Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts

The fireplace is very elaborately carved and painted, and here, too, are figures in curious juxtaposition surrounded by very rich decorations. Amongst others may be seen a farmer and his wife, a cook, with a large goose that she is about to kill, and a dairymaid, with a miniature cow in her arms. High above these are the sons and daughters of Jesse in splendid robes and crowns.

Bradfield, in ancient days Bradefelle, was once held by a family of that name. The deed that carried it to the Walronds is not dated, but a marginal note says that 'Fulke Paynel' was dead in 1 Henry III. The deed runs as follows:

Fulke Paynel grants to Richard Walerond of Exeter all his land of Bradfield in his Manor of Offeculme. Richard Walerond is to make two suits yearly, one at 'La Hockeday,'[10] and one at Michaelmas amercement, to consist of one sextary of wine of the value of sixpence and not more. Grant of common pasture throughout the manor, except in fields and meadows. One pound of pepper to be paid at Michaelmas annually. In recognition of this grant Richard Walerond 'pays to Fulke Paynel five marks of silver, and gives to Hande his wife' one golden ring, and to William his heir one golden brooch.

Witnesses: Simon son of Roger, Hamelin de Boulay, William de Lomene, Walter de Tiddecomba, Simon de Baunton and Robert his brother, Peter Comyn, Radulphus de Doddescomba, Walter de Soffewill, 'and many others.'

Among the Walrond papers is an agreement dated Michaelmas, 1261, regarding a farm 'let for nineteen years, in consideration of four marks paid and one mark a year for six years and rent of six shillings a year ... and two capons at Michaelmas and one bushel of winter wheat at Christmas in each year, from one ferling of land in Cumb.'

I believe that the views held by Sir Henry Walrond of the arrival of William of Orange are not clearly recorded, but whatever they were, a note written by General Ginkel, during the march from Tor Bay to Whitehall, was, considering the position of things, decidedly peremptory:

A charming echo from the past sounds in a very different epistle—a love-letter from Sir William Walrond to a Mistress Courtenay. The letter is written on a sheet of paper covered with gold-leaf and bordered with elaborate designs. The case belonging to it is embroidered in fine crewel-work in (more or less) natural colours, representing figures, scenery, and a house in the background, and it suggests the needles of Little Gidding.

Pynes stands in the Exe Valley, just within three miles of Exeter Cathedral. It is of red brick with white dressings, and has many high narrow windows. A view has been put forward that the politics of country gentlemen in the early part of the eighteenth century may always be traced by their trees; those who were in favour of William III set lime-avenues, while Jacobites planted Scotch firs. There is a tradition in the family that, while the Northcotes were for the Prince of Orange, the Staffords were for King James, but it seems quite as likely that political significance was not always the chief point in planting trees. In any case, there are many Scotch firs, and a lime-avenue (peculiarly in keeping with the style of the house) is shown by prints to have led far over the hill to Upton Pyne, but is now, alas! represented only by one or two aged survivors.

The manor belonged to the family of Pyne in the reign of Henry I, and after many years was brought by an heiress to the Larders. From this family, after another interval, it passed by marriage to the Coplestones, of whom it was bought by Hugh Stafford.

The Staffords, or, as the name originally was, Stowfords, migrated from Stowford in Dolton near Torrington, soon after the Restoration. Hugh Stafford, born in 1674, was very keenly interested in the subject of apple-growing and cider. He wrote a 'Dissertation' on the subject, and especially on a certain apple called the Royal Wilding, from which it had just been discovered (about 1710) a very superior kind of cider could be produced. Unfortunately, Lord Bute's cider-tax so greatly discouraged the manufacture that after it had been imposed farmers only made enough for their own use and their labourers', and were not very critical as to the quality. In consequence, the choicest kinds of fruit were neglected, and both the Royal Wilding and the White Sour of the South Hams, another much-prized apple, are no longer to be found.

The daughter and heiress of Mr Stafford married her neighbour, Sir Henry Northcote. The Northcotes have been settled in Devonshire since the reign of Henry I, when Galfridus de Northcote held the lands of Northcote at East Down, near Barnstaple, and in the middle of the sixteenth century Walter Northcote was living at Uton, in the parish of Crediton. In this neighbourhood his descendants remained until Sir Henry's marriage, when they came to Pynes.

John Northcote was one of the Devonshire justices who attended Quarter Sessions during the later part of the reign of Elizabeth, and he lived till within ten years of the outbreak of Civil War. From his epitaph, it appears that he was tried by the Star Chamber; the verse has been translated as follows:

Nothing is known of the trial, not even the charge, but it is pretty certain that, in common with several other justices at that time, he had showed 'a want of "forwardness"' in collecting ship-money.

Another justice, Walter Yonge, notes in his diary that in 1627 letters were sent to the justices of Devon, 'to the Mayors of port-towns, Exeter, Dartmouth, Totnes, Plymouth, and Barnstaple, bidding the towns provide ships, and the country, men and victuals.' Later, letters were sent demanding that a large sum should be raised 'to set a fleet at sea ... we having but six or seven days to raise the money, and to return it to London; but our county refused to meddle therein.' John Northcote was Sheriff just at this time, and was most probably held responsible for the intractability of his countrymen.

Sir John Northcote, his son, was born in 1599, and became a Member of Parliament, he and Sir Edmund Fowel representing Ashburton in the Long Parliament. During his first few weeks in the House of Commons, Sir John took notes of the proceedings, and the small brown volume in which they are written still exists. The notes have been transcribed by Mr A. H. A. Hamilton, and are very interesting, for they record threatenings of the great storm so soon to burst over England. The pages open with 'Proceedings against the Earl of Strafford. Mr Pimm's [Pym] Report'—which report prefaces terrible accusations with a personal touch: 'Long known the person charged by acts of friendship.'

Many letters, reports, and commissions, refer to Jesuits and priests, and often the Queen's name appears intervening on their behalf; laws against them were more and more relaxed, 'signifying his Majesty's pleasure at instance of her Majesty,' till the Commons became uneasy, and a 'petition' was framed to the King, to remind him of his 'protestation' at the opening of his reign, that the Queen 'should not intermeddle with matters of religion.'

The long and stubborn opposition to the exaction of ship-money, 'Voted illegal and entered nullo contradicente,' is given. The Judges who had declared the tax to be legal were supposed to have been tampered with by Strafford, and Mr Hyde (afterwards Lord Clarendon) suggested that they should be interviewed as to what had passed. The following is a bit of the debate as it was taken down; as Sir John did not write shorthand, he was naturally able to give only the gist of each speech:

'Mr Hide. That some of the house be sent to know what solicitations [had been made].

'Sir Franc. Seymour. That proof be first made.

'Mr Pelham. That it will amount to high treason and to prepare present charge.

'Sir Jo. Wray. The posy of his grandfather, Just and True. Sir Ed. Cook [said] whoever shall go about to overthrow Common Law, the Common Law will overthrow him. His motion, Currat Lex.

'Sergeant Evers. To have first the votes of the Lords.

'Sir P. Stapylton. That Mr Peard be sent to Judge Jones.

'Sir Jo. Strangwayes. That Justice Crook be sent to.

'Lord Fawkland. That they be sent to all at once.

'Sir Nevill Poole. That Lord Keeper be forth coming.

'Mr Controller. That respect be had to Judges. That none be urged to be accuser, but concluded that all be sent to.

'Sir Jo. Culpeper. Of twelve one was a Judas. To send to all the Judges that gave the Judgment, and to send immediately.'

Another debate shows the King and Parliament for the moment on unusually good terms. Sir Benjamin Rudyard said: 'God blest his Majesty with hopeful and fruitful progeny. To put in mind to provide for them. The first prince born amongst us this 100 years. Queen's good affection to Parliament. Concern her Majesty to uphold the glory and government of this kingdom.'

When the crisis came, most of the Devonshire members seem to have supported the Parliament, guided, no doubt, to some extent by the wonderful influence of 'King' Pym. Pym sat for Tavistock; 'his colleague was a son of the House of Russell. William Strode sat for Buralston, and his elder brother for Plympton.' Northcote was slightly connected with the Strodes, and when war broke out he followed the Earl of Bedford. In September, 1642, Sir Hugh Pollard wrote to the Earl of Bath: 'The Earl of Bedford is now at Taunton, in want of men and money; he hath sent to his friends Chudleigh, Bampfield, and Northcote, for a supply of both, whose oratory cannot get one trained man to move, nor above eight volunteers.'

The letter receives a curious comment from the succeeding ones. At that very time the Earl of Bedford was issuing orders for the arrest of Sir Hugh Pollard, and four days afterwards Sir George Chudleigh and Sir John Northcote wrote to Major Carey, expressing their approval of Captain Dewett's conduct in capturing the Earl of Bath. Sir John was now at the head of a regiment of twelve hundred men, and seems to have held the command during the first two years of the Civil War. He took an active part in the defence of Plymouth, and in 1643 at Modbury a victory was won by the forces under Lieutenant-General Ruthen, Sir J. Bampfield, and Sir John Northcote, over Lord Hopton's troops. Many of the Parliamentarian gentlemen were anxious for peace, and just after this skirmish tried to arrange an 'association' or neutrality between Devon and Cornwall; but the idea was quashed by Commissioners from London. A few months later Clarendon mentions that Sir John was sent by the Earl of Bedford, the Parliamentary General of Horse, to negotiate a treaty with the Marquis of Hertford.

Sir John was elected to the Parliament of 1656, and showed himself a constant lover of liberty. He inveighed against the powers granted to Cromwell's House of Peers. 'It was minded you ... that no law was rightly made but by King, Lords, and Commons. I am sure this law was not made so.' He lays stress on the point that the old House of Lords ventured all that they had, and protests against their being superseded by new-comers. 'That they should be excluded and these advanced is not just nor reasonable.' A little later he spoke again on the same subject: 'We thought in the long Parliament we might restrain the inordinate power of the Chief Magistrate. That was the ground of our quarrel in the late war; but ... it seems we cannot bound these Lords' exorbitant powers.... I did fight against an exorbitant power in the King's hands, and I will fight against it again to the last drop of blood, if his Highness command me, whenever such power shall be set up, if it be to-morrow, and in whatever hands it be.'

John Northcote was one of the two Knights of the Shire for Devon in the Convention Parliament, the other being the Lord General Monk. The Restoration was gladly welcomed by him, but he 'spoke repeatedly in favour of pardon and amnesty, and when necessity arose, he seems to have confronted the triumphant Cavaliers in debate as boldly as he had met them, or their fathers, in the field.' This was the last Parliament that Sir John sat in. A little later he turned to the West, and spent most of the days that were left him in Devon.

List of Authorities Consulted

Baring-Gould (S.): A Book of Dartmoor.

Baring-Gould (S.): A Book of the West.

Baring-Gould (S.): Devonshire Characters and Strange Events.

Blount (T.): Tenures of Lands.

Blundell's Worthies, edited by M. L. Banks.

Bray (Mrs.): The Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy.

Britton (J.) and Brayley (E. W.): Beauties of England and Wales.

Britton (J.) and Brayley (E. W.): Devonshire Illustrated.

Camden (W.): Britannia.

Carew (Bampfylde Moore): Life and Adventures.

Carewe (Sir Peter), Dyscourse and Dyscoverye of the Lyffe of, ...
collected by John Vowell, als. Hoker, of the Citie of Excester, gent.

Carrington (N. T.): Dartmoor.

Chanter (J. F.): A History of the Parishes of Lynton and Countisbury.

Chanter (J. R.): Lundy Island.

Chichester (Sir A. P.): History of the Chichester Family.

Cleaveland (E.): Genealogical History of the Noble and Illustrious Family of Courtenay.

Clermont (Lord): History of the Fortescues.

Cotton (R. W.): Barnstaple and the Northern Part of Devonshire during the Great Civil War.

Cotton (W.): An Elizabethan Guild of the City of Exeter.

Cotton (W.) and Woollcombe (H.): Gleanings from Municipal and Cathedral Records of Exeter.

Dartmoor Preservation Association's Transactions.

Defoe (D.): A Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain.

Devon Notes and Queries.

Devonshire Association's Transactions.

Edmonds (Chancellor): Exeter Cathedral.

Everitt (W.): Devonshire Scenery.

Fiennes (Celia): Through England on a Side-Saddle in the Time of William and Mary.

Fox (S. P.): Kingsbridge and its Surroundings.

Freeman (E. A.): Exeter.

Friend (H.): Bygone Devonshire.

Froude (J. A.): History of England.

Fuller (T., D.D.): Worthies of England.

Gilpin (W.): Observations on the Western Parts of England.

Harding (W.): History of Tiverton.

Harris (J. H.): My Devonshire Book.

Izacke (R. and S.): Remarkable Antiquities of the City of Exeter.

Kelly's Directory of Devonshire.

King (R. J.): Sketches and Studies.

Kingsley (C.): Miscellanies.

Leland (J.): Itinerary.

Lysons (D. and S.): Magna Britannia.

Mozley (T.): Henry VII, Prince Arthur, and Cardinal Morton.

Murray's Handbook of Devon.

Norway (A. H.): Highways and Byways in Devon and Cornwall.

Oliver (G., D.D.): History of the City of Exeter.

Oliver (G., D.D.): Lives of the Bishops of Exeter.

Oliver (G., D.D.): Monasticon Diœcesis Exoniensis.

Page (J. L. W.): An Exploration of Exmoor.

Peeke (Richard, of Tavistock): His Three to One.

Pollock (Sir F.): Dartmoor and the Walkham. Eng. Illus. Mag., 1884.

Polwhele (R.): History of Devonshire.

Pridham (T. L.): Devonshire Celebrities.

Prince (J.): Worthies of Devon.

Raleigh (Sir Walter): Life, by Martin Hume.

Rawle (E. J.): Annals of the Ancient Royal Forest of Exmoor.

Rawle (E. J.): The Doones of Exmoor.

Risdon (T.): Chorographical Description or Survey of the County of Devon.

Rogers (W. H. H.): Memorials of the West.

Rowe (C. R.): South Devon.

Rowe (J. Brooking): History of the Borough of Plympton Erle.

Rowe (S.): A Perambulation of Dartmoor.

Snell (F. J.): Memorials of Old Devonshire.

Sprigg (J.): Anglia Rediviva; or, England's Recovery.

Vowell (J., alias Hoker): Antique Description of the City of Exeter.

Walker (J.): Sufferings of the Clergy.

Walpole's Universal British Traveller.

Watkins (J.): An Essay towards a History of Bideford.

Westcote (T.): View of Devonshire in MDCXXX.

Whitfeld (H. F.): Plymouth and Devonport in Times of War and Peace.

Widecombe Tracts, 1638.

Wiffen (J. H.): Historical Memoirs of the House of Russell.

Worth (R. N.): History of Plymouth.

Worth (R. N.): The West-Country Garland.

Index