East Budleigh, which lies on the west bank of the River Otter, about two miles inland from Budleigh Salterton, is an ancient village, which was well-established by the time of the Norman Conquest. Whilst we do not have specific details for its early history, we can get some idea from our general knowledge of Devon in Roman and Saxon times.

Anglo-Saxon Origins

There is no trace of Roman settlement in Budleigh. The invading Anglo-Saxon tribes from Germany, who followed the Romans after their final departure from Britain in 410 A.D., took their time to conquer England.  Gradually they extended their control westwards from Kent and Sussex.  Budleigh was probably settled during the late 7th or early 8th century by a party of Saxon pioneers sailing up the Otter Estuary from the sea.  The fertile valley of the Budleigh Brook, lying above the level of the esturial saltmarsh, would have attracted them initially.  After establishing a fenced encampment or "ton", these energetic colonists would have started to clear the surrounding forest with their axes, gradually increasing the area of cultivation. The "leigh" or "leah" in Budleigh means a meadow or a clearing in a wood.

By the end of the Saxon period, and probably much earlier, this settlement had become sufficiently important to be a Royal Manor of a Saxon King.  This we know from the Domesday Survey which William the Conqueror ordered to be made in 1086.

Domesday

The entry concerning Budleigh reads:- "The King holds Bodelie. In the time of King Edward (the Confessor, 1042 to 1066) it paid geld (i.e. tax) for half a hide. There is land for 13 ploughs. There are 16 villeins, and 20 bordars, and 10 swineherds, and four serfs with 12 ploughs. There are five acres of meadow, and 100 acres of pasture and 20 acres of wood."

This gives a picture of a considerable manor. Dr. Brushfield in his notes on the parish of East Budleigh, reckons there were over 1,500 acres of arable land with 125 acres of pasture, meadow and wood, plus unimproved wasteland.  Much of this would have been farmed by the villeins, each of whom was allowed 30 acres, and by the bordars who had only five acres apiece. In return for this they were obliged, under feudal law, to render service to their lord, in this case the King himself, by working on his land. Serfs had no land and worked full time for their lord.

The boundaries of this Royal Manor were probably almost the same as those of the present parish, with the smaller settlements such as Kersbrook and Dalditch already in existence.  At this time there was no Salterton - living on the sea coast was not popular because of pirates!  Most English parishes were established during the Saxon period and their boundaries in rural areas have remained little changed to this day. Many such parishes had a church, though very few Saxon ones remain.  Dr. Brushfield thinks Budleigh, being a well populated community with its 30 villeins and their families, most probably had a church in Saxon times, and that it would have stood in the prominent position where the present church stands.

How Budleigh became East  Budleigh

In mediaeval times the name of this Royal Manor of Budleigh was spelt in various ways; such as Bodelie, Boddeleia, Boddelig, Estbodelegh, and Budley. The manor lay in the Hundred of Budleigh, a Hundred being a Saxon district of local government. During the Norman period it was the largest Hundred in Devon. Later it was divided, with West Budleigh Hundred comprising a separate area between Crediton and Tiverton, and East Budleigh Hundred covering the land from the Exe and Clyst rivers as for east as a line running from Branscombe inland to Gittisham.

The old Roman road, which we call A.30, was roughly the northern limit, excluding Ottery St. Mary and its adjacent villages, which became another mediaeval Hundred. West Budleigh has now disappeared from our maps but the name East Budleigh remains, distinguishing it from the new-comer Budleigh Salterton.

Monastic Ownership

Change came to the Royal Manor of Budleigh only 50 years after the Domesday Survey.  In 1125 Henry I gave some 600 acres of it to the great Abbey of St. Michael's Mount in Normandy.  In 1195 Abbot Jordan of St. Michael's granted 12 acres of this fond to a local man, John de Boddelig, who was an ancestor of Thomas Budley the founder of the great Bodleian Library at Oxford.

About 65 years later another religious house made its appearance in Budleigh.  Shortly before his death in 1189 Henry II granted the patronage of All Saints' Church to the Prioress of Polslo Priory, Exeter, with the use of the adjacent land.  This part of the manor now became known as Budley Polslo, or Higher Budley, to distinguish it from Lower Budley, the area held by St. Michael's Mount. The dividing line between the manors was the Budley Brook at the bottom of the present High Street.  Lower Budley's land stretched down the river valley to the mouth of the Otter and westward along the coast to include the area that is now Budleigh Salterton.

The first recorded vicar for All Saints' was Stephen de Budley, who was presented to the parish by Polslo Priory in 1262. The church at this time was a simple building with a low tower, a nave with a single aisle and a small chancel.

Division of Royal Manor

During Henry II's reign, or in that of his son John, the rest of the Royal Manor was divided into three smaller manors: Hayes, Dalditch and Tidwell [a fuller history of the last two of these smaller manors is recorded – Moderator].  Hayes Manor, lying upstream along the valley of the Budleigh Brook, was held by Bartholomew de Poer in Henry II's time.  In Richard III`s reign it passed by marriage to William Duke from Sherborne; it has had various names - Poerhayes, Dukeshayes, then Hayes. Today we know it as Hayes Barton, the birthplace of Sir Walter Raleigh, of whom more later. Tidwell and Dalditch Manors are described seperately.

In time each of these five manors came to have its own mill, where all the villeins were obliged to take their corn to be ground. Only Budley Polslo and Lower Budley, however, were sufficiently important to have a manorial court.

Maritime Activity

Lower Budley had a small port called Budley Haven, which was used not only by local fishermen but also by ships carrying wool to southern Europe. In 1347 during one of these expeditions, disaster struck the little Budley fleet, probably as it was returning from Spain laden with Spanish goods and wine.  French pirates, angered by the defeat of their country at the battle of Crecy the year before, seized three ships, 12 boats and 141 men of Budley, including several wealthy wool merchants. The people of Budley were so distressed that they sent a petition to King Edward III asking to be relieved of their obligation to pay their wool tax that year.  Surprisingly their request was granted; the tax was reduced.

Of more lasting value perhaps was the capture by England a short while later of the notorious pirate stronghold of Calais, whose raiders had recently attacked many coastal towns, including Plymouth and Teignmouth.  Further trouble came in 1348, not just to Devon and Budley, but to all England, for this was the start of the Black Death, the fearful bubonic plague which swept through Europe, reducing the population everywhere, and wiping out whole towns and villages.  We do not know how much Budleigh suffered but we may imagine that life was particularly hard for some while after this tragedy.

Both people and wealth must however have recovered considerably by the beginning of the 15th century because during the 1420s the church of All Saints' was re-built and much enlarged under the direction of Bishop Lacy of Exeter.

Enlargement of All Saint’s Church

Bishop Lacy, whose arms may be seen at the top of the eastern-most window of the north wall, was an energetic church builder and many of Devon's parishes owe their fine Perpendicular churches to his initiative. All Saints' acquired a fashionable high tower, a wider and longer nave with three aisles, a larger chancel and a spacious south porch. Indeed, from the outside the church would have looked much as we see it today.  Inside, it was very different; no pews or pulpit in the nave, brightly painted frescoes on the walls, a huge crucifix hanging above the chancel screen. We know this from discoveries made in the later part of the 19th century during alterations to the chancel. When plaster and whitewash were removed from the walls, traces of paintings appeared; these seem to have been mostly of saints, as was usual in churches in the Middle Ages. It is thought that one of the frescoes was a picture of St. Christopher, patron saint of travellers. He was very popular and many a merchant setting out on a business trip or fisherman about to go to sea may have stepped hastily into the church to ask for protection from the saint, whose picture on the north wall of the chancel could be seen from the door of the new south porch.

More striking though than the frescoes was the Great Rood or crucifix which dominated the whole church. It hung from the roof above the entrance to the chancel. The foot of the cross was supported by the rood loft which ran across the width of the chancel above the rood or chancel screen. It is likely that on the left, beneath the more than life-size carving of the dying Christ, stood the sad figures of His Mother Mary and the faithful disciple St. John. The purpose of this image of Christ on the Cross was to remind all who came to worship that to reach salvation a Christian must be prepared to suffer great affliction.  It was the custom for the priest to preach and to read the gospel from a lectern up on the rood loft. Standing beneath the Cross, from this great height, he pronounced absolution of sins to those who were penitent. One can imagine the effect on those who came to Confession, especially during the Holy Week preparations for Good Friday and Easter.

The priest reached the rood loft by a stone staircase cut into the extra wide pillar which supports the roof of the church on the south side of the chancel steps. After the Reformation the loft and its images were removed, and the staircase was blocked up and forgotten. It was found only during the alterations in 1891, when the builders and the vicar became curious about the unusual width of the pillar and proceeded to investigate. They found not only the staircase but also the end of the great beam which had supported the loft.

Lower Budley passes to Syon Priory

A short while before the rebuilding of All Saints' in Budley Polslo in the 1420s, a major change occurred in the Manor of Lower Budley. The granting of this land to the foreign Abbey of St. Michael's Mount had been unpopular with several kings, especially Edward I and Edward III, both of whom tried to re-possess it.  Finally in 1414 Henry V suppressed all "alien priories" (he needed their revenues to help finance his war with France which ended with his victory at Agincourt in 1415).  He granted Lower Budley to an English Priory,  that of Syon near London, and the Manor became known as Budley Syon. The name is remembered in Syon House which stands on the south-east side of Oakhill, and is now the office of the Rolle (Clinton Devon) Estates.

Richard Duke buys Budley Syon  by followed by Budley Polslo

Budley Syon Manor remained under the control of Syon Priory until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 when it was purchased, in 1540, at a bargain price by Richard Duke who then lived at Poerhayes (later Dukeshayes or Hayes Barton) Manor. This enterprising representative of the rising new Tudor middle class also acquired the neighbouring manor of Otterton, thus becoming the most important landowner in the lower Otter valley.

At this time the nuns of Polslo Priory were also dispossessed of their land. The manor of Budley Polslo was first purchased by the St. Cleres of Tidwell, then passed by marriage to the Forde family and later sold to the Dukes, who also acquired the right to present the Vicar of All Saints' church.

After his purchase of Otterton and Budley Syon, Richard Duke apparently thought he was now too grand to live in the modest manor of Hayes Barton (to give it its familiar name), so he moved across the Otter and built himself a fine new home in Otterton. This perhaps explains why neither at Budley Polslo nor Budley Syon is there any trace remaining of a manor house; the Lord of the Manor lived over the river and so did not need an establishment in Budleigh.

The Raleigh Family

About this time the successful Mr. Duke leased Hayes Barton to Mr. Walter Raleigh, the father of the famous Sir Walter, who was born there in 1552, and spent the first 15 years of his life in Budleigh. Walter Raleigh senior was the first recorded churchwarden of All Saints'.  A vigorous Protestant, he set about removing all traces of "Popery" from the church, including the Great Rood and its loft and the frescoes.  Fortunately, Mr. Raleigh seems to have approved of some kinds of church decoration; the carved pew ends, which are such a beautiful part of All Saints', date from this period. The Raleigh family pew with its coat of arms, dated 1537, can be seen in the front of the nave on the north side. Close by, in the centre aisle is the tomb of Joan Raleigh, Mr. Raleigh's first wife, the oldest memorial in the church. From mediaeval times it was thought desirable to be buried within the church walls. The smell must at times have been appalling, and so must the risk of disease, but the practice was not given up until the latter part of the 18th century.  If people were buried outside, they chose the south side of the churchyard; only felons and illegitimate children were interred on the north side in a distant corner. The rest of the north side was used by the villagers as a playground; there were games of "Fives" against the church tower wall, and wrestling matches on Sunday afternoons. Sunday was market day, and this took place in the churchyard as well as in the village street.

To the south below the churchyard stood the tithe barn, built in 1536 to house the corn collected for the support of the clergy and church. Here, under supervision of the wardens, the ale was brewed for the great Ale Feasts. These were held to raise funds for church and charity, and were also occasions for general merrymaking which might go on for several days, with mystery plays, mumming and dancing.

Alas, the Puritans put an end to this traditional revelry, and to the Sunday markets which were stopped in 1600. They tried to stop the Sunday sports too but these managed to survive until the 18th century. Today there is no tithe barn; it was pulled down to make way for the village car park and toilet!

The barn was handy to the Polslo or Town Mill, which drew its water from the East Budleigh brook near where it is crossed by Hayes Lane, which runs up the valley to the Raleighs' home of Hayes Barton. Also in Hayes Lane was the Vicarage, now known as Vicar's Mead, where Raleigh as a boy went for his lessons. Both this house and Hayes Barton were built about 1485, which makes them two of the oldest surviving houses in East Budleigh. Older than either of these however, is Pulhayes Farm, part of which dates from the 13th century, and lies down a lane towards the Otter from the East Budleigh to Budleigh Salterton road. All this part of Budley would have been familiar to young Walter Raleigh; the church, the vicarage, the mill and tithe barn. We know he had happy memories of his childhood; in 1584, when he had just been knighted by Queen Elizabeth I, he wrote to Richard Duke asking to buy Hayes Barton, but Duke refused to sell. Raleigh's letter is in the Royal Albert Museum in Exeter.

An American Connection

Though Raleigh is the most well-known figure in East Budleigh's history, mention must also be made of the Conant family who lived in the Mill House, close by the tithe barn, towards the end of the 16th century. Richard Conant was a churchwarden. Two of his sons, Roger and Christopher, sailed for America in 1623. They landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, just three years after the Pilgrim Fathers arrived there.  Roger soon found life under these severe Puritans too strict and intolerant, and set about finding a suitable place for a new settlement.  Eventually he and some courageous followers made their homes further along the coast at a place they called Salem. The little community prospered and today in Salem, Massachusetts, there is a statue to its founder, Roger Conant of East Budleigh, who died there in 1679 at the ripe old age of 88.  The Conant family still keep in touch with East Budleigh, and visit All Saints' when they come to England.

Local Forenames

Thanks to the institution of Parish Registers in 1536 by Henry VIII's Chancellor Thomas Cromwell, and to the records and accounts kept by the churchwardens and later also by the parish overseers, we have from Tudor times some knowledge not only of a few prominent families in East Budleigh, but also of the lives of ordinary men and women who were born, lived and worked in the parish.  In East Budleigh the parish registers go back to 1556 for baptisms and marriages and to 1562 for burials. Names of families still living in the parish, or in Budleigh Salterton, can be traced far back; for example in the 1630s the names of Cowd, Pring, Hayman, Pidgeon and Till appear amongst the baptisms.

The Poor Laws and Settlement Acts

From Elizabethan times life for poor people was largely governed by the Poor Laws and the Settlement Acts.  The Poor Law of 1601 made each parish responsible for the care of its sick and aged poor and for finding work for the able-bodied.  The Settlements Acts of 1662 and 1691 obliged people to live in the parish where they, or their husbands, were born, or where they were apprenticed.  These restrictions did not apply to the well-to-do; their object was to ensure that a parish did not have to support other parishes' problem families.  East Budleigh seems to have had a considerable number of indigent poor, perhaps because of the increase of population during late Tudor times and the widespread bad harvests of the 1590s.  In 1607 it is recorded that the Richard Duke of that day gave a house and garden to be used as a Poor House. This stood at the beginning of what is now Frogmore Road.

In 1691 Parish Overseers were appointed to collect the money for the Poor Rate from all parishioners able to pay it, distribute it to the needy, manage the Poor House, and find work for the able-bodied poor. The first overseer in East Budleigh was, not surprisingly, a Richard Duke.  He was too superior to do the work himself and employed a deputy, one Thomas Upham.  From the overseers' account books we see that some families, particularly the Reeds, frequently held this office either in their own right or as deputies.

One of the overseers' duties was to arrange parish apprenticeships for children whose parents could not support them.  In East Budleigh boys were apprenticed as farm labourers from nine to 24 years (reduced about 1775 to 21); girls were always bound from nine to 21 years, unless they were married earlier.  They usually worked as house servants but sometimes out-side on the farm.  This system, coupled with the restrictions on movement between parishes, partly helps to explain why the population of the village declined in the 17th century and did not recover its Elizabethan level until about 1775.  Sickness was another cause; unusually large numbers of deaths recorded in some years possibly indicate epidemics of plague in the 17th century; in the 18th century smallpox was probably the reason.  On the road to Budleigh Salterton, about a mile from East Budleigh, is a field running down towards the Otter Estuary, which is traditionally known as 'Deadmens Buries'.  In the 19th century human bones were found in a pit in a corner of this field which may have been a burial ground for plague victims.

The Settlement Acts did not prevent all movement between parishes.  For example, East Budleigh's records of 1787 tell of a certain William Gray who was born in Lustleigh, apprenticed in Manaton, worked in Moretonhampstead, then came to East Budleigh as a 'covenanted servant', moved to Somerset for six months, then returned to East Budleigh.  Next he "worked on the stone boats", then went back to Moretonhampstead and later to Lustleigh where he married, and promptly moved to Dawlish. Here he became ill and could not work or support his family.  The Dawlish justices, perhaps confused by Gray's numerous addresses, decided rather surprisingly that his place of settlement was East Budleigh and ordered that Gray and his family be returned there.  East Budleigh must have been much annoyed.

In addition to the obligatory Poor Rate collected by the Overseers, from time to time bequests were made by benevolent parishioners. One of East Budleigh's benefactors was Robert Drake of Spratshayes near Little-ham, who in 1628 left £2 a year for the poor.  Another was George Pring who specified that his gift, made in 1775, was to provide shirts for poor labourers; the records show that in 1781 over 40 men received shirts. These gifts were the responsibility of the Churchwardens who distributed them annually in small amounts of 1/- or 1/6d. amongst such poor of the parish as were not in receipt of constant relief.

Their records show that sometimes needy strangers were helped on their way, including soldiers and sailors returning from abroad, maybe from captivity by the dreaded Barbary pirates of North Africa. For example:-

1694 to  11 soldiers from the East Indies.     11d.
1666  to two seamen which had been captives 17 years     6d.
1681 to three Yarmouth men who had been taken by the Turks  6d.

Dennys Rolle buys the Budleigh Manors

In 1779 a death occurred which was to have much effect on the people of Budleigh. The last male heir of the Dukes died and their estates were put up for sale. In 1785 the manor of Budleigh Syon (which included the coastal hamlet of Saltern, later to become Budleigh Salterton) and the manors of Budleigh Polslo and Hayes Barton were all sold to Dennys Rolle Esquire of nearby Bicton Manor.

Smuggling

By becoming Lord of the Manor of Budleigh Polslo, Dennys Rolle also acquired the ancient right of presenting the Vicar of All Saints' Church. The first Vicar to be presented by the Rolles was Ambrose Stapleton in 1794 who held the living for the next 58 years. He was a vigorous but kindly man, given both to preaching tremendous sermons which could be heard all the way down the High Street, and to handing out the Sunday offerings to his many needy parishioners after the service. But there was another side to the Rev. Ambrose; he is known in village folklore as the "smuggling vicar". Much smuggling, especially of brandy and tobacco, was carried on along the Devon coast in the 18th century and during and after the Napoleonic wars, and even respectable people like parsons were involved in the illegal, dangerous, but highly profitable trade.
Stapleton's ancient vicarage (now Vicar's Mead) has long narrow secret passages behind the parish meeting room, just wide enough to hide casks of brandy. Tradition says that extra barrels were stored in the church until they could be sent on their clandestine way to purchasers further inland. Stapleton himself consumed his smuggled brandy to such an extent that sometimes he was noticeably the worse for drink, even when visiting other parishes to preach one of his powerful sermons. To those who accused him of not living as a parson should, he is said to have replied "I ask you to follow the lantern which lights the way to eternal salvation, I do not ask you to worry about the hand that holds it".

Dissenters and the Salem Chapel

In a report made by the Vicar, the Rev. Mathew Mundy in 1744 to the Archdeacon of Exeter, 30 Dissenters are mentioned as living in the parish. These, though called Presbyterians in the report, were probably the Congregationalists who attended Salem Chapel, which is situated in the south-east corner of the parish where Vicarage Road joins the present Exmouth-Sidmouth road. This chapel was built in 1719, 30 years after William III's Toleration Act of 1689 made non-conformist worship legal. It was built by voluntary labour in the form of a cube from stone brought in flat-bottomed boats as far as possible up the Otter, possibly to Bankley. Thence it was carried by horses lent by friendly farmers up the valley to a narrow lane, now called Beechtree Lane, which led by a moderate gradient to the chapel building site. The Congregationalist minister lived in a house on Budleigh Hill, now called the Old Manse. The chapel was well supported by the people of both Budleigh and Otterton. In 1836 its seating capacity was increased by galleries on three sides, including one designed for an orchestra. It is said that Salem was popular not only for religious purposes but because the chapel roof was constructed in a way that made it an excellent hiding place for smuggled brandy. Indeed some say that at one time the non-conformist minister and the vicar of All Saints', either Stapleton or his predecessor, Matthew Mundy, were actually in league to defeat the hated Revenue men, and to assist the notorious smuggling skipper, Jack Rattenbury of Beer, who used to land some of his precious cargoes on Salterton beach or at Ladram Bay.

This support by the clergy for law-breaking and cheating of the government by their parishioners may seem to us deplorable but it must be remembered that the later 18th century and early 19th century were times of great distress in rural England, and the money to be obtained from smuggling was a great temptation. Parish records show there was much poverty in Budleigh at this time, due largely to the disruption brought about by the war with Napoleon's France, and by the high price of wheat.

A Century of Poverty

From a modest £75 in 1690 the Poor Rate rose steadily to £265 in 1790, then leapt to £440 in 1795 and up to a high of £705 in 1800-1805; a tenfold increase in just over 100 years, whilst the population had only about doubled (it was perhaps 500 in 1700 compared with the census of 1801 which records 1,014 people, including Budleigh Salterton). This widespread poverty put a great burden on those required to contribute to the huge Poor Rate. Maybe some people used the money gained from smuggling to help meet this tax, or to keep them from having to apply for relief themselves.

In 1834 the whole system of caring for the poor was changed by a new Poor Law Act. "Outdoor relief" was no longer to be given to people living in their own homes, small parish poor houses were closed and anyone wanting help from the authorities had to become an inmate of one of the big Union Workhouses, which were built to serve several parishes and were as uninviting as possible. Duke's Poor House was sold in 1840 and the proceeds put towards the parish poor rate but happily the various private charities of East Budleigh continued during the 19th century. These were not large but they must have helped to alleviate the misery of the poor and may have kept a few unfortunates from the disgrace of the workhouse.

Extent of Rolle Ownership

During the 19th century the Rolle (later Clinton) Estates owned two thirds of the whole area of Budleigh parish, including Budleigh Salterton. The 1842 tithe award map shows that, apart from Lord Rolle, only two landowners had more than 100 acres. These were Gilbert Cowd of Leeford (135 acres) and Henry Frank of Dalditch (117 acres). Eighty-two per cent of cultivated land was then arable, showing the effect of the Corn Laws, not repealed till 1846, in promoting the production of the profitable wheat.

Population 19th Century

The population of Budleigh parish grew rapidly; by 1851 it was nearly 2,500, two and a half times its size in 1801. This increase was due to the steady growth of Budleigh Salterton. In 1911 Budleigh Salterton, which had become a separate Urban District in 1894, had over 2,000 inhabitants, whilst East Budleigh parish had only 767.

Education 19th Century

In the middle of the century East Budleigh acquired a primary school. In 1847 Robert Drake's ancient charity was re-organised by the Charity Commissioners and much of the funds used to provide a school for the children of the parish. Hitherto there had been no school in East Budleigh though Budleigh Salterton was already provided with a National School and several 'private academies'.  In the later years of the 18th century the overseers' accounts show that small sums such as 2d. a week were paid to various dames to teach poor children to read and write. One or two men were also paid to teach boys. None of this can have amounted to much because such children were apprenticed at the age of nine, and only evening or Sunday Schools would have been possible for them.

However, thanks to the Drake Charity, two full-time teachers, John Millyard, and his wife, were appointed in 1852. The first school was at the top of the now disused steps that can be seen half hidden in the steep bank in Middle Street, opposite the brick cottages built by Mark Rolle in 1874. In 1860 the school house which we see today was built. The education of girls and boys was entirely separate until 1911, and so the school was built in two parts, one for boys, and the other for girls and infants.

In 1870 the school, known as Drake's School, came under the provisions of Foster's Education Act, and certificated teachers had to be appointed.  Miss Vanstone, later Mrs. Palmer, was the first girls' teacher. She was excellent and taught her girls with enthusiasm. At first she had trouble with the "lace schools" in the village where young girls were taught the art of making Honiton lace, then a welcome source of extra income for village women.  Mrs. Palmer was obliged to enforce a rule that girls must attend her school at least two days a week or the offending lace school would be fined. These lace schools, however, continued to flourish.  The writer had a neighbour of over 90 who as a girl attended a lace-making school run by her Aunt Charlotte in East Budleigh in the 1890s.

The first boys' certificated teacher, Mr. Clotworthy, was not a success. His spelling was poor and so was his discipline; he did not keep the registers properly and finally in 1885 he was sacked for incompetence. The next teacher, Mr. Honey, improved discipline and learning standards, though he was not as good as the much loved Mrs. Palmer.  Mr. Honey remained until he retired in 1911, when both sections of the school were amalgamated under one head teacher.

Victorian Life

About the time the school started, a second non-conformist chapel was built in East Budleigh. This was due largely to the enterprise and generosity of the village's first doctor, William Christopher, who lived in the ancient house which now bears his name at the corner of Frogmore Road and Budleigh Hill, opposite the Rolle Arms. This house was a tannery in the 1500s and supplied leather buckets for the Tudor navies. Dr. Christopher was concerned for the spiritual as well as the physical welfare of the people of East Budleigh. In 1850 he gave £25 to a group of Devon Baptists for the building of a chapel at the back of his property and allowed a right of way to it across his land. This chapel, which came to be known locally as the Gospel Hall, has a large tank for total immersion at Baptism. The building is not at present in use.

Meanwhile there were changes in the Established Church. In 1852 the Rev. Ambrose Stapleton died, having been vicar for 58 years. In 1859 a new vicarage was built on land to the north-east of the church. This meant that the popular inn called the Five Bells (because of its nearness to the church bells) had to be demolished as it stood at the entrance to the new vicarage driveway.

In 1886 the old vicarage was the home of two ladies of great character; Mrs. Gibbons, who allowed her hens to roost on her drawing room chairs, and her daughter Maria.

In 1888, to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, the first piped water supply was turned on by Lady Gertrude Rolle, wife of Hon. Mark Rolle, who gave this much needed amenity to the village. The water came from the Washmoor brook and was obtained from standpipes, the sites of which can still be seen, notably that in Middle Street near the old school steps, and the one on Budleigh Hill.

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee year, 1897, was marked by the coming of the railway to Budleigh Salterton, and a station for East Budleigh was opened on the line close by Otterton Bridge. This was wonderful for travellers embarking on the big adventure of going to London, but to reach Exeter most people depended on getting a ride with Mr. Watts the carrier. Early in the 1900s this enterprising person changed his prosaic horse and cart for a steam engine, which chugged its way along the lanes and over Woodbury Common to the city three times a week.

20th Century Life

At this time East Budleigh was still a largely self-supporting community. Corn was ground at the Town (or Polslo) Mill and at Thorn Mill. Close by the church was the bakery, which also sold groceries. There were two butchers, a shoemaker, a dressmaker, a tailor and a sweet shop, the latter most strategically located in a cottage in Middle Street right next door to the school.  Where 'The Stores' stands today in the High Street was the Post Office, and across the road at Hollytree Cottage lived the under-taker.  Nearby too was the Kings Arms Inn (now called the Sir Walter Raleigh) where a cab could be hired for funerals or, more happily, for weddings.

The village had its own blacksmith, coal merchant, wheelwright and chimney sweep. There was even a watchmaker who lived in the Round House (the former toll house) next door to Wynards House at the foot of the High Street. Alas, this ancient cob building suddenly collapsed one Saturday afternoon in 1977.

For amusement there were two rival brass bands. One of these was led by none other than the former school master Mr. Clotworthy. After leaving Drake's School, he became first a successful tailor, and later the village baker. He was a popular figure in East Budleigh - once he gave up school teaching!

August 4th 1914 was the day of the annual fete, which was held at Oakhill House, then the home of Mr. and Mrs. Keep. It was here that the outbreak of the First World War was announced to the village.  Many men went from East Budleigh to join the Forces, and the War Memorial reminds us that 29 of them did not return.

As the war continued East Budleigh became involved in a little known part of the war effort.  The Army Medical Services needed a great quantity of sphagnum moss, whose softness and absorbency made it excellent for wound dressings.  This moss was collected on Woodbury Common by the men and boys, dried in the baker's oven and then taken up to Oakhill House.  There in a room which became known as the Moss Room, the women sorted the moss and sewed it into little square bags to make the dressings.

When the war ended it was felt that the village badly needed a community centre. About 1919 a Nissen Hut was erected at the foot of Middletown Lane. This hut, known as the Institute, was used by the ex-servicemen, the Women's Institute, and the village generally. It saw many whist drives, jumble sales and Christmas parties.

Between the two World Wars All Saints' Church and Drake's School continued to play an important part in East Budleigh's life.  In the 1920s and 1930s there were more than 100 children in the school. Many of the school children also attended the church Sunday School. On Sundays, after a teaching period in Drake's School, all the children with their teachers used to march up the village to the 11 o'clock church service. The pews along the north wall of the church were reserved for the Sunday School and these were usually full.

In 1927 Hart's Bus Service was started; this popular service would take a passenger from East Budleigh to Exmouth and back for just 10 old pennies. Those were the days. In 1939 war came again and once more men went from East Budleigh to defend their country.  Women too went into the Forces and into danger. At the end of the war the 12 new names inscribed on the War Memorial included that of a woman.

During the war many soldiers and Royal Marines trained on Woodbury Common and some of these were quartered in the village. To help entertain them, dances were organised in the Village Institute. The ageing Nissen Hut proved very cramped for this purpose and a demand grew for a larger and more up-to-date centre for the village. After the war tremendous fund raising efforts were undertaken by all sections of the community, including the school children. Eventually, in 1955 the new Village Hall was opened. The land that was given for the hall by Lord Clinton was more than was needed, so part of it was used to make the excellent play-ground we see today.

Since 1945 East Budleigh has grown; many new homes have been built but these have fitted in well and the beauty and character of the village have been preserved.

Author: Vivienne Brenan. Extracted from Sketches on local History – The Lower Otter Valley © 1984 Otter Valley Association. See publications page of web site for full list of publications available for purchase.

References

Brushfield, T. N. (1890) Notes on the Parish of East Budleigh. In Transactions of the Devonshire Ass., Vol.22, p.260.
Brushfield, T.N. (1891) Church of All Saints’, East Budleigh. In ibid., Vol.23, p.239.
Bryant, A. (198 The Elizabethan Deliverance. (Collins)
Carter, G. E. L. (1928) History of the Hundred in Devon. In Transactions of the Devonshire Ass., Vol.60, p.313.
Davidson, J.B. (1877) The Saxon Conquest of Devon. In ibid., Vol.9, p.198.
Delderfield, E.R. (1949) The Raleigh Country. (Raleigh Press)
Phear, J.B. (1891) Additional Notes on the Parish of East Budleigh. In Transactions of the Devonshire Ass., Vol.23, p.203.
Reichel, O.J. (1903) The Hundred of Budleigh in the time of Testa de Nevil AD 1244. In ibid., Vol.35, p.279.
Scutt, W. (1936) A short Account of East Budleigh and Hayes Barton: Birthplace of Sir Walter Raleigh. (W. Scutt)
Sellman, R.R. (1962) Illustrations of Devon History. (Methuen)
Sellman, R.R. (1975) East Budleigh: Edited Transcript of Extant Registers of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials to 1812; with Notes and Transcripts of other Parish Records and Sources. (In Fairlynch Museum)
Sheppard, Lilian (1972-77) Historical Jottings; in East Budleigh Parish News.
Sheppard, Lilian (1983) Raleigh's Birthplace. (Granary Press)
Trevelyan, G.M. (1949) History of England. 3rd ed. 1958 (Longmans)
 White, W. (1850) History, Gazetteer and Directory of Devonshire. (Simkin, Marshall & Co.)
White, W. (1878-79) History, Gazetteer and Directory of Devonshire. (Simkin, Marshall & Co.)

Other Documents at Fairlynch Museum: Morris & Co.'s Commercial Directory of Devonshire 1870, 1878; Kelly's Directory of Devonshire, 1910; Tithe Map of 1842; folders of newspaper cuttings and leaflets concerning Roger Conant; Celebrations of Royal Occasions; Budleigh Salterton Railway; Hart's Bus Services.

Thanks are due to the Misses Elizabeth and Joy Gawne, and Mrs. F.P. Van Meter for help concerning sources of information, and for use of Fairlynch Museum Library; to Mrs. I.M. Poison of Otterton, and Mr. R. Russell of Sidmouth for information on Salem Chapel; to Mr. S.M. St. John of East Budleigh for information on 'Christophers' and the Gospel Hall Chapel; and to Mrs. F. Anning and Mrs. M. Sanders of East Budleigh for reminiscences of life in East Budleigh from 1900 to 1945.

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