Budleigh Past and Present

With the American city of Salem, Massachusetts, marking its 400 th  anniversary in 2026, we may see more visitors from the USA crossing the Atlantic to explore a particular link between Salem and East Budleigh. The village has quite a few other interesting transatlantic links.   Raleigh’s statue. The shadow tells us how he died  Born in East Budleigh where his statue stands near the church of All Saints, Sir Walter Raleigh (c.1552-1618) never set foot in North America, but he certainly encouraged early English colonisation of the continent. And there’s another aspect of his influence on America.   The title page of Raleigh’s History of the World, published in 1614 Raleigh’s  History of the World angered King James I (1566-1625) who believed in the Divine Right of Kings and described the work as ‘too saucie towards princes’. With its criticism of tyrant rulers, the book inspired American revolutionaries like Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), one of the US...

Continued from  https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2024/06/around-town-and-over-pond-10-american.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 eleventh part: Still at the Raleigh Wall. 11. PACIFIST FANTASIES MEET 'COLONIAL ASSOCIATIONS' AND 'A FEAR OF THE PAST'  I was moved   by the seemingly pacific character of Roger Conant.   It seems to stand out in such stark contrast with some of his brutal contemporaries, and I felt that this peace loving Devonian deserved to be better known in his homeland. Could he even become a pacifist icon?   Not only had he intervened to avoid bloodshed in 1625, but he had cooperated in the peaceful transfer of power to G...

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    Arthur Mee and his book Devon, first published in 1938 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...