Devonshire August and September 2017

DEVONSHIRE
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CONTRIBUTORS
Nigel Jones, John Fisher, Helen Mulvaney,
Ken Watson, Janet East, Christopher Taylor,
Averil Quinain, Natalie Bucklar and Richard
Woodward.
The Oxenham coat of arms
Drake’s first captain
Our Staycation this issue features the
Oxenham Arms at South Zeal. What’s
interesting is the link to Drake, having
stayed at the Oxenham Arms to visit his
first captain, John Oxenham. John, at the
age of 12, was sent to become a ship’s
cook, much later becoming a famous
sea captain (the first to sail the Pacific).
He sailed on more than 80 missions with
Drake, plundering gold and silver from the
Spanish. Finally caught by the Spanish in
1580, he was the first sea captain to be put
to death for the charge of piracy.
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Clovelly Nigel Jones
DISCLAIMER The publishers of this magazine are not responsible for
any costs, loss or damage suffered by any person, persons, or company
as a result of any advertisement or article in this magazine. Adverts are
accepted on the understanding that descriptions of goods and services
are fair and accurate. All artwork is accepted on the strict condition that
permission has been given by the owner for use in this publication. The
opinions and comments expressed are purely those of the originators.
We do not endorse any products or services advertised within this
magazine. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that information is
correct, the publishers take no responsibility for any errors or omissions.
Any person or persons undertaking the circular walk featured within this
publication does so entirely at their own risk. If you take children or dogs
on the walk, they will require supervision. We strongly advise that prior
to travelling to any of the events listed in our What's On sections, that
you call the event organisers to check that the event is running at the
times and dates specified.
COPYRIGHT All material within this magazine are subject to copyright.
Excepting adverts, all images within the magazine are copyright to N.Jones
unless otherwise specified.
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A summer of fun
Endless enjoyment across Devon
We’ve arrived at what’s the culmination of the our annual
calendar, with all manner of events being staged across
our lovely county. The range of events is staggering, and
it can be a challenge getting round them all, but we do our
best here at Devonshire magazine to ensure you have the
most extensive information in both this magazine and on
our 10 regional HUBCAST websites covering Devon.
This issue we’ve been up to the northern
edge of Dartmoor, somewhere that’s quite
easily forgotten, especially with usual seaside
obsession at this time of the year. South
Zeal, South Tawton and Sticklepath were
the villages visited, in many ways you get
the impression they’ve escaped the ravages
of time, being very true to what Devonian’s
must have known centuries ago, apart from
a spot of tarmac. South Tawton’s Tudor
Church House is an interesting building,
actually a very beautiful example of a church
house. Parishes weren’t
traditionally required
to have a church house.
However, when in the late
Mediaeval period, pews
were installed into churches,
the resulting lack of space
inside necessitated the
building of church houses
to accommodate guild and
community activities.
Churches used to brew church ales, the
proceeds allocated for parish expenses and
the relief of the poor, but as you can imagine
consuming ales in the church wasn’t ideal.
It’s also interesting to note that when stone
masons arrived to build a church, it was
a long-term process and they’d usually
set about building a dwelling to provide
accommodation prior to starting work on
the church. The Tuckers Arms at Dalwood,
Axminster, is one such example, many of
these dwellings are ancient, many of which
subsequently became ale houses.
South Tawton Church House
(Note - we’ve planned to feature South Tawton’s
Church House in a future issue of Devonshire
magazine).
With regard to South Zeal, we feature a
Staycation at the historic Oxenham Arms,
somewhere quite unexpected today because
many of our great inns have been historically
cleansed by the many pub chains who’ve
dished out the ‘gastro’ treatment in the
interests of profit. It seems to me that the
‘gastro’ term has unsavoury connotations,
surely there’s a better way
to indicate or imply that it’s
a pub serving good food and
ale than ‘gastro pub’?
Returning to the Oxenham
Arms, it’s a historical gem
of significant importance -
read all about it further on
in our Staycation feature,
which is also accompanied
by a walk straight from the
Oxenham Arms to Sticklepath and along the
cascading river Taw.
Don’t miss our extensive summer events
diary (from HUBCAST) and our feature on
Canterbury to whet your appetite perhaps for
a trip further afield, and finally, not forgetting
articles from our regular Devonshire
contributors.
Wishing you a great summer
Nigel Jones (Editor)
@DevonshireMag