Odds and Sods June 2023

Here are the better late than never Odds and Sods for June, starting off with some nice bright colours for the sunny month we have had.

My travels this month take in Exeter, Torcross and some bits in between.

These are Slapton Sands, from the Torcross end to the Strete Gate end.

Very close by is the church at Stokenham, which overlooks the sea to Torcross and Slapton Ley. They held a Flower Festival in June to raise money for repairs to stained glass windows. So here is a selection of the flowers and some stained glass.

This window is a memorial for Arthur Bastard, yes that's correct. There are a lot of Bastards featuring in memorials in various local churches in this part of Devon. They came over with the Normans who sired a long line of Bastards who mostly had blue blood as they were commonly descended from the illegitimate offspring of Lords, just like William the Conqueror, who was a bastard himself. They were different times and there was certainly no shame in being related to a Lord, so the name was carried with pride. More on this in my Slapton church piece here.

You may have already read the first in my latest Car Tour Series which takes in Chudleigh and the outskirts of Exeter. After that Car Tour I did a photo walk in Exeter. So here is a drive by shooting of the Exe Bridge Cafe......

........while on the opposite side of the Exe river is a later, on foot photo of the Old Exe Bridge. I will tell you more about this in my Exeter Series soon. Part One is already published here.

There follow some tidbits of my Exeter walk to entice you in to my future posts as they are completed. Little things that caught my eye.

Garton & King, and its predecessors can trace their trading history back to 1661, that is well over three hundred years of business within Exeter, mostly in and around the High Street, effectively Exeter’s oldest Business. Its history is described in the booklet ‘Golden Hammer’, first published in 1961.

This street is one of the oldest surviving parts of Exeter, located in the West Quarter. According to Hoskins, its name comes from the Old English word for steep, rather than from step, and cote for enclosure. In 1270 it was referred to as Styppecotehyll, and had become Stepcote Hill by 1588, according to a deed.

............ and some astounding treasures. All will be revealed at a later date.

Dorothy Bampfield (died 1614), daughter of Sir Amyas Bampfylde. She was a Maid of Honour to Queen Elizabeth I.

The Exeter Rondels take the form of a series of embroidered cushions, over seventy metres (230 feet) in length, lining the sides of the nave in Exeter Cathedral. Greater in length than the famous tapestry at Bayeux.

The founding of the cathedral at Exeter, dedicated to Saint Peter, dates from 1050, when the seat of the bishop of Devon and Cornwall was transferred from Crediton because of a fear of sea-raids. The irony of course being that 16 years later The Norman Conquest took place when those Bastards I've already mentioned, arrived from Northern France.