Some Examples of Post-Reformation Folklore in Devon
Theo Brown
Folklore, Vol. 72, No. 2. (Jun., 1961), pp. 388-399.
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Some Examples of Post-Reformation
Folklore in Devon
by T H E 0 B R O W N
NOTvery much attention has been devoted to the effect the Re-
formation had on folklore. By 'the Reformation' I do not of course
mean only Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy and the suppression of
the religious houses, for, as far as we can tell, these made little im-
pression on the common folk, but I mean the general running down
of the medieval church and the steady change over to the pre-
dominently Protestant way of churchmanship that was spread over
two or three generations. If one had to choose a critical date-line,
probably the best one for Devon would be 1549,when the imposi-
tion of the new Prayer Book in English on the traditionally very
conservative Devon and Cornish villagers provoked the uprising -
behind the banner bearing the Five Wounds -against what they
claimed was nought 'but a Christmas game', that was ended with
such appalling bloodshed at Clyst St Mary, at the hands of foreign
mercenaries. It is an event that is still remembered at Clyst, and
after it, no open resistance by ordinary folk was possible.
Many of the rich and powerful Devon families held out, some
gave their allegiance to Rome, and could afford to do so for many
years, and west-country scholars at Oxford were noted for their
old-fashioned prejudices. But by the reign of James I the towns
were becoming Puritan -Plymouth was paying interlude players
to keep away -and new vicars were fiercely trying to weed out
what remained of 'popish superstition' from the villages. Yet to
this day, traditions have come down to us of attempts made to bury
relics and statues, to whitewash images on the screens. The fre-
quent buryings of 'the old bird', i.e. brass lecterns, probably
occurred in the Civil War, when metal was needed by the armies.
The interest of the period lies in its resemblance to the classic
situation where one religion ousts an old one. The two poles of
Christian belief and practice, instead of strengthening each other,
became mutually exclusive. Protestantism had become an autono-
mous religion, split off from the main Catholic tradition, and as it
388
P O S T - R E F O R M A T I O N F O L K L O R E I N DEVON
became the dominant, religious tendency of the land, so it induced
a new folklore of its own, in which the Pope grew horns and hooves,
and Catholic practice became the darkest superstition. Men of real
sense and piety no doubt avoided the sillier excesses, but there were
too few of these to influence public opinion, and it is with the folk
we are concerned with here, the uninstructed masses, compelled
by law to exchange one ill-understood religion for another, and
with the few fragments of their bewildered thinking and attempts
at adjustment as they appear in Devon.
For convenience I propose to discuss this under three headings:
I. Catholic practices banned or ignored by the Protestants,
but continuing in a superstitious form.
11. The people's view of 'the old monks', etc.
111. The emergence of a new sub-Christian folklore.
I t will be appreciated that these notes deal only with references
from Devon; that I do not mention, for example, the ban on
Christmas is simply that I have no specific mention of it here, but
it does not mean that matters which effected the rest of England
did not apply here.
Revels. These were allowed to continue for a while, but, in 1627,
they were finally banned in the Exeter Diocese, according to
Brand, despite protests from both clergy and laity. However, a
lady writing in 1846 said: '. . .and in some of our remotest districts
a few of the catholic customs prevail which degrade the very name
of Sabbath,' but the only example she produced was the vestigial
Petertavy revel, that, shorn of its religious elements, consisted
merely of stalls set up in the churchyard and the noisy game of
'kayles' (ninepins), and 'shouts of drunken laughter came from the
village inn, and even at an early hour passed along in a state of
into~ication, '~All this the prim Miss Evans had seen as a girl, and
could indeed have observed in several North Devon parishes.
Our Lady. Of approximately two hundred holy wells, nineteen
are dedicated to Our Lady, a very exceptional proportion.
Home Scenes from Tavistock . . .,Rachel Evans, 174.Similar vestiges of revels
were celebrated in North Devon villages until living memory.
389
- - -
POST-REFORMATION FOLKLORE I N DEVON
During the month of May, and into this century, it used to be
the custom for little girls to carry May-dolls round their village^.^
I t is generally said that these had once formed a devotion to Our
Lady. If so, it probably, in turn, derived from a much older and
humbler origin.
Exorcism and Celibacy. Though discarded, these ideas persisted
in a very marked way. 'Conjurors' continued in great demand, or
so it was believed. They were generally local vicars, but the qualifi-
cations expected were: (I) an Oxford clerk (2) learned in Greek,
but Hebrew or Arabic better still -the languages of the al-
chemists, and (3) a bachelor. If an Oxford clerk was not available,
combinations of 3, 7 or 12 clergy from other universities had to
'read the ghost down' and lay it. Parson Rudall of Launceston was
well known, and so was Jonathan Palk (Vicar of Ilsington, 1787-
1828) who was a bachelor and learned in H e b r e ~ . ~ This type of
course is in direct line of descent from Sir John Schorne, who
appeared on four Devon church screens long before the Reformation.
Closely related are the magician-parsons, with strange powers
and books of magic. One such, William Gimmingham (Rector of
Bratton Fleming, 1820--37), was described in Folklore in 1954.~ A
similar character was ascribed to the Rev. Franke Parker, Rector of
Luffincott 1835-83. His was the ghost that haunted that cele-
brated Rectory in this c e n t ~ r y . ~
Once sacred objects that still maintain their numen should be
mentioned :
Stone Altars were removed from chancels and broken up or
turned over and used as tombstones (e.g. Ipplepen). At Cofton St
Mary, owing to the scanty population, the church was gradually
abandoned and allowed to crumble. 'There is a story that the Altar
slab was carried off to a neighbouring farm, and used for support-
ing the milk pans in the dairy, but the milk always turned sour;
unaccountable noises and distressful occurrences frequently dis-
Many references in Transactions, Devonshire Association; the most recent
seen in St Marychurch in 1931(Vol. LXIV, 1932,p. 165).The May-dolls were
most frequently taken round on or about May Day, but some were transferred
to Oakapple Day.
Transactions, Devonshire Association, XXIV, 1892,p. 53.
Folklore, 65 , 1954,p. I 1 I.
Transactions, Devonshire Association, XCII, 1960,p. 370. also XCIII, no
. . . - - .
yet published.
POST-REFORMATION FOLKLORE I N DEVON
turbed the place until the slab was carried back into the Chu r~h . ' ~
Crosses.These were gradually removed and built into walls, etc.
Roods were destroyed, and at Cullompton the crucifix was re-
placed by the Royal Arms. To visit Somerset for a moment, it is
shocking to read that the unpleasant fertility figure known as 'Jack
Stag' which stands now in the museum at Glastonbury, was placed
on the shaft of the old market cross and allowed to remain there till
the last century.
Near Hatherleigh in Devon, a wayside cross revolves at each
stroke of the clock at midnight, a reversion to megalithic belief, and
apparently not one that is unique.
In 1949, the monks of Buckfast rescued a granite cross, which
now stands outside the west door of the Abbey. Dom John
StCphan O.S.B. found it built into a field-wall at South Brent and
negotiated for its removal. Father StCphan wrote: 'It was strange
to learn from Mrs Wakeharn' (the farmer's wife) 'that the workmen
who had dug up the headpiece of the cross bluntly refused to go on
with the job of unearthing the remaining portion lest it should
bring them bad luck!"
Holy Wells.Sometimes these are remembered only by the name
of 'Wishing' or 'Pixy' Well, and the Christian -or pre-Christian
-virtues of the waters are now reduced to the merest 'luck' in
return for pennies or pins. However, Mrs V. Fulford Williams tells
me that when she was young and living near Hatherleigh, it was the
thing for young folk to go up Lover's Lane of an evening to St
John's Well, and there with the water they would cross each other
'for luck', with no idea of the significance of the action. Incidentally,
making the sign of the cross has also been retained in black witch-
craft reported quite recently on Dartmoor, and with a vestigial
Latin invocation.
Peter Stone. Statues in churches, being holy, are supposed to
have curative power against the Devil. Hence, it was believed till
living memory that gratings of saints, if scattered on the doorways
of pigsties and cattle shippens, would keep away d i s e a~ e . ~ In the
Some Account o f . . . Cofton S t Mary , Devon, ed. the Rev. Wynell H. Carter,
1939.
'Western Morning News, I March, 1950.
Transactions, Devonshire Association, LXXXVI, 1954, p. 299. Also keeps
away 'murraens' (ants) from thresholds in West Devon (LXVII, 1935, pp. 133
and 138). Graveyard soil used for curative purposes (LXXXIII, 1951, p. 74).
391
POST-REFORMATION FOLKLORE I N DEVON
last century, the Rev. S. Baring Gould reported that a Teignmouth
doctor was in attendance on a poor woman who suffered from an
extensive sore on her breast. One day he discovered the area
covered with some gritty substance. Under the bed was a lump of
stone, called by the woman's husband, 'Peter's stone.' I t emerged
that as the woman was not showing any sign of improvement, the
neighbours had persuaded the man to go by night to Exeter
Cathedral -walking fourteen or fifteen miles each way -to
throw a stone up at the great image-screen on the West Front until
he managed to break off a piece of one of the statues, which he
carried back to Teignmouth, pounded a bit of it, mixed it with lard
and applied to his wife's chest.g
This has always been entirely scurrilous until the romanticized
Gothic reaction set in, partly of course because the monks lived
behind closed walls and the common people knew little about their
private matters, but mainly to exonerate their violent dispossession
at the Reformation, to which the laity passively assented. Not that
the treatment meted out was excessively bad -the case of Abbot
Whiting at Glastonbury was exceptional -but it was arbitrary and
unjust. We might expect memories to be wide of the truth and
emotionally charged with self-justifying resentment and fury
against the victims.
What 'the monks' worshipped. The diabolized image of the Pope
has been mentioned above. In living memory, 5 November was
sometimes known as 'Tom Pope Night', and one account is known
of the Pope being burnt in effigy in Torquay.l0
There was a deserted hamlet on the slopes of Haldon, depopu-
lated by plague, and the corpses buried, according to a Victorian
local ' "at the same times as the Golden Calf". "What Golden
Calf?" "Him as they used to worship, same as the Romanists do
now!" '.I1
I do not myself think this relates to the Golden Calves buried at
@ Quoted by Elias Tozer in Devonshire and Other Poems. . ., 1873, p. 69.
l o Letter in Torquay Times, Nov. 1953. Note also a projecting piece of red
limestone in Chudleigh caves, known as The Pope's Nose, into which visitors
were encouraged to stick pins until recently!
Western Antiquary, IX , 1889-90, pp. 163-4.
POST-REFORMATION FOLKLORE IN DEVON
various places in Southern England. Either it is that, or it is the
folk-memory of the burying of a statue, perhaps of Our Lady. One
such statue -not of gold! -was dug up at Abbotskerswell,
having been, presumably, buried at the Reformation. Also Our
Lady of Buckfast.
In 1960, when I was speaking to a Women's Institute in North
Devon, the members told me of a farm house, once the cell of a
priory. In the wall was a recess, plastered inside and painted with
the sun, with rays extending. My informant now looked at me ex-
pectantly. I said 'Yes, what was it?' 'Why,' said the member a little
uncertainly, 'wasn't that what the old monks used to worship?'
'Not exactly,' I replied. 'They were Christians, you know.' But I
could see the member was not at all convinced.
Immured Nuns. This appears to be a belief derived from the fate
of unchaste vestal virgins in Roman times, perpetuated again by
the air of mystery about the actual life of a nunnery and the
Puritan idea that celibacy was unnatural and horrible.
Some years ago I was discussing this curious myth with a mem-
ber of one of the old Catholic families of the west-country. She told
me that some alterations had recently been made to one of their old
houses, in Somerset. After the religious had been turned out of
their nunneries, those who wished to be faithful to their rule had
been given hospitality in the private houses of Catholic families.
But this had to be done in great secrecy, and when in course of time
these devoted old ladies died, open burial, even in the garden, was
too risky. The only safe thing was to wall up the bodies. I n the
Somerset manor house were found several female skeletons im-
mured in this manner. No doubt this happened in other houses
too, and one can imagine that chance discovery or servant's gossip
initiated the old myth.
Headless Monks and Nuns. Ghosts of monks and nuns are quite
frequently seen, but I have yet to meet anyone who has seen such a
ghost without a head. Headlessness may be due to several causes -
some of which are dealt with further on. Here I think it merely
represents a sense of separatedness and loss, on our side, more than
on 'the old monks' '.
Underground Passages. Mythically the west country appears to be
honeycombed with subterranean tunnels. I have counted over
thirty in Devon -excluding those based on tin-mines -and no
POST-REFORMATION FOLKLORE I N DEVON
doubt there are many more. Of course there were real tunnels some-
times, but these cannot have been very long unless provision was
made for air-vents at frequent intervals. Yet the fabulous ones are
often of ridiculous length, up to thirty miles. They link earth-
works, churches and medieval houses and Regency follies with wild
indiscrimination. They dive under rivers, through mountains and
one even crosses Torbay, from Barton Hall to Berry Head. The
shorter -and more probable -passages are often ecclesiastical in
character, joining the church to a nearby quondam priory, etc.
Sometimes, en route, there is a secret room crammed with church
plate, as in the Chudleigh passage between the church and Bishop's
Palace. This kind could be based on some fact.
Always there is the idea that the passages were constructed by
the 'crafty monks', in order to carry on their schemings in privacy,
perhaps the impression of illiterate villagers to whom the com-
munications of the church's business were a mystery. There was
the memory of a real connection between, e.g., Denbury h4anor
near Newton Abbot and Tavistock Abbey which owned it. But in
the word 'connection' people could only visualize a kind of road
between the two places, which palpably was not there, and so the
child-hearers conceived a tunnel (in this case twenty-two miles
long!) by which the underhand monks managed their dark affairs.
I I I . THEEMERGENCE SUB-CHRISTIANOF FOLKLORE
We have here two things to consider. If Catholicism (in its
broadest sense) is a religion for all men at all times and in every
place, we may agree that to stress any one aspect out of proportion
or to suppress another (however good the intention) is bound to
force a splitting-up not only of religious beliefs but of the minds of
individuals in need of wholeness; I would call this an active frag-
mentation of images.
This fragmentation can be seen at its simplest when we consider
the positive stresses of Protestantism -the Bible, Sabbatarianism
and morality. I t is more elusive and subtle when we turn to the
negative aspects, such as the suppression of purgatory, prayers for
the dead, the communion of the saints and the sacrament of
penance.
(i) The Bible.The most superstitious use of this was undoubtedly
that of fundamentalism. Minor sub-Christian uses that have come
394
POST-REFORMATION FOLKLORE I N DEVON
down to us in Devon include the use of verses as charms. The best
known is Ezekiel xvi. 6, for bleeding, and a cure for croup is: 'Place
a Bible on the child's head and recite "Out of the mouths of babes
and sucklings . ..",etc.'12
Bible-and-Key divination has been used till living memory, at
Bideford to forecast whether a courting couple would marry, and at
Brixham to detect a thief; both accounts were from old fishermen.13
(ii) Sunday. I t always seems queer that so little used to be made
of Good Friday - in the west-country it was simply a day off for
the working classes when they invariably put in their potatoes,14 and
in some parts farmers did all their 'cutting' on that day, gelding,
removing lamb's tails and so on.15 Only Sunday was the Lord's
Day, and we have numerous cautionary tales, probably invented to
keep the children quiet. There was the awful fate that overtook a
man who went to evensong at Widecombe in 1638, with a pack of
playing cards in his pocket that precipitated the famous storm that
wrecked the church. Another man only entered Lustleigh church
with a pack in his pocket, and the Devil instantly claimed his
lawful prey.16
Better known are the Nine Maidens and other stone circles on
Dartmoor who are really frivolous maidens who danced there on a
Sunday and were changed to stone; they are sometimes allowed to
stretch their legs at mid-day.17
Various huntsmen ignored the holy day. One hunted on Dart-
moor all Saturday till night fell. On and on he went round and
round the hillside till it was midnight -and Sunday. Instantly he
and his hounds were turned to stone, and on rough nights at
Hound Tor they can be heard moaning and baying.
(iii) Otherworldness and the condition of the Dead. What must be
said here
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