cresswell 1921

Map - Harfod Church
Map - Ugborough

Bishop's Stone

"Just above Lustliegh station, in a hedge, is a massive stone, on which a coat-of-arms can be made out, believed to be the arms of Bishop Grandison : it is called the Bishop's Stone, and is thought by some to have been the base of a cross. Tradition says that the bishop once dined upon it when visiting Lustleigh."

Cresswell 1921

Map - Lustleigh

The Traceys and Thomas a Becket

"Bovey Tracey was, says Risdon, the "ancient inheritance of the Traceys, Barons of Barnstaple". They have also historical notoriety for the murder of St. Thomas a Becket ; And the ill-luck of the family has ever since been proverbial :-

All the Traceys

Have the wind in their faces.

The fine old church which stands at the top of the town is dedicated to the saint, and is said to have been founded by William de Tracey in expiation of the murder.

Like most Devon churches the present building belongs to the fifteenth century.  The richly carved and painted screen should be noticed, Devonshire churches being as famous for their screens, as those of Somerset are for towers. The figures on the panels are probably intended to represent, alternatively, and apostle and a prophet, as are those on the neighboring parish of Chudliegh ; but they appear unfinished.

However, Bovey folk will tell you that they represent St. Thomas and his murderers! as the panels have upon them a bishop, a king, and two other people, whom we may suppose are William de Tracey and Reginald Fitzurse."

Creswell, 1921

 

Map - Bovey Tracey