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Price 50p

No. 31

Autumn 2009

Journal of the Ottery St. Mary Heritage Society

Thanks to all those members whoattended our Annual General Meetingon June 16 to make it such amemorable occasion. I am delightedthat so many were able to be there tocelebrate the tenth anniversary of thefounding of the Society.

After the main business of the AGM,we were entertained by a short filmentitled “Keeping it Local” producedby the East Devon Museums Group. Ittook the audience on a tour of localmuseums, highlighting individualfeatures and interviews with localvolunteers, and in particularemphasising the importance to thecommunity of researching, recordingand displaying local history – if onlywe could reopen our own museumhere in Ottery, there’s so much to tellfrom over a thousand years ofdocumented history!

We all tucked into birthday cake and aglass or two of wine, and chattedabout past achievements and futureplans for the Society; and we’d puttogether a special display remindingmembers of the 200 or more meetingsand events you have all helped to

organise over the past decade. It seemsa long time ago now, but our“Millennium Exhibition” the “GoldenJubilee Book” and the “Museum forOttery” at Salston were threeoutstanding projects which served toprove just what our Society is capable of.

Peggy Cooke was speaker at our Julymeeting, the last of the current year,and her subject “Growing up inWartime” provided a most touchingaccount of the Second World Warthrough the eyes of a child. It couldnot have been more appropriate as wecurrently prepare for our SummerExhibition:“Ottery – a Parish at War”at the Institute from August 27 to 31.

Handbills and posters are now incirculation, and press advertising isalready appearing.We are grateful toSue Dymond who is mastermindingthe show – she has been busy over thepast months, assisted by a small bandof trustees, conducting interviews andcollecting wartime memories ofOttery folk – and now the team areassembling displays in readiness for thebig event.

So do come along, and bring yourfriends and neighbours – there will beso much to see, and ampleopportunity to revive and discusspersonal experiences from thoseaustere days – a family treat for thebank holiday weekend.

ROBERT NEAL

Including:

Coleridge & HisWomen p3

FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Ottery’s ForgottenMills - p9

Landscape puzzles -p11

Sidmouth BranchLine 1874-1900 - p6

A cake for our 10 year old.

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Forthcoming EventsUnless otherwise noted, all the Society's meetings areheld in the Institute,Yonder Street, Ottery St. Mary.

• September 15th (Tuesday) 7.30pmThe Wreck of the Napoli - A Village PerspectiveA description of the effects of the beaching of the MSSNapoli on the village of Branscombe.Speaker: Barbara Farquarson.

• October 20th (Tuesday) 7.30pmThe World Heritage Site South WestAn illustrated talkSpeaker: Dr. Robert Symes OBE.

• October 24th (Saturday) 1.00pmThe Coleridge Anniversary LunchTumbling Weir HotelSpeaker: Graham Davidson (Friends of Coleridge)

• November 17th (Tuesday) 7.30pmHow did Ottery Begin?An illustrated talk on what history and the landscape can tellus about the very early development of Ottery.Speaker: Chris Wakefield.

2010• Jan. 12th 2010 (Tuesday) 7.30 pmExeter and its MedicineAn illustrated talk

Speaker: Christopher Gardner-Thorpe

• Feb. 16th (Tuesday) 7.30 pmThe History of WiggatonA talk on aspects of the history and development of Wiggaton

Speaker:Vaughan Glanville

• Mar. 16th (Tuesday) 7.30 pmSlavery and Two Ottery FamiliesA talk on possible connections between Ottery families andthe Slave Trade

Speaker: Gillian Allen

• Apr. 20th (Tuesday) 7.30 pmHoneybees in DevonAn illustrated talk on the practicalities of bee-keeping

Speaker: Roger Lacey

Heritage Society TrusteesHon Chairman Robert Neal 813686Hon Secretary Chris Saunders 812962Hon Treasurer Jim Woolley 812176

Hazel AbleyJohn Pilsworth 812737Chris Wakefield 815262Betty Williams 814044Oliver Wilson 815262

Co-opted membersMembership Sec. Judy Mullinger 813019

Sue DymondArticles or letters can be emailed to the Journal atotteryheritage@googlemail.com

EditorialBefore we all slip into the season of mellow fruitfulness,your editor felt moved to produce a further twelve pageedition of the Journal to stimulate your autumnal readingand maybe also to prompt you to a little local historicalperambulation.

When was the last time, for example, that you joined abeating of the bounds? Probably never, but if you have, itwill not likely have been one for Ottery - our parishboundary is a taxing 15 miles long and walking its entiretyhasn’t taken place for at a very long while - ask anyone (by“anyone” I mean Peter Harris, and if he can’t recall it, it issurely gone from living memory!) Some parts of the routeare no longer easily accessible - perhaps lost to publicaccess for good - who knows.There is potential here for ajoint enterprise with the Ottery Ramblers - maybe I shouldpropose it.

I mention beating the bounds, not just as a suitably athleticdistraction for your idle summer days, but also for itspotential as an introduction to history for the youngergeneration.The story that youngsters had their headsforcibly knocked against certain significant marker stonesand trees on the boundary trail may be true (thereby“knocking some sense into them”, as the expression goes).It was vital that local communities understood the limits oftheir operational hinterland - their livelihoods depended onit.Thanks to regular beating of the bounds, our parishboundaries have survived largely intact for a thousandyears. Given that the age of our membership demonstratesbeyond doubt that a natural interest in history does notarise until we are almost history ourselves, then should weresort to some mild child abuse in the cause of historicaleducation and an improved demographic in ourmembership? Do we assume that the young never were andnever will never be interested in history until it’s too late-that they would in the past have quickly lost theircommunal birthright were it not for some premeditatedviolence from the older generation?

Fortunately, as far as parish boundaries are concerned, thequestion is settled.An organisation committed to theprosecution of even greater violence would become thesaviour of boundary-battered children.To make sure thatthe tools of war could be efficiently moved around theland, the Ordnance Survey began, in the late 18th century,its monumental survey of the entire realm, carefullyplotting every detail of the countryside, including parishboundaries, so removing the need for regular on-sitereminders of where they lay.

As far as young people’s involvement in history isconcerned, there is hope, I’m sure - because history relieson imagination, and the young are good at imagining. Howyou actually get the process working (in a non violent way,of course) is a question too large for this column.

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Although we may think ofColeridge as a Romanticpoet, he was known inhis time as a lecturer,thinker and critic.

Capable of speaking non-stop forthree hours at a time, much of histhought was expressed in writing, andhe was also involved in the ‘dampsquib’ of the Pantisocracy movement.

Mother

But what of his personal life? Clearlyhe was his father’s son and entertainedemotions of male scorn towards hismother.The death of his father, whenSTC was aged nine, brought him upagainst her determination that herchildren should amount to somethingin society, and this drove her on topress him.The love he was unable togive her, led him in his adolescenceand young manhood to lean himsentimentally to other women.Whilstaway at ‘Christ’s’ his young sister died,causing him to write:

“Scarce had I loved you, ere I mournedyou lost” ending “Ah, long ere then –On me thy icy dart, stern Death, be prov’dBetter to die than live and not be loved!”

This final line, written in 1791, almostsums up STC’s life. Similarly in hispoem ‘On seeing a youthaffectionately welcomed by a sister’, heends: “Yet wherefore grieve I that hersorrows cease. For life was misery, and theGrave is peace”.

Is this a mere Romantic pose?

Sister

Whilst at ‘Christ’s’ he spent half histime, from seventeen to eighteen, inthe clinic writing poems to his nurse’sdaughter.We must also remember thatat this time he was no doubt“introduced” to laudanum to ease hispain.This was known then as the onlyremotely effective medication formany ailments and was widelyavailable.The body’s chemistryadapted itself to being tolerant of thedrug, and this process was almostimpossible to reverse, so one inevitably

became reliant on it – in other words– an addict. In 1796 STC wrote thatlaudanum “gave me repose, not sleep”,“a spot of enchantment, a green spotof fountain and flowers and trees inthe very heart of waste sands”. Inother words it was a relief from theedge of pain, a lease of euphoria,though always, and only, for the timebeing.

Mary Evans

During STC’s time when he was atJesus College, Cambridge, he fell inlove with Mary Evans and sent herpoems such as ‘A wish written inJesus’Wood’, but also details of hiswalks and wanderings. Mary wasamused but never entirely won overby Coleridge. Disappointed, heenlisted in the 15th Light Dragoons,but his brother bought him out andhe returned to Cambridge. In 1794 ontheir way to a walking tour in Wales,Coleridge and Hucks stopped to visitone Allen, an old school friend, whothought STC a rising poet whoshould meet Robert Southey, a poetwho shared STC’s democratic views.

Southey’s first impression of him wasof being swept away in a torrent oftalk and there, in three weeks, thefeatures of Pantisocracy were drawnout.Twelve men would each pay£125 to settle in Kentucky withtwelve women to form a democraticcolony.The women were the problem,especially the choice of them and the

“regulations” to them described as“the most difficult”.

Sarah Fricker

Southey was engaged to one EdithFricker, and Sarah, her sister, was“chosen” for STC, Southey vouchingfor the women’s strength of character.Two other sisters were proposed forBurnett and Robert Lovell. So far,STC had not even seen Sarah Fricker.In one of his letters, he says, “Mostwomen have no character at all, said Pope,and meant it for satire. Shakespeare whoknew men and women much better sawthat it, in fact, was the perfection of womanto be characterless. Everyone wishes aDesdemona or Ophelia for a wife –creatures who may not always understandyou, do always feel you, and feel withyou”.

By the end of August, having knownSTC for only a fortnight, Sarah wasengaged to marry Coleridge.

Now, apart from the lovebirds’feelings, Mrs Fricker, a widow, (badenough) with six children on herhands (and daughters who would haveno claim to a dowry) sent Sarah, Maryand Edith to work as needlewomen,to earn money.They were never, inLord Byron’s words “milliners fromBath” by which, in his terms, heimplied that Sarah and Edith had been“too obliging”. Mrs Fricker might bepleased at the prospect of acquiringtwo bridegrooms of reputation andprospects but she worried that STChad no work, and complained of his“indolence”. Indolence andprocrastination, natural enough toColeridge, became more and morepronounced as he took more andmore “little doses”. He proposedgiving lectures, on various religionsand political subjects but these nevermaterialised, because landlords ofpublic rooms refused to lease them toanti-government speakers, certainlynot ones of STC’s reputation andnotoriety. So chiefly his endeavourswere in writing verses to Sarah “Akinto the delight in a beautiful flower”.

COLERIDGE AND HIS WOMEN

Sara Coleridge (nee Fricker)

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Mrs Fricker, however, was anxious thather daughter be married as soon aspossible to retrieve her reputation.Thewedding took place on October 4th1795 at St Mary Redcliffe and thecouple departed to Clevedon to acottage for rent of merely £5 perannum and equipped with a bed, apair of old prints and (most essential)an Eolian harp.After a couple of dayshe wrote to his old friend, Cottle, forsome necessities, including a kettle.Asmoney was in short supply, STC hadto walk daily into Bristol to thelibrary; Sarah felt lonely, and inNovember they moved back to Bristolto share Mrs Fricker’s house inRedcliffe Hill.The marriage alreadybegan to deteriorate.

From the death of his father and as aresult of his education, STC neverformed a real relationship withanyone. He looked for a father-figure,for example,Wordsworth – and anideal family which adored him andpandered to his every wish. Marriage,an attachment to a real, not anidealised woman, was for him animpossible situation.

His new publication “The Watchman”failed within months; and shortly after,their son Hartley was born. It wasessential that Coleridge and Sarafound a place of their own. His FriendThomas Poole found him a cottage atNether Stowey in North Somerset.Gradually the “revolutionary” and his“scarlet wife” were accepted into thevillage.

Dorothy

Then STC discovered theWordsworths, with whom, when theymoved into a house at Alfoxton, fivemiles away, he became more and moreobsessed.This was the time for ‘TheAncient Mariner’ and ‘Kubla Khan’(brought about by a visit to Watchet).

“Wordsworth and his exquisite sister arewith me – she is a woman indeed! Inmind, I mean, and heart!” Sara was lessthan enthusiastic, particularly asDorothy would retreat upstairs, try onSara’s dresses, and come down wearingone. Soon a plan was hatched for thethree of them to go to Germany for

STC to learn the language and tostudy philosophy.

Eventually it was decided that Sarawould stay at home.

In Germany the Wordsworths soonmoved to cheaper lodgings and STCturned more and more to his opium,and writing poems like ‘TheDaydream, from an immigrant to hisabsent wife’. But from home – silence.The reason was that the younger sonreacted violently to a smallpoxvaccine.The case was hopeless and inFebruary 1799 the baby died. Sara hadgrown thin and lost her fine hair,replacing it with a wig, which shewore for the rest of her life. She wroteimploring her husband to return buthe, despite anguished letters, repliedthat he was due to go on tour of theHarz mountains, returning hence toGottingen where he began thejourney home, on foot, and notreturning till late July.

Marital harmony had not improved.STC wrote to Southey that Sara was“lacking in sympathy with his habitsand feelings as a man of genius”. Soonthe family moved to London whereSTC had work in the “MorningPost”. His friend Poole urged him tocontinue with this but in the duel towin him, the Wordsworths won withthe lure of Cumbria.The familymoved to Greta Hall, Keswick,whence he frequently walked toGrasmere.

Sarah Hutchinson

Now he entered fully into the pain ofopium. Sara, worried by debt, tired ofa diet of potatoes and perplexed at herperpetually idle husband, frequentlyburst into streams of reproach.Sometime in 1801 Sara realised thatSTC’s friendship with SarahHutchinson (sister to Wordsworth’sbetrothed) was deepening into anobsession. In spite of the difficultiessome degree of peace was restored anddaughter Sara Coleridge was born.AsSTC wrote to Southey,“I had neverthought of a girl as a possible event –however, I bore the sex with greatfortitude – she shall be called Sara”.

In 1804 he left for Malta in an attemptat self cure.While there he wasemployed as a private secretary in theGovernor’s Palace. Matters becamemore normal for Mrs C until hisreturn in 1806 for she was unawarethat he proposed to live, with his sons,without her, at the Wordsworths.Thishe finally put to her, demanding a“separation” or “divorce”.After muchbickering they agreed to a friendlyseparation and for several years he wasthe guest of the Wordsworths. Southeywrote of him that he “besots himselfwith opium or with spirits”.TheWordsworths were learning what itwas to “manage” Coleridge.

Mary and Charlotte Brent

Coleridge, meanwhile, had ensconsedhimself with another family - theMorgans, back in Bristol, and hadfallen in love – again – this time withCharlotte Brent, sister of JohnMorgan’s wife Mary (recalling theHutchinsons of earlier years). He wasalso commissioned in 1808 to give aseries of lectures to the RoyalInstitution but either these wererambling or cancelled – thanks,according to STC, to Mrs Coleridge’scruelty to him (though she was milesaway from him at the time). DorothyWordsworth pressed for the “divorce”to be made public, though neitherparty wished it. Sarah Hutchinson,meanwhile, decided to slip quietly outof his life and into Wales.

On his return to Greta Hall his wifewould ask, not cajoling or upbraiding,

Dorothy Wordsworth

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“Have you taken too much or toolittle opium?” But 1810 saw the finalbreach with Wordsworth, for mortallyoffended by criticism, STC took thedecision to leave the north and moveto London.

Now “divorced” from his wife and hisfriends, a further blow was thewithdrawal of half STC’s regularincome, half of the Wedgwoodannuity.This would mean, for thefuture, a total amount of £67.10s. perannum for the whole family.

In 1814 en route to Bristol to lecture,STC felt so ill he begged to be sent toa private madhouse. His friendsremembered the “Meteor from theclouds”,“the divine Coleridge” butexpected daily to hear of his death.Southey, his brother-in-law, quietlytook charge of Mrs Coleridge, hershare of the rent and taxes of GretaHall, whilst the Ottery Coleridgesprocured for Hartley a scholarshipworth £50 per year at MertonCollege, Oxford. Mrs C made herselfindispensable at Greta Hall, associatedwith entertaining Southey’s friends inplace of his sick wife. She thought ofvarious aliases for herself, the mostfamous being Mrs Codian and sheinvented a language for her jokes andteases. But she also taught herselfItalian, so as to teach it to herdaughter, and in the house she taughtFrench, writing and arithmetic fromhalf-past nine until four o’clock.

In 1816 STC moved into the house ofJames Gillman, in Highgate, to “curehim of opium” and who, on learningof STC’s poor financial state, refusedall payment for board, lodging andmedical treatment. Hartley Coleridge’sstudies progressed and he was electedprovisionally as a fellow of OrielCollege, until he was dismissed fromhis post for drunkenness.A newposition was found for him inAmbleside but Southey refused to givehim a home.

Mrs C went to London in 1822 takingdaughter Sara with her. Many came tomeet the girl as she had alreadyearned £125 for a translation from

Latin, and furthermore wasacknowledged as a beauty.

What a surprise for STC who had notseen the girl, his daughter, for tenyears. Sara fell in love with HenryColeridge of the Ottery branch buttheir love had to be kept secret untilhe had “made his way”. Mrs C andSara paid a visit to Cambridge to seeDerwent (the younger son) but onreturning to Greta Hall found hersister suffering from depression andanxious to be rid of them from thehouse.

Both Hartley and Derwent presentedproblems with employment – or lackof it – but finally Derwent took HolyOrders and wanted mother to movein as his housekeeper. However, GretaHall relatives insisted that she and Sara“owed” their teaching skills to theiryounger children. Hartley declaredthat Greta Hall had become a “houseof bondage” for his mother and sister.

In 1829 Henry Coleridge had so faradvanced in his career that he andSara married, the bride given away by“uncle Southey”.After 29 years Mrs Cwas to find a new home. She, nowsixty, expected a farewell visit fromHartley who failed to appear. Likefather, like son. She had for long nownot expected STC to behave like a“normal” man. Now she knew shewould never see Hartley again.

The ‘invaluable’ Mrs C

And STC? He was in grief at news ofhis son’s wanderings; but he was, oncemore, in touch with his wife whomoved to a house in Devonshireplace, Hampstead, for “as long as shewas needed” and who soon provedinvaluable. Derwent even visited hisfather, and so did Mrs C who aftereight years of never seeing herhusband began paying him occasionalvisits, though describing him as“visibly very decrepit”. Later in 1831she wrote a stern letter to Hartley,begging him to get in touch with hisfather, receiving from him in answer “Imust, I will write to my father, andforthwith”.Yet no letter came, nor wasany letter sent by STC to his son.

During 1832 Sara and STC saw moreand more of each other, she beingdescribed by him in a letter as “livingin the same house with her there are fewwomen that I have a greater respect andratherish liking for than Mrs C”.

He died in July 1834, having expressedthe desire that neither his wife nor hisdaughter should visit him, but Henry,young Sara’s husband, continued tovisit his father-in-law and exclaimedon his death, “A great spirit has passed,a very great one – and what have we notlost”.

Betty Williams MA

Part of Coleridge’s “letter” toSarah Hutchinson, 1802.

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As was frequently the casein the early days ofrailway development,local companies were setup to build and operate

branch lines and, in some cases, evenstretches of the main lines, and thelocal line was no exception.TheSidmouth Railway & HarbourCompany had been established in1836 to build and operate a narrow-gauge railway for a Docks venturewhich, although started, did not cometo fruition.This company started theconstruction of the branch line to linkSidmouth with the main L&SWR lineat Feniton, which station opened in1860. Unfortunately the companywent into liquidation before muchserious work was completed. In 1871the newly-formed Sidmouth RailwayCo. re-started the work ofconstructing the line, which was dulycompleted 3 years later.Although theline was to be worked by theL&SWR, the local company retainedownership of the line right up to 1923when the L&SWR became part of theSouthern Railway. Feniton station was

renamed first "Ottery Road" in 1861,then "Ottery St Mary" in 1868 andfinally "Sidmouth Junction" in 1874,the name it retained until its closurein 1967, when the Beeching cutsresulted in the Sidmouth branch linebeing axed. However when it wasreopened in 1971, to serve commutertraffic to Exeter and longer-distancetravellers to London, it reverted to itsoriginal name of "Feniton".

The Act of Parliament whichauthorised the branch line receivedthe Royal assent in 1862, although itwould be another 12 years before theline was completed. Some details ofthe reasons for this delay have beenexplained in an earlier article by SueDymond (1).The cost of the linewould be a total of £68,000 of whichonly about £10,000 was required bypublic subscription and the moneywas raised easily.The line was openedon 6th July 1874 linking Feniton withSidmouth, via Ottery St Mary andTipton St Johns (the final 's' wassubsequently dropped from the nameof the village and station).The linewas designated a 'light' railway, which

imposed restrictions on the types oflocomotive used and the loads carried.Initially there were seven return tripsdaily, but no service on Sundays. RoyPacker wrote eloquently about thecelebrations that marked theopening(2).The newer branch line toExmouth, through Budleigh Salterton,opened in 1897 and split from theSidmouth line at Tipton St. John.Theoperation of the line is welldocumented in published literature.

After taking a general interest in localrailways over the years, it was clearthat a wealth of material was availablecovering the 20th century. However,the author came to the view thatthere were gaps in the recordedknowledge about the early years ofthis line between its opening in 1874and the end of the 19th century. Someaspects about the origins of the lineare well documented, for example theconception and planning stages,obtaining Parliamentary approval, and

THE SIDMOUTH BRANCHRAILWAY LINE (1874 - 1900)Chris Saunders completes his review of local railways

Illustration 1: "IlfracombeGoods" 0-6-0 No. 394 in itsoriginal configuration

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raising the funding needed forconstruction, but information aboutthe types of locomotive and rollingstock that were actually employed onthe Sidmouth branch line was lessapparent. Deductions can be madefrom studying photographs and textrelating to operations during the 20thcentury, but more precise details of theentry into service and duration ofoperational life requires furtherresearch.

There is no doubt that the firstlocomotives to traverse the branch lineto Sidmouth were the "282" Class 0-6-0 tender engines, as representedabove by No. 394.This type wasdesigned by the LocomotiveSuperintendent (Chief Engineer)Joseph Beattie.Three examples of thetype were ordered from Beyer,Peacock & Co. in 1872 for use on theIlfracombe line.They were numbered282-4 and known as the 'IlfracombeGoods' class. However, before goinginto service there, two of them werediverted for use as ballast enginesduring the construction of theSidmouth branch line. It is recordedthat one of these engines, No. 283,struck a bullock that had strayed ontothe line in May 1876, and was stillallocated to Sidmouth in 1878(3).They were found to be ideal on thistype of working, so three more wereordered in 1874/5 plus a further twoin 1880(4). One of the second batchof this class was ordered specifically foruse on the Sidmouth line.Confirmation as to whether theseengines were use for passenger only,freight only, or mixed traffic remainselusive.

A number of modifications werecarried out by a future ChiefEngineer,William Adams, as shownbelow in illustration 2, whichprolonged the lift of this class oflocomotive.All eight were retiredbetween 1910 and 1914, and six ofthem were sold on to the Kent andEast Sussex and the Shropshire andMontgomeryshire Railways.

Beattie 2-4-0 Well Tanks were the firsttank engines recorded as working onthis line, but it not specified whetherthis was from the time of opening ofservice(3).This class was builtcontinuously from 1863 to 1875,designed for the London suburbanservices, but later on were also use oncountry branch lines. It was one ofJoseph Beattie's many successfuldesigns, and a total of 88 were built,mainly at the L&SWR's works at NineElms. It is possible that this class oflocomotive was not powerful enoughto run the long trains that were

required for the branch line, and theywere soon supplemented by the 'O2'class 0-4-4 tank engines, designed byWilliam Adams. It is recorded that thistype had taken over from the'Ilfracombe Goods' engines by 1890,and thereafter, all normal branchservices were operated by tankengines.

This later class of engine poweredtrains on the Sidmouth and Exmouthbranch lines for several decades, andalthough the class was graduallyreplaced by another Adams' design, theClass T1 0-4-4 tank engine, from

Illustration 2: "Ilfracombe Goods" 0-6-0 No. 282 as modified by Adams

Illustration 3: Beattie 2-4-0 welltank No. 248

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around the turn of the century, theO2 class engines were still to be seenin the 1930s. For example, Class T1No. 11 was in use between 1895 and1944(5).

Illustration 4 is a later picture showinga train of typical coaches as used onthis local line; they offered First,Second and Third classes of travel.Fortunately, by the time this lineopened in 1874, even Third classpassengers were able to travel incovered accommodation! These six-wheeled coaches were in service untilsome time in the 1920s.

The Sidmouth branch line was alsoimportant for the economy, and thecarriage of animals, milk and freightplayed an essential role in theincreasing prosperity of the Ottervalley. Unfortunately, even lessinformation seems to have survivedconcerning the rolling stock employedbefore 1900.

Although not the most glamourous orfastest of trains, those that did servethe line through Ottery brought manybenefits to local communities, andmade possible changes in lifestyle thatwere almost unimaginable before thesecond half of the 19th century.

Ironically it was further changes inlifestyle that made rail travel lessattractive, and therefore less economic,by the start of the second half of the20th century. But that story hasalready been told!

Chris SaundersReferences:

Illustration 4: Adams Class O2 0-4-4 tank in "Southern" livery

(1) "Between the Rails" by SueDymond - Heritage Journal issue #29

(2) "When the Railway came toOttery" by Roy Packer - HeritageJournal issue #16

(3) "The Sidmouth and BudleighSalterton Branches" by Colin Maggs

(4) "LSWR Locomotives" by F. Burtt

(5) "Branch Lines to Seaton andSidmouth" by Vic Mitchell and KeithSmith

Acknowledgements:

1. Illustrations 1, 3 & 4 appear in"Exeter and East Devon Railways"published by Halsgrove Press withimages from the Maurice DartCollection.

2. Illustration 2 appears in "London &South Western Railway Album" byD.L. Bradley

3. The author wishes to acknowledgethe kind assistance of Leo Dolling andAlan Powell.

Letters, articles or any othersubmissions to the Journal can be

emailed tootteryheritage@googlemail.com

Although constant migration in andout of settlements is an enduringfeature of social history almostanywhere on the globe, there are alsoinstances of families having very longterm residences in particular locations.In Ottery in 1851 only about half theresidents were born locally.The top 20families among this group, with thenumber of individuals bearing thatname are listed right.The suggestionthat unrelated families bearing thesame name occur alongside each otherin local areas was common enoughuntil recent DNA evidence suggestedthat surnames are actually a fairlyreliable indicator of kinship, eventhough the families concerned maydeny all knowledge! It should also beborne in mind that numbers alone donot necessarily imply longevity of the

name locally.Although never in greatabundance the name “Isaac” appearsalmost continuously in the recordsince at least the 14th century.Thereare a number of names listed belowstill very evident in Ottery today.

BAKER(90) BASTEN(74)WHITE(58) RICHARDS(54)SALTER(54) CHANNON(52)PALFREY(39) BOVETT(34)HARDING(32) TAYLOR(32)EVELEIGH(31) COX(30)BASTIN(29) PRATT(29)GODFREY(28) POTTER(28)RETTER(28) WILLIAMS(28)DIGBY(27) BERRY(26)

Chris Wakefield

More on Ottery Names

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Mill sites in Ottery parish

1).Town Mill (and Ottermill)

SY 092925Both buildings and water managementinfrastructure largely intact. Serge Millbuilt 1789-90.Town Mill completelyrebuilt 1789. Serge mill had overshotwheel and later a turbine.Town millstarted with undershot and laterconverted to overshot.

2). Gosford Mill SY087973Building still extant.Two adjacent fieldsboth called Mill Plot on TM. River Taleadjacent.The mill building is justoutside modern parish boundary.

3) Alfington Mill SY115981No remains extant. "Mill Lane" fromAlfington village to river Otter is soleevidence. It may be linked to FenitonMills on the other side of the rivernorth of the A30. Or there may havebeen a mill inside the parish boundarywhich has been erased by the changingcourse of the river here.

4). Little Ash Mill SY105983No remains extant.Two adjacent fieldscalled Great Mill Close and Little MillClose (TM). Probably a windmill site:Donn's map of 1765 records this area as"Tower Hill".

5). Cadhay MillNo remains extant. Field called "MillMead" SY094964 presumed undershotwheel.

6). Holcombe Mill SY114962No buildings extant. Mill stream still inplace; site is marked "Holcombe Mill"on Donn's map of Devon 1765.Millstream partially diverted for watersupply to town in 17th century.Millpond only shown on TM. Overshotwheel inferred.A farm mill was presenthere also. Some elements of it remainnear its original site.

7). Foxenhole Mill (West Hill)SY081945Buildings extant, route of leat justvisible in meadow to west of buildings.Now converted for domestic use. GristMill. 1812. Breast shot or overshotwheel inferred. Called “West Hill Mill”and occupied by George Vigers (1852)

8). Plantation Mill (or Quarry Mill)SY076945Buildings extant.Three fields called"Plantation Mill", also "Mill, House andGarden" (TM)

9).Tipton Mills SY092924Buildings and water managementinfrastructure extant. Some mill gearstill in place. Referred to as Kester Millin a deed of 1691.No longer in use andfalling rapidly into decay.

10).West Hill windmill SY066943No remains extant.Windmill Lane leadssouth from Bendarroch Road. No otherevidence known.

The remains of the breastshotmillwheel at Tipton Mills - theonly surviving millwheel in theparish.(photo: paul dicksonwww.geograph.org.uk/photo/919214)

The ever present rivers, streams andrills of the Devon countryside havebeen exploited as a source of energysince well before the Normaninvasion. In fact the ease andavailability of water means that it wasnearly always preferred to windpower, which is also plentiful in thesouthwest. Since Domesday (1086),when Ottery already had three mills,there have been mills at ten differentplaces in the parish at least.Theevidence for this is largely in the 1843Tithe Schedules for Ottery, andoccasionally also on the ground asarchaeological remains. No doubt,attention to historical documentswould also help to pin down moredetail on the development andprogress of milling in the parish.Theten listed below are those millsoperating in a “commercial” sense.Tothis list we should add, for a morecomprehensive survey, smaller millsthat were built on some of the largerfarms of the parish. For example, at

Holcombe Barton, besides the millalongside the Ridgeway, there was amill on the farm itself.This was notuncommon.There may also have beenhorse drawn mills, as yet unrecorded.

The Domesday mills are not givenlocations, and because Ottery appearsas a one complete estate (belonging tothe Dean and Chapter of theCathedral at Rouen), there is notelling exactly where these three millswere, but common sense wouldsuggest that one was in Ottery town -probably on the site of the later cornmill.The other two are less certain -perhaps one served the Taleford /Gosford area and may have occupiedthe site of the later Cadhay mill, witha third at Tipton, on the site of Tiptonmills.

The list and map included here setsout these sites, together with someidea of how respectable the evidenceis for the former existence of a mill.

Ottery’s lost millsgrey spots shows “mill”elements in TM plotnames

10

9

8 7

6

5

4 3

2

1

10

IT spotThe growth of Google Books is aremarkable phenomenon, but notwithout its problems.Those of youfamiliar with Google’s broad range ofinternet services will know about thisalready but for those who don’t it’sworth a word or two.

If you use Google as your searchutility, you will see in the menu bar anumber of options, the last of which islabelled “more”. Clicking on thismenu item drops down a host offurther options one of which is“Books”, which you will now click.This skimpy column cannot offer adetailed tutorial, but with persistenceyou can get this to work for you.Acouple of points to watch for...

The most important message is thatlots of the books that will show up insearch results are not actually availableonline - only bits of them are, andusually not the bits you want.To avoidthis disappointment I suggest proceedas follows: type in your search criteria,“Ottery St Mary” for example and hitthe “search books” button.You will bedelighted to note the first few of1,760 results! Temper your enthusiasmand change the books / showing options(in a drop down menu) from “AllBooks” to “Full View Only”.The totalavailable has dropped to 638 - still arespectable total you might think, andit is if you want to trawl through

endless references to Ottery indocuments which may not take yourimmediate interest. Improve yoursearch by placing a comma after“ottery st mary” and typing anotherword that relates to the subject you’reafter. For example “ottery st mary,topographical” yields 44 hits and youcan then sift through the weighty(usually) Victorian tomes online ordownload the whole thing as a pdf file(option on menu bar top right).

Occasionally there are gems here. Forexample if agriculture in Devon isyour interest then there’s the full copyof Charles Vancouver’s “General viewof the agriculture of the County ofDevon”, and Marshall’s “RuralEconomy of the West of England”. Ifthe parish church is your thing, thenJ N Dalton’s transcription ofGrandisson’s “Ordinacio et Statuta”may be just the ticket for you. It is allin latin though.

There is a lot of useful stuff there andit really will reward the persistentsearcher, but be prepared for a longhaul and discovering many many oddthings you never wanted to knowabout Ottery.

editor

below: pdf books from Google - left - a pagefrom the 1850 edition of Thackeray’s“Pendennis”.Right - Dalton’s church planincluded in his transcription of Grandisson’sfoundations statutes.

Big Do atEscotOn 27th November 1866, thewedding of Sir John Henry Kennawayto Frances Arbuthnot took place atEscot House.You may get some senseof the scale of this event from thereport in Pulmans News below. It wasgood news all round it seems! Butwithin a decade, a massive slump inagriculture had begun, the rentsstarted to dry up, and the inexorableslide towards extinction for many ofthe great country houses was underway. It is something of a marvel infact, that Escot has survived at all, andeven more remarkable that theKennaways are still there, notching uparound 200 years of continuousoccupation.

11

Letters, articles or any othersubmissions to the Journal can be

emailed tootteryheritage@googlemail.com

An Eye for DetailPeter Orlando Hutchinson on East Hill

Sidmouth’s extreme good fortuneto have had an antiquarian of thecalibre of POH in their midst, hasgiven them, among many otherthings, a unique and beautifulrecord of their town as it looked inthe middle of the nineteenthcentury. Luckily Hutchinson was agreat one for getting out andabout, and he was in Ottery onquite a few occasions. Here he iswith two friends on East Hill inOctober 1854 (from his diaries)...

Three barrows.

Went with Mr. Heineken andMr.Waterhouse to Ottery East Hill, toenjoy the view and to show the latter apiece of Devonshire.We took the routein our vehicle by way of Sidford, and[...] on till we reached the top ofOttery East Hill. Here we halted, andtaking out our spyglasses searched thecountryside for half an hour on allsides. [...] Thence we startednorthwards until we came to the threebarrows, the situations of which wenoted in order to lay them down on theOrdnance map, where they are not.These barrows are cut into peculiarforms by the ditches made round them.The most southerly one is in the shapeof a star with six points, like a fort orbattery; the second is like a square butbounded by curved lines bowinginwards, and the most northerly towardsChineway Head is merely circular.These ditches are not likely to beancient and perhaps were made at thetime the barrows were planted with firtrees, some of which remain growing on them. (1)

As usual Hutchinson makes adrawing while on site rather thanlater from memory (he frequentlytells us that his pictures are“coloured on the spot”).

His friend, Heineken, was apioneer photographer, but clearly,Hutchinson preferred his ownquick-draw colour renditions, asdocuments of record, and thesesurvive in large numbers in theDevon Record Office. Copies ofhis ink drawings of two of thebarrows are reproduced above.These curiosities still exist, and arewell worth a visit if you enjoybeing puzzled. Hutchinson himselfdidn’t think they were ancient, butEast Hill, Broad Down andHoniton Hill contain a nationallysignificant concentration ofneolithic and bronze age burialmonuments, so they are at leastpotentially of a similar age.Thesame area includes Farway Castle -another earthwork of unusual formand indeterminate purpose.Asalutary reminder of how little weknow of our own immediatesurroundings.

cw

1. Extracted from “Travels in VictorianDevon” J.Butler (ed). Devon Books 2000

The FirstBudleighSalterton

LiteraryFestival

A weekend of talks,

discussions and

performances

18/19/20SeptemberMichael Morpurgo OBE

discusses his work

“An evening with HillaireBelloc” Sue Lawley, HugoWilliams & Hugo Swire

•Presentations by local

authors•

Exhibitions•

Film and talk•

Childrens eventswith Simon Brett / PamelaNeville-Sington / Michael

Foreman / Gerald Dickens /Hilary Mantel CBE / HRF

Keating / Dennis Harkness /Val McDermid / Virginia

Ironside / Stella Mitchell /Sarah Harrison / Prof Martin

Sorrell

Tickets from BudleighTIC 01395 445275

more information atwww.budlifest.org.uk

12

Articles or letters to the editor can be posted to Chris Wakefield,“Melbury” Longdogs Lane, Ottery St Mary EX11 1HX or emailed tootteryheritage@googlemail.com. Published by The Ottery St Mary Heritage Society.

Printed by John Gaffney Design and Print, Ottery St. Mary tel 01404 815111

JournalcompetitionNo1ResultsYour editor has been somewhatunderwhelmed by the response...although someone did actuallywrite in with the answers! Theywere correct as far as I could tell.So congratulations are due to Mrs.P. Harris, who I suspect ofcollaboration with Mr. P. Harris,who gave his own answers inperson and advised me of yet onemore building stone in YonderStreet (see picture), which I hadmissed (see below).AEP isprobably AE Pike - listed in a tradedirectory of the early 1900s (seepictures, below).

A bout of swine fever, or flu, orsomething, has delayed thepreparation of a follow-oncompetition. But there is a plan fornext edition....!

Answers to Comp 11). Date? - 19002).Where? - North Street3).Where? / Builder? - NorthStreet.The builder HRC is not easyto identify. Carnell or one of theChannon brothers are most likely(see directory picture)4).Where? - Church Hill, near thetop.5).Where? / Builder? - Mill Street.Frank Luxton6).Where? / Who’s BC? -Paternoster Row. BernardColeridge7).Which Terrace? - Victoria8).Which Cottages? Brook Street9).Where? / Builder? - Tip Hill,HRC again - see above10).Where? / Builder? - Tip Hill,HRC yet again

In MemoriamIt is with great sadness that we

have to record the passing of

three dedicated colleagues

since our summer issue.

We extend condolences to

David Shephard and family

on the passing of his mother

Edna Shepherd, a loyal and

long-serving member of the

Society.

In May, we said goodbye to

Eric Chave – he continued to

support the Society, and

attend our meetings until the

last few weeks of his long

illness. Our condolences to Jill

and family in their sad loss.

In July, we were saddened to

learn of the death of Tony

McKenna. He will be fondly

remembered for his

mischievous humour and

great generosity.We send our

sympathy to wife Jenny and

family.

RN

Letters, articles or any othersubmissions to the Journal can be

emailed tootteryheritage@googlemail.com

MEMBERSHIPRENEWALSIt is once again time to remindthose members who joined beforeApril 2009 that renewal ofmembership is due on September1st.The Trustees have decided thatsubscription rates should remainunchanged for the coming year at£10 for single membership and£15 for Joint membership. Pleasereturn the renewal form with yourremittance to the MembershipSecretary.You can either pay at thenext Members’ Meeting onSeptember 15th or post to JudyMullinger (Membership Secretary,Heritage Society),“Jacquest”,8 Moorlands,West Hill,Ottery St Mary EX11 1UL.

Banker’s Order: We would preferpayment by Banker’s Orderwherever possible. It helps theadministration of the Society, andwe would encourage members touse this method if they can.

Gift Aid Declaration: If you areeligible to sign a Gift AidDeclaration, and have not yet doneso, we would ask you to considerit. Completion of this form enablesyour Society to claim back the taxelement on all payments to theSociety.

The Membership Secretary will bepleased to help with any querieson any matters pertaining tomembership and payments (01404 813019).

Judy Mullinger