Historical Notes relating to Bideford's East-the-Water Shore A collection, in time-line form, of information pertaining primarily to the East-the-Water shore. Table of Contents Introduction....................................................................................................................................13 Nature of this document.............................................................................................................13 Development of this document...................................................................................................13 Prior to written records...................................................................................................................13 Prehistory...................................................................................................................................13 Stone Age, flint tools and Eastridge enclosure............................................................................14 Roman period, tin roads, transit camps, and the ford..................................................................15 A Roman transit camp between two crossings.......................................................................15 An ancient tin route?.............................................................................................................15 The old ford...........................................................................................................................15 Saxon period, fisheries (monks and forts?).................................................................................15 Administration.......................................................................................................................15 Viking incursions?.................................................................................................................15 Saxons names in the landscape..............................................................................................16 Saxon fisheries......................................................................................................................16 Nuttaberry, a Saxon name?....................................................................................................16 Saxon monastic influence (possible rather than proven)........................................................17 The Saxon church and the position of the crossing................................................................18 The great flood of 1014.........................................................................................................18 Norman Conquest and its aftermath................................................................................................19 1066/7, Bideford becomes an ancient demesne..........................................................................19 1069, Defeat of Godwine and Edmund at Northam....................................................................19 1083, Death of Matilda..............................................................................................................19 1086, Domesday........................................................................................................................20 The Domesday entry.............................................................................................................20 Bediforda and its environment...............................................................................................20 Bideford's fishery..................................................................................................................21 Salt production (and Saltren)......................................................................................................21 About 1089, Sir Richard de Greenvill gains Neath.....................................................................22 1100, Henry I, origin of the Mayor of Shamwickshire?..............................................................22 1102, the church acts against English slavery.............................................................................23 c1127, Sir Richard de Granville founds Neath Abbey.................................................................23 c1127, Sir Richard Grenville re-builds St Mary's?......................................................................24 1160, the manor of Bideford, inheritance of the Grenvilles........................................................24 13th Century....................................................................................................................................24 1217, Grenville purchases rights for Bideford............................................................................24 c. 1272, first town charter...........................................................................................................24 Late 13th C, the rolling boulder...................................................................................................25 Late 13th C, the first Long Bridge...............................................................................................26 Last updated 9 Sep 2018 (DRAFT) Page 1 of 177 © R I Kirby Historical Notes relating to Bideford's East-the-Water Shore 14th Century....................................................................................................................................27 c. 1325, Bartholomew Grenville, of Bideford.............................................................................27 1342, a chapel at the east end of the bridge................................................................................27 1348-9, the Black Death sweeps through England......................................................................27 1349, the Ordinance of Labourers is passed...............................................................................27 c. 1376, Theobald Grenvill, of Bideford.....................................................................................28 15th Century....................................................................................................................................28 c. 1405, John Grenvile, of Bideford, knight................................................................................28 1459, the 2nd wooden bridge.......................................................................................................28 c. 1484-6, Thomas Grenvill, of Bideford, knight........................................................................29 1497, John Cabot claims Newfoundland....................................................................................29 16th Century....................................................................................................................................30 c. 1502, Thomas Grenvill, of Bideford, knight...........................................................................30 c. 1533, Richard Grenville, of Bideford, knight, sherif...............................................................30 1541, Buckand Abbey granted to Sir Richard Grenville (Grange connection?)...........................30 1542, John Leland reports shipbuilding in Barnstaple Street......................................................30 1565, a significant centre for shipbuilding..................................................................................31 1565, the Westleigh bridge, figment or fact?..............................................................................31 1566, a 500 ton vessel built at Bideford?....................................................................................32 1572 St. Bartholomew’s day massacre.......................................................................................32 1574, Grenville secures an Elizabethan charter..........................................................................32 1574, Grenville's plan to circumnavigate the world....................................................................33 1577, Richard Grenvile, of Bideford, knighted...........................................................................33 1583, Sir Humphry Gilbert founds a colony in Newfoundland...................................................33 1584, Amadas and Barlowe sail for North America....................................................................33 1585, the charter to colonize Virginia.........................................................................................34 1585, Grenville establishes a military colony on Roanoke..........................................................34 1585, Raleigh proposes a relief fleet..........................................................................................34 1585, tensions with Spain disrupt Newfoundland fishing...........................................................34 1585, a Spanish prize and the building of New Place.................................................................35 1585, the building of New Place................................................................................................35 1586, Grenville's relief mission undone by Bideford Bar...........................................................36 1586, Drake evacuates the Roanoke settlers...............................................................................36 1586, Grenville arrives at Roanoke............................................................................................37 1586, North Devon braces itself