Church History - Introduction : Part 2 : Part 3 :

LIST OF VICARS

c.1170	Paganus
	William de Bisenam
1280	Alanus
1283	William de Churitone
Before 1330	Sir Adam
1334	Sir John de Nymet
c. 1400	Andrew Hude
1416	William Kelwa
	John Tregodynow
1427	John Colmptone
1441	Richard Stoyle
1463	John Ewen
1475	John Rogers
1524	Roger Crugge
1533	John Williams
1546	John Moreman
1554	Richard Martyn (deprived)
1561	Henry Reddinge
1573	John Chardon
1578	Henry Eastebrooke, alias Shilston
1604	Christoper Eaton
c. 1644	Bartholomew Dickes }	Intruded Ministers
1653	William Crompton }
1655	Richard Richards
1662	Richard Richards	subscribed 11th August
1687	John Chilcot
1723	Philip Sprey
1724	Samuel Coker (deprived)
1740	Thomas Michell
1743	John Collins
1745	John Elworthy
1769	Peter Tucker, resigned c.1781	reinstated 1782
1803	William Short
1805	Frederick Barnes, D.D.
1807	William Hutchinson
1816	Thomas Robyns
1831	Arthur Grueber
1848	Thomas Drosier
1885	Isidore Daimpre.
1923	Henry Cowper Pratt
1945	Glyndwr Rogers
1959	Arnold Pye
1965	Ronald Baker
1967	R.B.Smith
1969	Brian Copus
1974	Frank Chancellor
1975	D.A.Davies (vicar of Bow)	Plurality with Bow
1978	Frank Atherton (Bow)
1980	Bernard Gales (Bow)
1994	John Hall (Bow).
2004	Rev. Canon Michael Hall

 

THE VICARS

Little is known of the pre-Reformation vicars. Alanus and William de Churitone, who were in office at the first two Visitations in 1281 and 1301 respectively, received very poor reports from the parishioners, but Sir Adam in 1330 was highly praised.
Three of the later vicars figure in the Dictionary of National Biography.
John Moreman, D.D., was Vicar from 1546 to 1554, though for most of Edward VI's reign he was in prison for alleged support of certain Romish doctrines. In 1510 he had been elected fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, an appointment which led Bishop Oldham to transfer many revenues from that college to Corpus Christi, because his own nominee, a certain Mr. Atkins, was defeated. In 1529 Moreman was appointed to the rich living of Menheniot, in Cornwall, where, Prince says, he "undertook the honourable fatigue of instructing youth in school-learning". Hooker, the Chronicler, who was one of his pupils there, says that he "was the first to teach the people to say the Lord's Prayer, the Beliefs and the Commandments in the English tongue". In view of this it is surprising to find him associated with the West Country rebels who objected to the use of English in the Church Services. One of their demands was that he and Richard Crispyn, Rector of Woodleigh, should be freed from prison, but they were not released until Queen Mary's accession in 1553. Moreman died the following year.
John Chardon, 1573-8, was another fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, and D.D. He held the living of Heavitree besides that of Colebrooke. He was a noted preacher of the reformed doctrine, but also defended the Church against Puritan malcontents. He was consecrated Bishop of Down and Connor in 1596 and died in 1601.
William Crompton, Minister, 1653-5, later held the living of Cullompton, whence he was ejected at the Restoration for nonconformity, but he lived on there and in Exeter until 1696, preaching in conventicles. He was the author of several works on non-conformity.
Of the other Vicars, Henry Reddinge, 1561-73, had a daughter Frances who married Roger Mills, later lord of the manor.
Christoper Eaton, 1604-c. 1644, was replaced during the Civil War by his own son-in-law, but lived on in the parish, at his farm of Buttisfar, in Coleford, till his death in 1655. He was Churchwarden in 1622.
Philip Sprey, who was instituted on 20th December, 1723, seems never to have officiated in the parish, and as early as the following March Samuel Coker was instituted "because the living was vacant" (normally the resignation or death of the predecessor is mentioned in the Bishops' Registers).
William Short, 1803-5, was later Archdeacon of Cornwall, and his successor Frederick Barnes, D.D., left to be Vicar of Colyton where he stayed till the age of 83.
Isidore Daimpre, 1885-1923, wrote a small book about the Church and Parish in 1903. During his time, but not under his guidance (for an energetic curate, the Rev. B. Jones, was in charge during the Vicar's absence from the parish), the removal of the west gallery and the restoration of the nave seating took place in 1895. Daimpre had the distinction of being appointed sexton in 1912, by which time he had succeeded in his pleas for a new vicarage to be built. During the months of demolition and rebuilding, he lived at Penstone in the Railway Cottage now known as Pencroft.

THE VICARAGE

From details given in Walter de Bathe's Chantry Charter, c. 1320, it appears that the "tenement and piece of land" on which the Chantry Chaplain was to "live suitably" were on the site of the present Vicarage. The last recorded appointment to the chaplaincy occurred in 1412, and in 1536 John Williams was both Vicar and Chaplain. Thus at some time between these two dates the two offices were combined, and the incumbent probably then took over the Chaplain's House as his Vicarage. The Vicarage was sold in 1976 following Colebrooke becoming a plurality with the Parishes of Bow and Zeal Monachorum, the vicar residing at Bow. For many years it was known as Mincarlo House before reverting to the more aptly named "Old Vicarage" of today.
This building, designed by Mr. E. H. Harbottle, of Exeter, dates from 1912. It is recorded that, when the old Vicarage was pulled down, it was found that much of the work dated back to the fourteenth century, and that the oak showed signs of having been previously used. Perhaps Walter de Bathe had the building restored for his first chaplain. The roof was found to be supported by oak beams reaching up from the foundations. Hidden fireplaces, an old door and a fourlight window still retaining the `pindles' for shutters came to light. In a hole in one beam there was found a child's glove or mitten, made of doe-skin. There are still remains of two fireplaces and a chimney of the old building. Near the drive gate there is the base of an old cross, and some years ago there was found in the garden a small section of the shaft suggesting by its shape a date of the fifteenth century.

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