Synopsis: On the family history trail. A 3-point call today: 1) Sowton where Susan Pollard (née England) is buried; 2) Cannonwalls where Susan lived; 3) St John the Baptist where Susan’s parents are buried.
(selection of photos from Flickr photo set – use link above to view album)
The weather forecast for today was wall-to-wall sunshine, so I just had to make the most of what promised to be a great summer’s day. I had recently discovered that my great-grandparents had resided at a place named Cannonwalls, near Woodbury Salterton, and I had it in mind to walk this way some day, and that day was to be today. I could string on two more family history sites on a walk in this direction from home, and so I made that my (quite long) walk for today.
A bit of click-click-clicking on my laptop at home to mark out a walk route for my handheld GPS was needed. This, and breakfast and the making of sandwiches didn’t take long, and so I was on my way by 9:50 am.
At the point where the busy road junction near the motorway can be left, there is a small lodge, tucked away and hardly visible. I took a moment out to examine it and take this photo. I hadn’t realised until today, although I’ve walk this way on several occasions, that the name of this property is Sowton Lodge. This got me thinking, as it is a possible location for family of old (the Pollards), who were recorded as living at Higher Lodge, Bishop’s Court. I’ve yet to properly identify where that actually is, as the three lodges I’ve located are: 1) Sowton Lodge; 2) Court Lodge & 3) East Lodge. One day I’ll get to the bottom of this conundrum.
I walked the lane that leads into Sowton (the first of my family history sites), which is a quiet lane as regards road traffic, since it has now been truncated by the intersection of the M5 motorway and the A30. As I approached Sowton village the next of the three lodges, Court Lodge, came into view. This lodge has it’s name incised in one of the gate piers, so I doubt this would have been Higher Lodge.
As it was a Sunday I decided to wander down through the village to the Parish Church of St Michael and All Angels Sowton (Listed Grade I), although a little off the course of my walk. I thought it just possible there might be someone around who might know where my great aunt, Susan Pollard, was buried on her death in 1943. As luck would have it I bumped into the churchwarden who took me into the churchyard to where graves of that period were to be found. Although we couldn’t find the grave of Susan, Mike offered to examine the church burial records later in the day and get back to me with what he found.
Regaining my walk near to Court Lodge, I followed the public footpath, which follows what would have once been the main drive to Bishop’s Court. A little way down this drive there is this bridge over the River Clyst. The bridge has a decorative cast iron railing down one side of it (Listed Grade II). I remember discovering that this railing was listed whilst contemplating a previous walk along this drive. Sadly one of the railings is missing, perhaps washed away by the river.
As I entered a field at the end of the drive the view of Bishop’s Court (Listed Grade I) opened up in front of me. This is about as close as it’s possible to get to the building. I believe the building is owned by a business and that there is no public access granted to it. A bit of a shame, considering how important this building is. I did walk up to the gate, now the main entrance to Bishop’s Court, which is where East Lodge is to be found, unfortunately well hidden from view behind a tall picket fence.
My walking from here was primarily along lanes leading me in the direction of Woodbury Salterton. There are a couple of benches in the shade at this village, and I was keen to make one of them my lunch stop. There is a well house and water conduit (Listed Grade II) situated near to my chosen bench. Apparently Woodbury Salterton was struck by a cholera epidemic in 1832 and a Marianne Pidsley brought about a number of improvements to the village at that time, one of which was the introduction of this well house and water conduit.
After lunch I did take a little time out from my walk to view the Parish Church of Holy Trinity (Listed Grade II), my first visit to this church. I strolled around the graveyard first, looking out for Pollards, as I was aware that Sydney Pollard was resident at nearby Woodbury at the time of his marriage to Susan England in 1931. I did find the grave of George and Elsie Pollard in the cemetery, but am unsure if there is a family connection. As always, more research required.
The church itself is of early Victorian period, and not particularly noteworthy from an architectural perspective. Interestingly it has a west gallery, rather surprising in a church of this period. One further Pollard I noted on the record of baptisms through the years, a Teresa Pollard, baptised in 1953.
As planned, my walk was now to take me past Cannonwalls (the second of my family history sites), which I think is a hamlet name, implied by a road sign with this name on it. There is a Cannonwalls Farm, and a Cannonwalls House, but that’s about all. My relations (Frederick and Sarah England) were farmers at ‘Cannonwalls’ (stated in Kelly’s Directories of 1930 and 1935), which I presume to be the farm. In the 1911 census they were operating a market garden in north Devon. Without wishing to encroach on private land, it was only possible for me to catch a glimpse of the farm through the hedgerow.
It was time to make tracks, so I set forth on my climb through the lanes to surmount Woodbury Common. The day had become quite warm by now, so the walking was quite strenuous. Once having climbed to the common, I circled around Woodbury Iron Age Fort, one of the most impressive hill fortresses I’ve ever come across. The steep sided embankments give a powerful impression of how strong a fortress this once was.
The theory was it should be mostly down hill from this point, and it mostly was. I circled around an enormous sand and gravel quarry and then began to descend along tracks to enter Wright’s Lane, which in turn took me to St John’s Lane. A little way along this lane I deviated left into Church of St John in the Wilderness (Listed Grade II*). This (the third of my family history sites) is where my great-grandmother is buried, Sarah Elizabeth England (née Rockett), along with her husband, Frederick James England. After paying my respects at their grave I took a few minutes rest on a nearby bench.
All that remained for me to now do was escape the ‘wilderness’ and walk through Exmouth town to the railway station. I had plenty of time and enjoyed the route along St John’s Road, which is obviously one of the old town routes, lined with many attractive historic buildings. I believe I was walking through the ancient Withycombe Raleigh district of Exmouth. The Old Vicarage (Listed Grade II) is a very picturesque building with a lovely Gothic flavour to it. A little further along the road I passed Parish Church of St John, the Evangelist (Listed Grade II).
I made Exmouth railway station with 30 minutes to spare, so I found myself a bench and read my book for a while. The two carriage train was packed to the hilt. I guess everyone was returning from the beach. Well, a little more time on my feet was hardly likely to do me any harm.
One of my longer walks, therefore I was glad to reach home. A restful tiredness came over me, so I was glad to retire early and curl up with a good book, relaxing in the knowledge I’d made the best of a wonderful day of sunshine.
Addendum: I have discovered, since doing this walk, that Sydney Pollard, states his occupation as groom on the birth certificate of his son Claude of 1938. This suggests to me that he would have been housed near Bishop’s Court itself, close to the stables. From this evidence I therefore conclude that the most likely lodge at which he and his family resided, at the time known as Higher Lodge, of the 3 mentioned here in this post, would be that which is named East Lodge today.
Walk Statistics:
Total Distance: 17.0 miles
Moving Time: 5hrs 51min
Stopped Time: 1hr 01min
Total Ascent: 430 metres
Maximum Elevation: 189 metres
Buses: (none)
Trains: Exmouth to Digby & Sowton
No comments:
Post a Comment