57. Conant connections: Colyton town

 

 

A Monmouth rebel greets you at the car park in Colyton  

Most Devonians know that East Budleigh was the birthplace of Sir Walter Raleigh, and by now, I hope, quite a few more know that it was also where Roger Conant was born.

Less than 20 miles north-east of the village is the attractive little town of Colyton. Like East Budleigh it’s noted for its picturesque old buildings but is more celebrated as ‘the most rebellious town in Devon’ because of the role that many of its inhabitants played in the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685 during the reign of the Catholic King James II.

The town was one of the main areas of religious dissent in East Devon. When the Protestant Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of King Charles II, landed on the coast of Dorset in June that year, 105 men from Colyton - more than any other Devon  town - chose to follow him rather than remain loyal to the Crown.  

 

The Battle of Sedgemoor is often referred to as the last pitched battle fought on English soil.  The four playing cards from this commemorative pack of 1685 illustrate incidents in Monmouth’s rebellion and were evidently produced as government propaganda: the ‘King’ card depicts devils in the air bewitching Monmouth’s army. Image © The Trustees of the British Museum

Monmouth was defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor on 6 July. It’s not known how many Colyton men were killed in the battle, but thirty-three were taken prisoner. Twenty-four were sentenced to be transported into slavery, and fifteen were hanged.

Just over a century earlier, Colyton people showed a similar independence of spirit during the reign of Henry VIII. But the circumstances were less bloody and the events are very much part of Roger Conant’s story.

 

Henry Courtenay, KG, shown 2nd from left wearing a mantle displaying his arms, detail from procession of Garter Knights in the Black Book of the Garter, c.1535. Image credit: Royal Collection, Windsor; Wikipedia

Much of the land in Devon and Cornwall was owned by Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter and Earl of Devon, who was a cousin and friend of Henry VIII. But the religious and political upheavals of the English Reformation in the 1530s led Courtenay into rivalry with Thomas Cromwell.

 

Portrait of Thomas Cromwell in 1532-3 by Hans Holbein the Younger. Image credit: The Frick Collection; Wikipedia

As Henry’s chief minister, Cromwell had sufficient influence at Court to destroy his enemies, and in November 1538, Courtenay was arrested on suspicion of treason. After a brief trial he was beheaded on 9 December at Tower Hill in London. His lands were seized by the Crown and the Earldom of Devon was declared forfeit.

 

 

Old Church House near St Andrew’s Church dates from 1612, and is a three-storey building formerly used by the Colyton Feoffees. Feoffee is an ancient word meaning a trustee who holds a 'fief', i.e. an estate in land for the use of the beneficial owner.   

A group of 20 Colyton merchants saw an opportunity to create, with royal agreement, a form of self-government in the town, and travelled to Westminster to state their case in 1546.

The King agreed to the sale of Courtney’s estates in the town – ‘the manor of Coliton’ – subject to the proceeds being used for ‘good, godly and commendable uses’.  On 6 January 1546, the Colyton Chamber of Feoffees was established.

The door of Old Church House

Colyton is still run by the Feoffees, who now meet in this Tudor revival style building, dating from around 1927.

 

Not just any old town council building. The inscription above the front door proudly states that it is the Feoffees Town Hall

 

The front of Colyton Grammar School in 2013. The School moved in 1927 from Colyton to its present site in the nearby village of Colyford Image credit: Bookwork72; Wikipedia  

The English Reformation had a major impact in the area of education. What has become known as the Dissolution of the Monasteries was followed by a surge in the number of grammar schools. By 1540 all the abbeys, friaries and other religious houses with their cloister schools had been abolished.

Nine miles west of Colyton, at Ottery St Mary, the choir school established by Bishop Grandisson in 1335 was replaced by a grammar school and named The King’s School in 1545.

One of the first acts of the Feoffees was the founding of Colyton Grammar School ‘for the goodly and virtuous education of children in Colyton forever’.  

This Grade II listed building, next to St Andrew's Church in Colyton, was built in 1835. For a time it was used by Colyton Grammar School before the move in 1927. Thanks to Jane Dauncey for this information. Jane organises walking tours of Colyton. See www.colytonhistory.co.uk/colyton-history-tours.php

The astute Colyton merchants during their visit to London may even have suggested that the new school be named in the monarch’s honour like Ottery St Mary’s grammar school. They would have guessed that following suit would be an obvious way of flattering King Henry to achieve their aim of self-government.

Prominent among these merchants who travelled to London in 1546 was John Clarke, whose daughter Agnes would marry Roger Conant’s father, Richard.  Clarke’s importance in the town is evident from the entry in parish records following his death:  

"John Clarke, the elder of Coliton, merchant was buried IX of Aprill, who in his lyfe time was the cheffest traviler of the purchas of the manor of Coliton, and the markets, with other lyberties pertaining the same, as aperieth by the pattent - and deceased the VI day of Aprill 1585."

A walking tour of Colyton might include all the buildings that would have stood in John Clarke’s time. No doubt Roger Conant would have been familiar with them during visits to his grandparents.

 

Brerewood House

On the west side of St Andrew’s Church stands Brerewood House, currently the vicarage. It was the home of Dr Thomas Brerewood, who was Vicar of Colyton from 1524 to 1544 and Chancellor to John Veysey, Bishop of Exeter from 1519 to 1551.

 

The front entrance to Brerewood House

 

The Merchant’s House

Other houses in Colyton like this building, known as the Merchant’s House, are evidence of the town’s wealth in the past. The elegant plasterwork of the ceilings in the front part of the house dates from the early 17^th century. The building now includes the Colyton Heritage Centre.

 

The Great House

Away from the town centre on South Street is the Great House. It was home to the Yonge or Young family who settled in Devon during the reign of King Henry VII and were prominent wool merchants. The building is largely early 17^th century, but two Tudor fireplaces indicate that it was originally an Elizabethan mansion.

 

The tannery of J. & F.J. Baker & Co Ltd. King Street, Colyton

My tour of Colyton ended at this unprepossessing building next to a nice garden centre. It’s something of a contrast to the town’s ancient buildings but appearances can be deceptive. J. & F.J. Baker is Britain's only remaining traditional oak bark tannery.

Oak bark leather has been tanned here on the banks of the River Coly since Roman times, with a process that has hardly changed for centuries.The long slow tannage ensures that the natural fibres that make up a hide are allowed to remain in their natural weave. This produces a nice firm, hard wearing piece of leather, with good water resistance. Baker's leather is used for bespoke shoe-making and is also ideal for saddlery and harness leathers due to its high tensile strength.

 

The yard is split into 72 pits, each with a progressively stronger concentration of the tanning solution. New hides will spend the first three months working their way up the yard from the weaker to stronger solutions. They’re suspended from sticks throughout their progress to ensure an even colour is absorbed all over each pelt. Image credit: www.colvilleleather.co.uk

I included the Colyton tannery because of Roger Conant’s experience as a salter. Salt was used in so many processes in the past apart from the preservation of food. As I was told at the tannery it was used in the curing of animal hides; the skins were soaked in a saltwater brine.

 

A tannery had been in existence since the 16^th century in East Budleigh, at the house now known as ‘Christophers’, pictured above. It apparently produced buckets for the Tudor navy as well as the usual leather products of boots, shoes and gloves.  

It was located on the village outskirts; tanneries tended to be smelly places. The Conant family would surely have been aware of their economic importance. Did Richard Conant choose an apprenticeship with the Salters’ Company for young Roger having visited such manufacturing sites in East Budleigh and Colyton? Who knows?   

Continued at https://conant400.blogspot.com/2022/07/conant-connections-past-and-present-at.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

56. ‘A whirlwind and wonderful trip’ to Roger Conant’s birthplace

 

Roger Conant’s descendants have been thrilled to learn about the activities of the East Budleigh-based local history group which has been investigating the Devon origins of the founder of Salem, Massachusetts. Roger’s 9x-granddaughter, retired psychologist Luli Graetch, flew with her husband Frank all the way from California to spend some time in the area over the recent Jubilee weekend. They learnt about other aspects of East Budleigh, the village where in the 16^th century two important figures in the history of America were born.

Passing Hayes Barton, birthplace of Sir Walter Ralegh on Hayes Lane, a mile or so west of East Budleigh: the word ‘barton’ simply meaning a farm. The house is not open to the public    

 

Vicars Mead on Hayes Lane, where the young Walter Ralegh and Roger Conant are likely to have received their early schooling from East Budleigh’s vicar   

 

Frank and Luli outside Vicars Mead, which is not open to the public. The Latin inscription ‘Pax intrantibus salus exuntibus’ is often translated into English as "Peace to those who enter, good health to those who depart   

This millstone outside East Budleigh’s Church Hall came from the mill thought to have been leased by the Conant family   

 

A group of local residents have set up the Roger Conant 400 Club. They plan to erect a blue plaque near the millstone commemorating his voyage to America in about 1623 

At East Budleigh’s Jubilee Street Party on Sunday 5 June 2022.Tables were set up the length of the High Street for a community lunch. Naturally the pub provided much of the food and drink

Luli is sitting next to historian and East Budleigh resident Ian Blackwell who is researching for a book about Roger Conant 

East Budleigh is entertained at the Street Party by Exeter Morris Men, the oldest established Morris Men in Devon. Could there have been Morris dancing in the time of Ralegh and Roger Conant? Maybe. The earliest English written mention of Morris dance is dated to 1448

All Saints Church dates mainly from the 12^th and 15^th centuries,  and is where the Ralegh and Conant families worshipped. Roger’s father and grandfather were churchwardens here, as was Ralegh’s father. Photo by Peter Bowler

The churchyard of All Saints seen from the tower. John Conant, Roger’s grandfather, together with his parents Richard and Agnes, were buried here, but the gravestones have long gone. Luli and Frank were given a copy of the excellent guide to the churchyard recently produced by Paul and Penny Kurowski. It focuses on wildlife, but includes a paragraph about the millstone and Roger Conant, as well mentioning some of the graves and memorials, such as those to James Lackington (1746-1815) and Admiral George William Preedy (1817-1894)

Frank and Luli at the porch of All Saints Church

Roger was baptised at All Saints on 9 April 1592, in what is thought to be the original font 

The bench end of the 'Conant pew' bears the arms of Nathaniel Conant, who was knighted in 1813. He was Roger Conant's great-great-great-great-nephew, had never visited America, and probably not East Budleigh 

All Saints is noted for much more ancient bench ends like this one. Does it really depict a Native American? Or, as most historians think, a ‘Green Man’ figure from traditional folk culture?   

And does this bench end really depict a man eating a banana brought back by East Budleigh sailors from across the Atlantic? Or is it telling us that tale bearers and gossips will be punished with swollen tongues?   

A bench end showing a ship is said to have inspired young Walter Ralegh with a love of seafaring. In fact historians tell us that he suffered badly from seasickness   

The list of East Budleigh clergy includes Roger’s nephew Richard Conant, son of Richard Conant the younger, and vicar at All Saints for over 16 years from 1672. He was buried in East Budleigh on 6 December 1688, and was succeeded by Daniel Caunieres, a Huguenot refugee forced to flee his home in France because of religious persecution 

This painting displayed at All Saints is a copy of one of the best known portraits of Sir Walter Ralegh formerly attributed to the 16^th century Italian artist  Federico Zuccaro but now to the monogrammist 'H' (? Hubbard) and dated 1588. It shows Ralegh in court dress at the height of his favour with Queen Elizabeth I. Ralegh had been appointed Captain of the Guard in 1587. Did Ralegh really meet Roger Conant in East Budleigh? It’s a nice story, but no historical evidence has been found for it 

One of the treasures of All Saints, not on public view, is the Elizabethan silver chalice from which the Ralegh and Conant families would have drunk while at church. It was made between 1571 and 1576, possibly by the Exeter goldsmith John Jones. This replica is on display in the Ralegh Room at Budleigh Salterton’s Fairlynch Museum

By chance, while in All Saints Church, Luli met East Budleigh resident Cathy Moyle who has spent many years investigating local history, including leading the restoration of the Salem Chapel on the outskirts of the village    

On the way to the nearby village of Otterton where they were staying, Luli and Frank had a good view of this Dissenters’ chapel, built in 1719. Sadly it is now closed.  Salem Chapel has no connection with the city of Salem, Massachusetts, founded by Roger Conant. ‘Salem’ simply means ‘Peace’ in Hebrew and Arabic 

 

Further towards Otterton, at a crossroads stands the Brick Cross. The brick pedestal was erected in 1743 as a direction post, but the cross dates from 1580 when the Sheriff of Exeter is recorded as having ordered the burning of a witch at the site 

The King’s Arms pub stands on the main street of Otterton. The village is as picturesque as East Budleigh, celebrated for its beautifully thatched roofs and quaint cob and brick cottages 

 

On the other side of the street is Otterton Mill. There has been a working mill in the village since at least Norman times 

Luli and Frank managed to include a visit to the coastal town Budleigh Salterton, which is within walking distance of Otterton, following the River Otter. People interested in stories of British royalty may like to know that Diana, Princess of Wales, is said to have enjoyed walking incognito on Budleigh beach with her lover James Hewitt   

Just a few yards from the beach is Fairlynch Museum, a picturesque thatched building of the type known as a cottage orné. It dates from around 1810 and was built by a local merchant. The Museum's Ralegh Room is located on the 1st floor 

At Bicton, a mile or so from Otterton, Luli and Frank visited the studio of John Washington, the local artist whose painting ‘Blessed are the Peacemakers’ depicts the events of 1625 in New England where Roger Conant played a key role. They also met Stan Roberts, Chair of the Roger Conant 400 Club.  Image credit: Peter Bowler  

Our American visitors had a great time in East Devon. ‘This has been a whirlwind and wonderful trip,’ wrote Luli. ‘Please know how grateful we are to you for bringing our ancestry to life. I can’t imagine not coming back.’  

With acknowledgement to Ian Blackwell for some of the historical details in the text. 

55. Salem Ancestry Days in the frame

 

Image credit: www.salemancestry.org

A copy of ‘Blessed are the Peacemakers’, the acclaimed painting by Budleigh Salterton artist John Washington which shows a famous episode in the life of East Budleigh’s Roger Conant, is certain to be a talking-point at the above event this weekend. It is taking place in the American city of Salem which Roger founded centuries ago.   

Before Conant’s arrival in the 1620s the area was home to the Naumkeag band of the Massachusett tribe, and Naumkeag was the original name of the coastal settlement which eventually became known as Salem.  

 

In John Wingate Thornton’s 1854 work The Landing at Cape Anne, we find a description of how ‘Governor Conant and his associates, in the fall of the year 1626, removed to Naumkeag, and there erected houses, cleared the forests, and prepared the ground for the cultivation of maize, tobacco, and the products congenial to the soil’. This account was apparently based on the testimony from the Ipswich-born American clergyman and historian William Hubbard, who is likely to have met and conversed with Conant. 

Thornton’s account continues: ‘In after years, one of the planters in his story of the first days of the colony, said, "when we settled, the Indians never then molested us, but shewed themselves very glad of our company and came and planted by us, and often times came to us for shelter, saying they were afraid of their enemy Indians up in the country, and we did shelter them when they fled to us, and we had their free leave to build and plant where we have taken up lands."

Roger Conant and his small band of English settlers, most of them from the West Country and known as the ‘Old Planters’, were followed by thousands more arrivals from further afield.

 

Scene along the Salem waterfront, c. 1770–1780. Image credit: Wikipedia

For centuries, the port of Salem has been a destination for emigrants and families wishing to make a new life for themselves in America. Last year saw the celebration of the first-ever Salem Ancestry Days celebration, intended to be a gathering point for descendants of Salem’s families as well as a research opportunity for people who want to learn more about their family history, explained Kate Fox, Executive Director of the organisation Destination Salem. 

No, not the ancient English All Saints’ Church in East Budleigh but the American First Church at Salem, built in 1836 in the Gothic Revivalist style. Image credit: Wikipedia

The second Ancestry Days event runs from 29 April to 2 May, one of its locations being the First Church at Salem, an institution which boasts of being one of the oldest continuing Protestant churches in North America. Both Roger Conant and his wife were among the original members, as listed in a document dated 1639.

 

‘Blessed are the Peacemakers’ commemorates the events of 1625 when Roger Conant intervened in the dispute between Cape Ann fishermen and Myles Standish, military officer of the Plymouth Pilgrims. 

‘Visitors will be streaming through our church,’ says Diane Smith, Chair of its Archives committee. She tells me that displaying a copy of John Washington’s painting during the 2022 Ancestry Days event will work nicely with the genealogy chart that she has for the Conant family.

Members of many other families apart from Conants will be celebrating their ancestral and immigrant connections to Salem at this 2022 event. ‘The weekend will feature lectures, tours, research opportunities, and information on the people who connect us all to Salem,’ say the organisers. But the descendants of Roger Conant will be particularly interested in the First Church display.

When Frederick Odell Conant published his History and genealogy of the Conant family in England and America in 1887 4,300 of them were listed in the book. There must be many more than that number today. I’m sure that they will be fascinated by John Washington’s portrayal of their distinguished ancestor if they are able to attend the Salem Ancestry Days event.