Above: View of East Budleigh from the tower
of All Saints Church
The village of East
Budleigh in East Devon is well known as the birthplace of Sir Walter Raleigh,
pioneer of English-speaking colonies in the New World.
Near the village church
of All Saints is this statue which commemorates the explorer and favourite of Queen
Elizabeth I. It was unveiled by HRH The
Duke of Kent in February 2006.
Not so many people know of this statue, commemorating another pioneer of colonisation in the N
Roger Conant, the
city’s founding father, was born in East Budleigh in around 1592. He was respected for the spirit of tolerance which he
showed, in contrast to other early settlers in the New World. The 19th century
lawyer and historian John Wingate
Thornton described him as ‘moderate in his views, tolerant, mild and
conciliatory, quiet and unobtrusive, ingenuous and unambitious, preferring the
public good to his private interests’.
2023 marks the 400th anniversary of Roger Conant’s arrival in America. A group of local enthusiasts, mostly from East Budleigh, met in October 2019 to plan how the event could be commemorated.
Email me, Michael Downes, if you would like to be kept updated on our plans
mr.downes@gmail.com
You can access other posts on this blog by going to the Blog Archive (under the ‘About Me’ section), and clicking on the appropriate heading.
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