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)
Next year he went to Rome, and then the Pope urged him to establish
papal authority in Germany, which had been converted by Celtic
missionaries, who had their own independent ways, that were not at
all relished at Rome. Boniface, who hated the Celts and all their
usages, eagerly undertook the task, and he went into Thuringia.
He did a double work. He converted, or attempted to convert, the
heathen, and he ripped up and undid what had been done independently
by the Irish missionaries. In his old age he resumed his attempt to
carry the Gospel into Frisia, and was there killed, A.D. 755.
A Saxon see was established at Crediton about 909, and was given
three estates in Cornwall--Poulton, Lawhitton, and Callington. The
Bishop was charged to visit the Cornish people year by year "to
drive away their errors," for up to that time "they had resisted
the truth with all their might, and had disobeyed the Apostolic
decrees," that is to say, they clung to their ecclesiastical
independence and some of their peculiar customs.
Crediton remained the seat of the Romano-Saxon bishops till 1046,
when Leofric got the see moved to Exeter, where his skin would be
safer behind walls than in exposed Crediton.
The church, dedicated to the Holy Cross, is a very stately
building; the tower is transition Norman at the base. The rest is
Perpendicular, and a fine effect is produced by the belt of shadow
under the tower, with the illumined choir behind, which has large
windows. The east window was mutilated at the "restoration." It
was very original and delightful; it has been reduced to the same
commonplace pattern as the west window.
Crediton was a great seat of the cloth trade, and many of those
whose sumptuous monuments decorate the church owed their wealth
to "Kirton serge." Westcote says that the "aptness and diligent
industry of the inhabitants" (in this branch of manufacture) "did
purchase it a pre-eminent name above all other towns, whereby grew
this common proverb, 'as fine as Kirton spinning' (for we call it
briefly Kirton), which spinning was very fine indeed, which to
express the better to gain your belief, it is very true that 140
threads for woollen yarn spun in that town were drawn together
through the eye of a taylor's needle, which needle and threads were
for many years together to be seen in Watling Street, in London, in
the shop of one Mr. Dunscombe, at 'The Sign of the Golden Bottle.'"
Crediton is now a great centre of apple culture and cider-making.
The rich red soil lends itself admirably to the production of
delicious apples.
[Illustration: East Window of Crediton Ch:
before "restoration" FBB 1869
CREDITON CHURCH]
It is quite a mistake to suppose that any fruit serves for cider.
There are certain kinds that are vastly superior to others for this
purpose, as the Bitter-sweet, the Fox-whelp, the Kingston Black and
Cherry Pearmain; but the best all round is the Kingston Black.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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