24-25 July 2023 Powderham Castle, Two Churches, and Plymouth
Yesterday was a repositioning day from Exeter to Torquay (pronounced Tor-Key). I keep screwing that pronounciation up. It was rainy, and I had to repositioning some of my junk into suitcases so that I could leave one with stuff I don’t need to carry with me in my rental car.
Powderham Castle was one of the castles belonging to the Lords of Devon, the Courtenays. It is also restored, and tours are offered. I have 29 Courtenays in my family tree, and it is a mess to try and sort all of them out. I have thought about joining the Courtenay Society, since they have a resident archivist who could help me, and I may do that eventually, but not on this trip. I still have a lot to see.
Powderham castle has fund raising events going on throughout
the year, and even though the Courtenay family doesn’t live there, they are
still active with managing the castle. It was nice to see a lot of the family
crests, and dates that each family member held their title.
Today was an early day, and I squished a couple of days in to one, so that I could have a day off to do laundry. I first went to a church North of Plymouth in the town of Bere Ferrers. A couple of my ancestors had tombs within the church, and the village it was in was very picturesque. I did fulfill o\2 find a grave requests in the churchyard when I actually found the gravesite of a man and his wife, John German. They both died in 1881, so the headstone wasn’t too worn, although it was still difficult to read.
One the way to the church, I saw a sign to Buckland Abbey. I
stopped and picked up a guide book, but didn’t visit, as I didn’t have the
time. I remember reading about a Buckland in my family history, so when I got
back to the room to look at it, my relatives were from Buckland Brewer in North
Devon, not the abbey. I hated to waste an opportunity to see something, so I
needed to act on it. The guy who saved the Abbey from Henry VIII was Richard
Grenville. I am also related to Grenvilles, bot about 200 years earlier than
this fellow.
After that, I went to Plymouth England to see where the pilgrims launched the Mayflower in 1620. There was a Mayflower Museum there, and lots of souvenirs, but all the same, I just went there to see if I could get any info on my ancestor who was on the ship, Francis Cooke. I found out that Taylor Swift is a descendant of Francis Cooke, and 3 other passengers on the Mayflower. That’s about all we have in common, though.
Finally, I went to another church, St John the Baptist in Paignton Devon, UK. When I tell you my phone GPS took me places I never thought I would be able to get out of, believe me. When the one lane dirt path ends, all you’ve seen in the road is Horse manure, and you have the choice of 3 more paths, with a sign pointing to the road you just came down saying it is unsuitable for vehicles, you know you screwed up and trusted it. I almost gave up. The country roads out here in England are wide enough for one vehicle, but they expect 2 vehicles to be on it going in different directions. There is a lot of backing up to a turn out in the road to let other vehicles go by you because there isn’t any room, and shrubs on either side blocking you in are 10 feet tall. That, and parking, have been my number 1 stressors on this trip.
The church was old, and I took a few pictures, but it started raining, so I made a beeline back to my car, and called it a day. I have seen a lot of old Churches on this trip, and it is hard to imagine when you are used to the churches we have in the U.S.
Tomorrow I will try to see three castles in one day.
Hopefully the weather will hold up.
