Ian’s Blog 10th November 2024

 Ian’s Blog 10th November 2024

On Monday I took my car over to Edginswell on the outskirts of Shiphay, Torquay for the annual service. I can remember when there were fields there rather than the site of the Eden Vauxhall. 

On the way home I decided to visit the reference section of Torquay library to see if there were any books that mentioned the church in Coldridge. I was rather surprised to find quite a few pages in some of the books about Devon churches. Most of it is already known to the Coldridge section of Philippa Langley’s missing princes team. I made a note of the following:-

1) Church restoration dates of 1877 and 1897. The 1877 date is in the Mike Salter book and both dates are quoted on p 274 of a book by WG Hoskins.

2) Some 15th century glass smashed recently by Wanton boys mentioned in a book by Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner on page 372. I don't think I have come across this before? I wonder if the boys were prosecuted and if there is a record of the date somewhere? Could Bridget Cherry be the mother of Martin Cherry who was one of the authors of an article in the Journal of stained glass about Edward V and Sir John Evans.

3) Map of the Devon hundreds.

4) I found a list of the Bishops of Crediton and Exeter.This might be useful for the Bishops of Exeter file on Coldridge in the Devon heritage centre.

5) Parclose Screen similar in style to those found in Brittany mentioned on page 48 of a book called Churches and Their Furnishings. This is mentioned in the Martin Cherry stained glass article which I mentioned in a previous paragraph in this week’s blog.

I found a couple of books which were the diaries of old Devon antiquarians but I couldn't find any reference to Coldridge. There might be other books which do provide some additional useful information. I will be visiting Exeter later this month and will endeavour to visit Exeter library to look through their books. It might also be worth contacting some local museums. I believe that Torquay museum has some old books on Devon. Also my friend Rosalind has told me that she might be able to help with the old handwriting in the Bishops of Exeter file on Coldridge in the Devon heritage centre.

Here is a link to the song that I composed with John Dike about the mystery of Sir John Evans and Edward V which features some video footage of Coldridge:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVsqR26RqO4&t=123s