Chivelstone Church KEU3A LHG meeting 18 September 2013 Introduction Dedicated to St Sylvester, a Pope 312-325, though the earliest record of the dedication was as late as 1742. This is a sister church to St Martins of Sherford and both founded by Stokenham Church soon after it was built, (1431). This latter was first dedicated to St Humbert, then St Barnabus and is now St Michael and all Angels. Unlike St Martins of Sherford, Chivelstone church remained a dependency of Stokenham, and through it, associated with the Priory of Totnes, and through the web of ecclesiastical feudal connections, with St Serge of Angers, Tywardeath in Cornwall and ultimately in 1495 with Bisham Abbey in Berkshire…. Chivelstone Church and Parish are a part of the Coleridge Hundred and as such was part of the original bequest to Judel by William the Conqueror. The Coleridge Hundred was composed of 20 parishes including Totnes and the outlying parishes of Ashprington and Thurlestone. (Despite what J. Goodman wrote in his book on Sherford it seems that the Hundreds of Coleridge and Chillington are the same. Heather Burwin in her book "the Coleridge Hundred and its Medieval Court" says that the Hundred Court was at Stokenham). The Stanborough Hundred covered other adjacent Parishes. It is recorded that Sir R.L Newman was the Lord of the Manor at Stokenham and there are memorials to him in the Chivelstone Church. The history of these three churches differs. St Martins (dedicated in1457), was involved in a gift by Gytha, daughter of King Canute, to St Olaves' in Exeter and from then, as St Olaves came under the aegis of William's newly established St Nicholas's Priory, it became one of the possessions of Battle Abbey (also built by William the Conqueror). In 1288 in the taxatio of Pope Nicholas, Chivelstone is recorded as belonging to Totnes Priory (1087). In 1678 with all the other churches in the Parish under Totnes Priory, it contributed to the rebuilding of St Paul's London. Totnes Priory was itself a dependency of the Priory of St Serge, Angers and a sister priory to one at Tyweardreath, Cornwall. In 1495 the patronage of Stokenham was ceded to the troubled Abbey of Bisham in Berkshire. The Abbey - originally Augustinian, under the Knights Templar by this time, acquired diverse church properties in various parts of England in the late 15th century, because of an accumulation of debts. Chivelstone, but not Sherford would have been involved in this.

Epitaph 1856 - from a gravestone in the Weep not for us Churchyard at Chivelstone Our childen dear, We are not dead But sleeping here…….” Our days are past As you do see Prepare yourselves To follow we

1

The Rood Screen and its painted panels

Viewing the panels from north to south (left to right!): Panel 1 St Ambrose Archbishop of Milan 4th Century. Translated New Testament or Edward Lacey, Bishop of Exeter. The Bishop of Exeter had a connection with pilgrimages

Panel 2 St Jerome He wears a cardinal's hat. Often represented with a lion at his feet. He translated the Bible into Latin Panel 3 St Luke His symbol is the ox at his feet

Panel 4 St Thomas His symbol is the builder's square which he carries

Next section:

Panel 5 St Andrew Carrying the cross on which he was crucified

Panel 6 St Simon Holding the saw by which he was martyred

Panel 7 St James the Great With pilgrim’s hat, stave and scallop shell

Panel 8 St John Challenged by Diane of Ephesus to drink from a poisoned chalice. So he is holding the chalice.

Next section:

Panel 9 St Philip Because he carries a long cross and a purse, or St Lawrence Who often gave alms and who was martyred on a grid iron

Panel 10 St Stephen Stoned to death. Reputed to be the first Christian Martyr

Panel 11 St Jude One of the 12 disciples. The club is the symbol of his martyrdom (?)

Panel 12 St James the Less (?)

Next section:

Panel 10 St Mark His symbol is the Lion

Panel 10 St Mathew (?)

Panel 11 St Gregory Pope

Panel 12 St Sylvester 4th century Bishop of Milan (see notes at the end)

2

Relevant reference books:

D.Allwater "A dictionary of Saints"- 1965 (Penguin)

John Vine "Discovering Saints in Britain"- 2011 (Shire Publications)

Maurice and Winifred Drake “Saints and their Emblems” 1971 reprint Lennox Hill Pub. N. York

Diane Wilkes "A cloud of witnesses" - Medieval Panel paintings of Saints in Devon Churches"

This doesn't include Chivelstone or Sherford) but from: Azure Publications, Burraton Bungalow, Broadclyst, Exeter EX 1 3DB. Wikipedia and the Catholic Church online….give a lot on all these saints: St Jerome and St Ambrose were two of the 4 original doctors of the Church. St Jerome translated the Old Testament from the Hebrew and gave the church the “Vulgate” Bible. Called “the most learned of the Fathers of the Church”. Known for his bad temper. St James the Less was a the author of the first Catholic Epistle, Patron Saint of Hat Makers. Known as “the brother of Christ” because he was a close relative through his mother. Said to have witnessed the Resurrection. St James the Great was the son of Zebedee and an Apostle. An early martyr, his shrine is in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. He was also the brother of John, another of the 12 Apostles St Sylvester was Pope 312 -335. His name means “light of the earth”. He was involved with the council of Nicaea 325 which denounced the Arian heresy and he is said to have converted, and baptised Emperor Constantine and cured him of leprosy. His feast day is December 31st. St Humbert} – earlier dedications of the Stokenham Church. St Barnabas reputed founder of Greek Orthodox Church. Mentioned in St Paul’s epistles. St Barnabas} St Humbert was martyred by invading Danes in the time of St Edmund (C9)

Thoughts and Questions What was the function of a church in the middle ages? It was a source of religious teaching and morality, it helped mark the passage of the seasons and a lifetime.. used for Christmas, Harvest etc for christenings, burials, the “churching” of new mothers...used for the administration of tithing - a tax, as a sanctuary in times of fighting/invasion and for fleeing criminals.Sometimes it was used to store illicit goods (as in the hidden brandy kegs in the tower of East Portlemouth church!). So, as there were no good roads as we know them connecting these small villages it seems sensible that a mother church like Stokenham should commission chapels to ease the population’s observance of these functions.

3

One wonders why Chivelstone was chosen as the site for a “sister” church? Unlike Sherford with its four manors, where the working population of the farms would have been numerous, Chivelstone seems only to have had the one large farm opposite the Church – as well as a few cottages. The population seems never to have been very large. In 1641 there were 116 adult males who signed a “Protestation Return” and a few years later 28 heads of households were able to contribute to the rebuilding of St Paul’s (1678)…..

But it was a link with the coast where fishing, beach scavenging and the gathering of sea weed for irrigation for shells, fish and samphire which were additions to the food supply...., And shipwrecks and piracy would impinge on the lives of the inland populace.

Chivelstone would seem to have been on a direct route to the sea from Chillington and Stokenham; the toll road towards Torcross didn't exist before the 19th century. Perhaps this was of importance on the choice of site? On the other hand there was the church of St Michael and St Cyriac - at nearby South Pool and at Prawle there was St Brendan's chapel…. But perhaps power or finance played a part as Chivelstone was not a church in its own right but, like Sherford a sister church of St Michaels at Stokenham. Both these “sister” churches had links with other eccleiasical foundations which were spread over different parts of England and even extended to the Abbey of St Serge, Angers. Such foundations were Totnes Priory, Bisham Abbey (Berkshire) and Tyweardreath in Cornwall. Acquisitions of churches were an extra source of revenue in feudal times.

Often early churches were sited near to a previous holy site (as at Stokenham - where there had been a Holy Well (“Stoke” means holy place in Old English) or where a Saxon church had stood, "on a hill, near water, facing south" (See J. Goodman's book on "Sherford")

Did the Chivelstone site offer these?

Or was it near a convenient source of stone!

In Sherford the cottage of the bailiff responsible for the collection of tithes due to St Nicholas' Priory, Exeter has been identified. Was there such a bailiff in Chivelstone?

And also where was the Church House which provided space to practice hymn singing, or to take some refreshment after a long walk to church where sometimes accommodation was provided? I wonder if it could have been in the cottage adjacent to the church? This is called “the Seven Stars”, which according to the Kingsbridge Trailguide (!) was a name with religious connotations.

Audrey Lloyd September 2013

Continued:

4

East Portlemouth Church

KEU3A LHG meeting 18 September 2013

The church is in a typical hill-top position, a good vantage point to watch for invaders, particularly from the sea.

The Manor of East Portlemouth (then known as Portlamuta i.e. port at the mouth) was recorded in the Domesday Book but there was no mention of a church. The rough-cast exterior is unattractive but the church was built of local stone (schist?) which was porous and needed weather protection. It used to be lime render but now it is hard Portland cement.

Outside the lych-gate is the mounting block used by visiting clergy who came on horseback. Entering the churchyard, on the RHS is a sundial made from the 15th century preaching cross and nearby is a war memorial.

The porch is 16th century. To the side of the porch are steps leading to the priest’s chamber for use of visiting clergy when no priest was resident. Empty niches over the porch may have held statues which were removed during the Reformation. In the Middle Ages betrothal would have taken place in the porch before the couple entered the church for the Nuptial Mass.

Much of the cruciform interior dates from the 12th century i.e. the nave, chancel and transepts. As you enter, you will see the font on the RHS which is 15th century.

The tower was built between 1400 and 1450, then 2 side aisles and later the porch. Today the tower has 6 bells but an account in 1553 refers to 4 bells of which only the tenor bell survives today. It is one of the biggest medieval bells in Devon and was cast in Exeter in the late 15th century. It bears a Latin inscription in 15th century script which translates as “there is no better bell than me under the heavens”. The treble bell and 2nd bell had early 17th century inscriptions but these like the remaining bells were re-cast in 1912 by Taylors of Loughborough. Bell-ringing competitions were keenly contested between local churches and EP won many of them. There is a picture here of the EP team who rang together for 50 years.

There is a board at the back of the church which lists the Rectors and Patrons from 1269 to the present day. (Research is on-going as there may be earlier ones.) Notice Champernouns who were also patrons of Dodbrooke Church as some of you will recall.

The barrel-vaulted roof had some repairs to the ornamental timbers in 1953 i.e. creosoted plaster of Paris. The organ was donated in 1903 by the Jephcotts, Church Patrons. The Rood Screen is 15th century with 26 saints depicted on panels. This is a feature of many Devon churches but rare elsewhere. St. Winwaloe is sixth from the LHS (to the right of the pulpit).

Who was St Winwaloe? His Celtic parents fled from Wales when the Saxons invaded. Winwaloe was born in Brittany about 462AD. He founded a monastery in Brittany and died in 532AD. (The monastery celebrated its 1500th anniversary some years ago.) At some time monks came to Devon and Cornwall and founded monasteries and churches here. Perhaps one church was at EP. (There are others with similar names eg Gunwaloe near Helston).

In the 1780s St Winwaloe was changed to the Latin form St Onolaus but in the 1930s it reverted to St Winwalloe. In 2006 the diocese requested that the original spelling should be used and so now it is St Winwaloe.

The figure on the screen is holding a model of a church which some believe looks Saxon but, since there is no mention in the Domesday Book, this is a matter for debate. Parts of the screen have at times been crumbling and worm-eaten and some of the panels are missing. There was restoration in 1934 under the direction of Sir Christopher Nicholson and further work was done in 1962. New oak can be seen but on the chancel side burn marks are visible.

5

It is claimed that Cromwellian forces encamped at Rickham may have tried to destroy the screen. However others say that the screen was removed to safety but badly re-installed when the danger had passed. The panels depict portraits of saints as follows, from LHS: 1 St. Andrew, 2 St.Hubert 3 St. Quirinus, 4 St George, 5 St. Cornelius, 6 St. Winwaloe, 7 St Dominic, 8 Pope Gregory, 9 a scholar perhaps St. Augustine, 10 St. Mark, 11 St. John, 12 a choir of angels, 13 the Virgin Mary, 14 a female martyr, 15 St. Peter, 16 St. Catherine of Siena, 17 King Edward the Confessor or Roger Champernoun, the donor, 18 St. Francis, 19 St. Lawrence, 20 St Baron of Ghent, 21 St. Sebastian, 22 & 23 two unidentifiable women, 24 God the Son, 25 part of the coronation of the Virgin Mary, 26 St. Jerome with his lion.

The Chancel was also restored by Nicholson. The new altar of oak and walnut is carved ad gilded with a design of wheat and vine to represent the Sacraments. The paintings in the reredos show St Winwaloe holding the present church.

Church Silver The church possesses a very fine chalice and paten dated 1574 and other lovely items.

There have been ups and downs in the history of the church, as with religion in general. In the 18th and 19th century the parish was in the hands of a series of rectors and curates, all Low Church parsons. Services were dull, sacraments very infrequently and carelessly administered and the church fabric allowed to decay. It is said that the parson would arrive for Matins on horseback, dismount at the mounting block and exchange gossip with people on his way into the church. Still wearing his riding boots, he would don his surplice which was hanging on a nail by the pulpit. He would then climb into the three-tiered pulpit and would conduct the service from the 2nd tier, climbing to the upper deck to deliver the sermon.

One Sunday, in the middle of his sermon, a man entered and passed a message up to the pulpit. The parson abruptly broke off his homily, doffed his surplice and, calling out “Brethren! There is a ship aground between Prawle and Pear Tree Point. Let’s all start fair!”, he ran out of the church at the head of his congregation.

In the 1830s the Duke of Cleveland became landowner of EP and had a brutal impact on the village. In an effort to improve the church, the Duchess had the box pews and the three-tier pulpit removed and also the music gallery.

In the churchyard are graves of ship-wrecked sailors and smugglers but most famous is that of Richard Jarves of Rickham who died 25th May 1782 aged 77 years. It is no longer decipherable but bears the inscription: Through poison strong he was cut off and brought to death at last. It was by his apprentice girl, on whom there’s sentence passed. Oh, say all people, warning take, For she was burned to a stake. She had been tried at Exeter for murder or witchcraft. One of the graves of ship-wreck victims commemorates “Francis Pounder, Master and owner of schooner Wanderer, and Edwardena his wife who, together with the whole of the crew, perished in the dreadful hurricane on the night of 27th December 1852. Leaving another brother and sister to lament. Francis Pounder 37 years. Edwardena 35 years.”

A quote from Anne Born mentions Pat Pratt whose maternal great grandfather was a Baskerville and worked for the Duke of Cleveland on the farm at Holset in the parish. His brother Tom Baskerville worked for Mr Robinson at Ipplepen. Mr Robinson was a friend of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He sent Tom to collect Conan Doyle from Exeter in his pony and trap and bring him to stay at Ipplepen. Tom Baskerville took them out for tours of Dartmoor. Conan Doyle was so impressed with Tom’s noble and ancient surname that he said, “I’ll write a book about you one day!” So was born the legend of the sinister hound. 6

There are several Baskervilles from Holset buried here. I remember that, when there were produce shows in the village hall, Bill Baskerville always won prizes for his vegetables. I used to buy his runner beans in the village shop, the finest I have ever eaten!

The Rectory may have been close by the church but was moved, probably in the 15th century to Horse Pool Cove by the estuary (about half a mile). A chapel was built there for personal use as access to the church would have been difficult in those days. The 1840 tithe map shows the rectory and the chapel. The rectory was rebuilt in the 19th century and sold in the 1980s when the rector moved to Salcombe. It is now a very exclusive property available for holiday lets.

Brief History of the Village Portlamuta was mentioned in the Domesday Book. After the Norman Conquest the Manor was held by Juhdel of Totnes and covered a considerable area.

In 1346 five warships were built in EP for the wars with the French. A ship was also built for the campaign against the Spanish Armada in 1588. Later EP declined as Salcombe developed.

The Manor passed to the Champernouns in 1380 until the 17th century. In 1830 the land was bequeathed by the Bolton Estates to the Duke of Cleveland. At this time the village was primitive, occupied by sailors and fishermen and the Duke complained that they would not work the land. In an account written in 1880, the Duke was told ”This was because they did not know how to. His predecessors had laid out nothing for a century and had been content with exacting the rents. If the village was to continue, it must be rebuilt but that would be needless expense as the people living there (fishermen and seamen) were useless to him as they would not cultivate the land.” Thus many of the houses were torn down and about half the population were made homeless. The Duchess closed the inns because she claimed that they were hotbeds of smuggling. The demolition caused a national scandal and in time land was amalgamated to create 3 larger farms in EP, Rickham and Holset and new houses were built. The Duchess also had work done on the church. (There is still no pub.)

With the coming of Methodism to the South Hams and fresh religious enthusiasm, a meeting house was established in EP in 1840. The thatched cottage was rebuilt as a chapel in 1931 but as numbers declined the chapel closed and it was sold for conversion to a house in the 1980s. Education in the village was at one time supplied by the church but in the early 1800s a Dame’s school was opened. In 1878 a National (Church) School was built at a cost of £320 by public subscription to accommodate 63 children. “On Monday morning 21st January, 1878, about 33 children were admitted, all of whom were very backward. Some of them having never before attended school.” In 1940 the school received a large number of evacuees and, with 70 children, the Village Hall had to be used for the seniors. The 1944 Education Act made the village school a Junior Aided Church School with but 15 children. Those over the age of 11 went to Kingsbridge and so the village school became unviable. It closed in 1962 and is now a dwelling house.

The Village Shop and Post Office Once a thriving establishment and meeting place in the absence of a pub, it eventually closed in 1999 and was converted to a house.

Utilities Springs and wells supplied water to the village until the 1950s when water mains were installed. Electricity was also brought to the village in the 1950s. There is still a red telephone box.

Celia Strong September 2013 Acknowledgements: East Portlemouth and its Patron Saint, Winwalloe. Reverend W Willis Price (Rector 1959-1960) Kingsbridge History Society Recorder (No. 29). East Portlemouth by Anne Born (2003) The History of Kingsbridge and Saicombe. Anne Born (2002)

7