WIDECOMBE FAIR According to legend, September is the month of the year when a gentleman enquired of his friend Tom Pearse if he could borrow his grey mare to enable him and some acquaintances, including Uncle Tom Cobley, to journey to Widecombe Fair. The disastrous result of this early Devonshire outing is well known to many in the song collected by Rev Baring Gould circa 1890. But who were these characters, and did they exist?Read more...
Several houses in Colebrooke have vanished almost without trace. Others were burnt down, but like the Phoenix arose again. Another group fell into disrepair but were rebuilt. Here is one of the latter. THE OLD VICARAGE, the present building, dates from 1912 and replaced a much older vicarage of which parts were estimated to have dated from the 14th century. A rather quaint description of the old house in 1821 describes it thus A Terrier of the Glebe House and Lands of the Parish of Colebrooke Taken May 18th 1821 The dwelling house contains two parlours, one vestibule and passage and a kitchen on the ground floor.Read more...
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Arscott family were integral to Colebrooke parish. Three generations had held the post of parish clerk. Two of the mills, Colebrooke and Ford, were run by Arscotts and shoemakers, a blacksmith, a carpenter, and a tailor. Today, the only tangible evidence of their existence is the sampler that used to hang in the committee room at the Village Hall, which was rescued from The Old School when it was sold in 1960 and the memorial to Frederick Arscott in the church the north wall.Read more...
SHIP INN - COLEFORD PUBLIC HOUSE BRAWL During the early 1850s, when the North Devon Railway was being extended from Crediton to Barnstaple, large numbers of men known as navvies (navigators) were to be found working on the huge cutting which lies to the east of Coleford. Many of these men were billeted at The Ship Inn (now Browns Farm) in the middle of Coleford. It is said that Thomas Peters, who was the landlord of the Ship at that time, would charge the navvies one penny a night to sleep on clean straw in the stone building which adjoins the road to Copplestone.Read more...