Budleigh Past and Present

 Continued from  https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2024/06/around-town-and-over-pond-11-pacifist.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 twelth part: 12. FAIRLYNCH: THE SIR WALTER RALEGH ROOM     And so to the quaint little building called Fairlynch, originally Primrose Cottage, which became Budleigh Salterton’s Museum and Arts Centre in 1967.   On the way you pass The Octagon, where the Pre-Raphaelite artist Sir John Everett Millais is said to have stayed while starting work on ‘The Boyhood of Raleigh’.   ‘Raleigh and his son Walt’ in my digital version.  The original, dated 1602 by an unknown artist, is in the National Portr...

  Roger Conant’s descendants have been thrilled to learn about the activities of the East Budleigh-based local history group which has been investigating the Devon origins of the founder of Salem, Massachusetts.  Two American visitors, Luli and Frank, flew all the way from California to spend some time in the area over the recent Jubilee weekend. Luli is  Roger Conant's 9x-granddaughter.  The couple learnt about other aspects of East Budleigh. It's the Devon village where in the 16 th  century two important figures in the history of America were born. A third - a naval hero celebrated for helping to establish a landmark in transatlantic communications - is buried there.   Passing Hayes Barton, birthplace of Sir Walter Ralegh on Hayes Lane, a mile or so west of East Budleigh: the word ‘barton’ simply meaning a farm. The house is not open to the public        Vicars Mead on Hayes Lane, where the young Walter Ralegh and Roger Conant ar...

I think it's time for some sober scholarship, as opposed to pub crawling for Raleigh 400 - though there's more of that to come.  Two rather different houses with the same name, both in the Georgian style but separated from each other by more than 160 miles, play a part in the Raleigh 400 story. East Budleigh’s Syon House, described as ‘the perfect boutique country house B and B’, would at first glance seem to have no connection to Sir Walter. It’s a fine 18th century building overlooking the village of Otterton, and in fact is separated from the older part of East Budleigh and Raleigh’s birthplace by the main road. Syon House Brentford west aspect  Credit: Russ Hamer  Syon House is the spectacular London home of the Duke of Northumberland.  The house was built in the sixteenth century on the site of the Medieval Syon Abbey, and came to the family of the present owners in 1594. Syon has many layers of history and has seen some p...