Devonshire Characters and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Devonshire Characters and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Devon (England) -- Biography; Devon (England) -- History
/William Cookworthy of Plymouth/ 600
From the original portrait by Opie in the possession of
Edward Harrison, Esq., of Watford
/Mr. Jackson, the Celebrated Composer/ 608
From an engraving after J. Walker
/Lord Ashburton/ 618
From an engraving by F. Bartolozzi, after a picture by
Sir Joshua Reynolds
/Horrid Massacre at Dartmoor Prison, England/ 648
From an old print
/Plan of Dartmoor Prison/ 650
/North Wyke/ 710
/Dr. Wolcot/ 738
/Dr. John W. Budd/ 754
From a photograph by his brother Dr. Richard Budd, of
Barnstaple
/Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Chichester, Bart./ 772
DEVONSHIRE CHARACTERS AND STRANGE EVENTS
HUGH STAFFORD AND THE ROYAL WILDING
Hugh Stafford, Esq., of Pynes, born 1674, was the last of the Staffords
of Pynes. His daughter, Bridget Maria, carried the estate to her
husband, Sir Henry Northcote, Bart., from whom is descended the present
Earl of Iddesleigh. Hugh Stafford died in 1734. He is noted as an
enthusiastic apple-grower and lover of cyder.
He wrote a “Dissertation on Cyder and Cyder-Fruit” in a letter to a
friend in 1727, but this was not published till 1753, and a second
edition in 1769. The family of Stafford was originally Stowford, of
Stowford, in the parish of Dolton. The name changed to Stoford and
then to Stafford. One branch married into the family of Wollocombe,
of Wollocombe. But the name of Stowford or Stafford was not the most
ancient designation of the family, which was Kelloway, and bore as its
arms four pears. The last Stafford turned from pears to apples, to
which he devoted his attention and became a connoisseur not in apples
only, but in the qualities of cyder as already intimated.
To a branch of this family belonged Sir John Stowford, Lord Chief Baron
in the reign of Edward III, who built Pilton Bridge over the little
stream of the Yeo or Yaw, up which the tide flows, and over which the
passage was occasionally dangerous. The story goes that the judge one
day saw a poor market woman with her child on a mudbank in the stream
crying for aid, which none could afford her, caught and drowned by the
rising flood, whereupon he vowed to build the bridge to prevent further
accident. The rhyme ran:--
Yet Barnstaple, graced though thou be by brackish Taw,
In all thy glory see that thou not forget the little Yaw.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account