AROUND THE TOWN AND OVER THE POND - 08: 'FROM BEVERLY BACK TO BUDLEIGH'
Continued from https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2024/06/around-town-and-over-pond-07-from.html
AROUND THE TOWN AND OVER THE POND
A walk around Budleigh Salterton to interest transatlantic visitors. Every so often there’s a diversion which may inspire you to visit places like East Budleigh, Exeter, Sidmouth, Colyton or even places in the United States and Canada.
The walk is set out in parts. Here’s the eighth part:
Still at the Raleigh Wall.
0.8 FROM BEVERLY BACK TO BUDLEIGH
Back in his birthplace, we have been a bit slower than
Beverly to acknowledge the importance of Roger Conant and what he represents in
Anglo-American history. ‘Devon’ was one volume of 43 which appeared in a topographical and historical book series The
King's England.
Written and edited by Arthur Mee, the series was published in the 1930s at a time when Britain was proud of its Empire. Of Drake, Hawkins and Raleigh there is much. Admiral Preedy, buried in East Budleigh, is mentioned. But of Roger Conant, not a word!
There is still much to see in the West Country for visitors following in Sir Walter's footsteps. Raleigh still has his birthplace at Hayes Barton: not easy to get to, but still standing. We can still read his letter of 1584 telling us how much he loved the place. His statue dominates the village, and the pub is named after him. And one of the greatest 19th century British painters immortalised him and Budleigh beach in ‘The Boyhood of Raleigh’.
In the village of Colaton Raleigh, just a few miles from East Budleigh, you can still admire the beautiful and ancient Place Court where he is said to have been baptised.
Dorset, the next county, has almost made him one of their own thanks to the castle he built in the town of Sherborne.
The Caledonian Forest, Northern Scotland: Mam Sodhail as seen from Glen Affric. Image credit: Wikipedia
For those seeking traces of Roger Conant there is not much to
see by comparison. You can at least still appreciate the tranquil unspoilt beauty
of the heathland over which he and Raleigh must have ridden. Maybe there were
more trees in those days, making it resemble something like Scotland’s
Caledonian Forest that you see here.
A memorial plaque in East Budleigh car park mentions Roger as
the founder of Salem. However he is also described as living in the Mill House and
as the son of the village miller, statements for which there is seemingly no
evidence.
It is likely that such information came from local historian Lilian Sheppard's book about East Budleigh, published in 1983. The author does at least allow Roger a whole chapter about him and his family, and tells us: 'East Budleigh has good reason to be proud of another of its sons.' Nonetheless, however, the book's title was Raleigh's Birthplace.
One of Roger's direct descendants from the US: Jeff Conant
There is certainly a large millstone outside the Church Hall
which overlooks the car park, and Roger’s father Richard Conant may well have
used the mill for which it was made. So their American descendants like Jeff
Conant who visited the area in 2016 are fortunate in being able to find such
traces of the family, however faint. Sadly the Mill House was demolished in the
early 20th century, and the car park now dominates the site.
Just a few minutes away in the neighbouring village of Otterton is a mill which would certainly have been working in Richard Conant’s time, and is still active today. A watermill was recorded in this locality in the 1086 Domesday Book.
Vicars Mead, Hayes, Lane, East Budleigh.
Image credit:
Peter Bowler
Like Raleigh, Roger may have received his early schooling here, at Vicars Mead on Hayes Lane. Descendants of Roger Conant who visit East Budleigh will admire and be interested in this ancient building, but we have no proof that he studied there.
Ottery St Mary: The Chorister’s school
(1337), which then became The King’s Grammar School 1545 during the reign of
King Henry VIII. Photo taken shortly before its demolition in 1884. Image
credit: Rob Neal
Where
else could he and Raleigh have been educated? Going further afield, we know
that the King’s Grammar School in Ottery St Mary was set up in 1545 and may
possibly have provided schooling for Roger. Ottery in any case is worth a
visit, with many historic buildings.
Colyton: St Andrew's Church, showing the two-storeyed porch of the original Grammar School
Equally, given that his grandfather John Clark was one of the
twenty yeomen and merchants – the Feoffees – of Colyton, it is also possible
Roger could have studied there. Colyton
Grammar School was founded in 1546 ‘for the goodly and virtuous education of
children in Colyton forever’.
Along with local events in East Devon to mark the 400th anniversary of Raleigh’s death there was increased interest in his and Roger Conant’s links to America, particularly in East Budleigh. A Roger Conant Club was set up with regular meetings in the Sir Walter Raleigh pub to discuss ways of making the village’s other great Elizabethan better known.
A talk about him was given by local historian Ian Blackwell, who is engaged in research for a book about Roger Conant.
A Conant400 group was set up on Facebook. Most of its
American subscribers are Roger’s descendants and an increasing number of them
are adding East Budleigh to the list of the usual destinations during their
visits to the UK.
The so-called Conant Stone
outside the village’s Church Hall now has an explanatory blue plaque. It was
unveiled by Simon Jupp MP and two of Roger’s descendants in 2023.
The plaque was set up to mark the 400th anniversary of his
departure for the New World, and mentions Roger’s wish to rename Beverly as
Budleigh.
All Saints Church. Image credit: Peter Bowler
All Saints Church has become a special focus of attention,
partly because of the Conant family’s links with the Church of England. We do
know that his father was a churchwarden, as Sir Walter Raleigh’s father had
been. In addition, three family members took holy orders.
There was Roger’s elder brother John, also brought up in East Budleigh. He was instituted Rector of Lymington, near Ilchester, Somerset, in 1619. The living was in the gift of Sir Henry Rosewell, a known Puritan.
In 1643 John Conant was appointed member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, a council of theologians and members of the English Parliament with the aim of restructuring the Church of England.
‘Many things remain in the Liturgy, Discipline and Government of the Church, which do necessarily require a further, and more perfect Reformation than as yet hath been attained,’ read the Ordinance of 12 June 1643 which called for the Assembly to take place. It was a clear questioning of the very foundations of Anglicanism.
That same year, on 26 July, John Conant was sufficiently respected as a clergyman to be invited to preach before the House of Commons. His sermon was entitled The woe and weale of Gods people and was based on the Old Testament's Lamentations of Jeremiah.
List of vicars of All Saints Church, East Budleigh
Two other brothers had sons who would become clergymen. Richard,
born in 1581, married Jane née Slade; their son, also named
Richard, became vicar of East Budleigh. His name is highlighted on the list of
vicars on the north wall of the church.
A third brother, Robert, born in 1583, married Elizabeth née Morris; their son Dr John Conant, born in 1608 would become a distinguished theologian.
Thanks to parish records, we know for certain that Roger Conant was baptized in All Saints’ Church. This ancient baptismal font is a definite link to the ancestral past for his descendants, one of whom found it a special experience to visit the church in 2022.
The Conant pew, dating from the 19th century and showing the family’s coat of arms is not original like the Raleigh family pew. According to local historian Lilian Sheppard, several of the ancient pew-ends, among them the Conant family’s, were removed by vandals but a replacement pew was commissioned by the vicar.
The empty space above it was an obvious place to display the painting ‘Blessed are the Peacemakers’ by Budleigh artist John Washington, completed in 2022. It serves to balance the painting of Sir Walter Raleigh on the same wall.
'Home from Church 1605' (2024)
by John Washington
John Washington completed two
further paintings. This one shows a young Roger Conant and his family on their
way from All Saints Church.
'The Petition, 1673' (2024)
by John Washington
The second painting shows Roger
Conant writing his request for the name of the town of Beverly, Massachusetts,
to be changed to 'Budleigh'. John's website is at https://www.johnwashingtonartist.com/
Away from the church, but set up to raise funds for All
Saints Church, a duck race on East Budleigh brook has been staged for many
years to coincide with the village’s Scarecrow Festival. On 8 June 2024, the
first ‘Roger Conant Duck Race’ took place, with ‘Roger Conant’ himself in
attendance.
That event took place shortly after an Elizabethan Evening
staged in East Budleigh Village Hall by the Roger Conant Club and the East
Budleigh History Group.
The event included a raffle to raise funds for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF UK) and Mill Water
School at nearby Bicton.
Guests were not obliged to appear in costume, but many did. ‘Roger
Conant’ was the only guest in Puritan costume, but at least he was prominent.
Perhaps one day an ale to honour Roger Conant will be enjoyed at such events in his homeland. Maybe a bottle label like this will be chosen.
As for a statue in his honour, we live in a statue-toppling age. And anyway, as far as we know, Roger was not known as a smoker. Unlike that other Great Elizabethan from East Budleigh.
Click on the link to continue in Part 9 at
https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2024/06/around-town-and-over-pond-09-climbing.html
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