A book of the west. Volume 1, Devon : $b being an introduction to Devon and CornwallBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
A book of the west. Volume 1, Devon : $b being an introduction to Devon and Cornwall
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Devon (England)
Holne Church has a good painted screen, and the parsonage is the
house in which Charles Kingsley was born. The view of the winding of
the Dart from the parsonage garden is beautiful.
Dean Prior was long the place to which poor Robert Herrick was
banished. He did not love it, nor did he relish the rude ways of
his parishioners. It is to be feared he did not labour very hard to
better them. He was buried here in the churchyard in 1674. Here also
was laid his servant "Prue," recorded in his poems. Her burial is
entered in the register as that of "Prudence Balden, an olde maid,"
and Herrick's trust that the violet might blossom on her grave is
perhaps not unfulfilled, although her grassy mound is not now known.
The Abbey of Buckfast is within an easy walk, and should on all
accounts be visited. It is the earliest foundation in Devon, going
back to long before the Conquest, in fact no documents exist to show
when it was founded. "Mr. Brooking Rowe has suggested that Buckfast
Abbey probably existed before the coming of the Northmen; that would
be before A.D. 787. It may be so, but, at least, it must be grouped
with Bodmin and Glastonbury Abbey as one of a trio of monastic
churches which had property in Devon before King Edgar's time,
and is probably, with the exception of Exeter, the only monastery
before that time existing in the county. Its extreme antiquity may
be inferred from the fact that Buckfast itself was never assessed."
That is, at the taking of Domesday.
Now I have an idea concerning it. Two of its churches were Harford
and South Brent, and both are dedicated to S. Petrock. We find S.
Petrock again, further down the Dart, at its mouth. Where we find
a Celtic dedication, there we may be pretty certain that either
the saint founded the church, or that it was given to him, not
necessarily in his lifetime.
In Celtic monasteries, when a grant was made, it was not made
to the community, but to the saint personally, who was supposed
never to die, and all the lands and churches granted became his
personal property. Now, as we find two of the churches belonging
to this venerable abbey bearing S. Petrock's name, I think it
quite possible that the original abbey may have been, like that
of Padstow, a foundation of S. Petrock. When, however, the abbey
was re-endowed and recast, and occupied by monks belonging to the
Latin orders, S. Petrock would be ignored at Buckfast, and the
only indication left of his having once owned the whole territory
of Buckfast would be the lingering on of his name in some of the
churches that belonged to that same territory.
I am not sure that we have not hard by traces of other Celtic
saints, S. Wulvella in Gulwell, a Holywell at Ashburton, and her
brother S. Paul of Leon at Staverton, though now supplanted by Paul
the Apostle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account