Near by this place interr’d does lye,
One of the eight whose memory
Will last, and fragrant be to all posterity.
He did revive the Stock and Store,
He built the Almshouse for the poor;
Manag’d so well was the revenue ne’er before.
The Church he lov’d and beautified,
His highest glory and his pride,
The sacred Altar shews his private zeale besides.
A Book he left for all to view,
The accounts which are both just and true;
His owne discharge, and a good precedent for you.
Be silent then of him who’s gone,
Touch not I mean, an imperfection,
For he a pardon has from the Almighty throne.
Look to your ways, each to his trust,
That when you thus are laid in dust,
Your actions may appear as righteous and as just.

About two miles north from Stratton, is the small port of Bude, which is much resorted to in the summer season for sea-bathing. The trade of this place will be greatly increased when the Canal, now making, is completed: the chief exports are timber, bark, and oats; the imports, coal and lime-stone from Wales, and groceries, &c., from Bristol. The harbour, on account of its sands, is best adapted to vessels not exceeding 60 tons burden: but occasionally, vessels of from 80 to 90 tons enter it; and one of more than 90 tons was built at Bude in 1813 for the trade of this port. Great quantities of sea sand are carried from hence for manure, not only into the neighbouring parishes, but into the north of Devonshire, to the distance of 20 miles and upwards.

Kilkhampton, about four miles north of East Stratton, is remarkable for the singular beauty of its Church. It is a large edifice, said to have been erected by a Baron of the Grenville line, who came into England with William the Conqueror, and whose arms are sculptured in many parts of the building.

The whole fabric is a light and rich piece of workmanship, particularly the southern entrance, a semicircular arch, round which is a very curious zig-zag Anglo-Norman moulding, in fine preservation. The interior contains three aisles, divided by slender pillars, supporting obtuse Gothic arches, and has an elegant appearance. It is embellished with several handsome memorials, but the most remarkable one is, the monument of Sir Beville Grenville,[36] who was slain in the civil wars; and as Hervey says, “swords and spears, murdering engines and instruments of slaughter, adorn the stone with formidable magnificence.” It bears the following inscription:

“Here lyes all that was mortal of the most noble and truly valiant Sir Beville Grenville, of Stowe, in the county of Cornwall, Earl of Corbill, and Lord of Thorigny and Grenville, in France and Normandy, descended in a direct line from Robert, second son of the war-like Rollo, first Duke of Normandy, who, after having obtained divers signal victories over the rebels in the West, was at length slain, with many wounds, at the battle of Lansdowne, July 5, 1643. He married the most virtuous Lady, Grace, daughter of Sir George Smith, of the county of Devon, by whom he had many sons, eminent for their loyalty and firm adherence to the crown and church; and several daughters, remarkable examples of true piety. He was indeed an excellent person, whose activity, interest, and reputation, were the foundation of what had been done in Cornwall; his temper and affections so public, that no accident which happened could make any impression upon him, and his example kept others from taking any thing ill, or at least seeming to do so. In a word a higher courage and a gentler disposition were never married together, to make the most cheerful and innocent conversation.”

“To the immortal memory of his renowned grandfather, this monument was erected by the Right Honourable George Lord Lansdowne, Treasurer of the Household to Queen Anne, and one of Her Majesty’s most honourable Privy Council, &c., in the year 1714.”

“Thus slain thy valiant ancestor[37] did lye,
When his one bark a navy did defy,
When now encompass’d round the victor stood,
And bath’d his pinnace in his conqu’ring blood,
Till all his purple current dryed and spent,
He fell, and made the waves his monument:
Where shall the next famed Granville’s ashes stand.
Thy grandsire fills the seas, and thou the land.”
MARTIN LLEWELLIN.
Vide Oxford University Verses, printed 1643.[38]

Clarendon, in his History of the Rebellion, speaks of Sir Beville Grenville’s death as “that which would have clouded any victory, and made the loss of others less spoken of: and the monument is indebted to that noble author’s own words for all the latter part of the panegyric it is so properly intended to perpetuate.

The Pulpit is a rich piece of carved work, and the Font very antient.

The magnificent and old residence of the Grenville family, called Stowe, in this parish, has been pulled down many years, and the park dismantled. It was one of the most superb residences in England, and the beauty of the grounds and scenery adjacent, have been frequently eulogized. John Grenville, Earl of Bath in the reign of Charles II., erected it. It stood on an eminence, overlooking a well-wooded valley; but not a tree near it, says Dr. Borlase, to shelter it from the north-west. That writer speaks of it as by far the noblest house in the west of England, and says that the kitchen offices fitted up for a dwelling-house, made no contemptible figure. It is a singular circumstance, that the cedar wainscot, which had been brought out of a Spanish prize, and used by the Earl of Bath for fitting up the chapel in this mansion, was purchased by Lord Cobham at the time of its demolition (the house being then sold piecemeal) and applied to the same purpose at Stowe, the magnificent seat of the noble family of Grenville in Buckinghamshire, where it still remains.

Kilkhampton is noticed in history, as the place where the renowned and pious Harvey conceived his Meditations among the Tombs.