As promised, I’m returning to the lovely place of Colyton in
Devon, in the South West Of England where I spent some of my childhood years.
For this post I would like to invite you to step inside this
lovely old church of Saint Andrews, which is in the centre of Colyton. Not only
in the centre of the village but also featured centrally in my childhood. My
grandparent’s cottage sat adjacent to the church path and my grandfather was
Head Church Warden for a number of years.
I thought readers might like to see a little more inside
this historic old church...
The original church was probably Saxon in origin dating from
around 700 AD of which a large old stone Saxon Cross still remains. A more substantial church was built in Norman
times from about 1166 and much of this is seen today together with some of the updates
in the subsequent centuries.
An informative plaque
inside the church lists the vicars dating back to 1237 that have served at
Colyton Church throughout the centuries.
For me it was the vicar, Arthur Warne whom I remember most.
A lovely chap, very jolly and happy and who made children especially welcome at
the various village fetes...
My brother was baptised at the old stone baptismal font
dating from 1880 by Arthur himself. A memorable occasion as my brother
announced to the congregation in a very loud voice that Arthur ‘was a naughty
man’ as ‘he put 'warty' on my face!’
Something that my poor brother had to live
down for many, many, years after...
My Great Grandmother used to complain that the font was too
modern whilst I always thought of it as ancient. Of course, it is only with the
hindsight of years, that I realise now that she was older than the font...
Inside the church is the fabulous Great West Window which is
one of the largest of any parish churches. Originally the glass would have been
plain when first placed in the 14th Century. The plain glass was
replaced in the 19Century by the stained glass.
The huge brass chandeliers were bought in 1796 each baring
36 candles and cost £82-a fortune in their day...
The church is very large for a rural parish church in part
due to generous donations from local wealthy wool merchants in the Middle Age
and later from the important families that lived nearby.
There are two
chapels-one is The Lady Chapel which was once the private chapel of the Yonge
family who came to Colyton in the reign of Elizabeth I.
The other is The Pole
Chapel which has always been my favourite. I think it was the wonderful
monuments which fascinated me as a child and still do.
The Pole family were an important local family whose family
members featured widely both at the royal court and in politics. Many members
were also influential in funding exploration to The New World-some even moving
out there to live.
One of my favourite monuments is the colourful canopied tomb
of Sir John and his wife.
Sir John Pole (1588-1658)
This life sized figure dressed in full armour, lies back to
back with his wife. As a young child, I could never resist reaching out and
touching it though I was always worried he would ‘wake up’ and move!
There are also two other older monuments to female members
of the Pole or De la Pole family as they are also known as.
One is of Katherine Pole.
Katherine (ne Popham) died 1588 and was the daughter of The
Lord Chief Justice of England, Sir John Popham., himself famous for presiding
over the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots whom he subsequently sentenced to death.
Katherine married Sir William Pole (1515-1587). Her son was
also called Sir William Pole 1561-1635 and he first married Mary Perham who
then became Mary Pole. After her death, he married a widow, Jane How.
The second monument is of Mary Pole who died in 1605,
daughter-in-law to the above Katherine.
Shown here with her children.
Amongst her children, was Elizabeth, who founded Taunton,
Massachusetts in 1637.She was the first woman to have founded a town in the
Americas. Another of Katherine’s children was William another influential early
settler who moved to Dorchester, USA and died in 1674.
Katherine’ eldest son was Sir John- he of my favourite monument
shown first.
He lies back to back
with his, Elizabeth who was also his step sister as she was the daughter of his
father’s second wife, Jane How.
There are many more interesting links between them and other
local families and early settlements in the USA and the Caribbean.
One such is Sir Thomas Gates, Governor of Virginia, who was
born in nearby Colyford. He was famously shipwrecked on the island of Bermuda
and it is speculated that Shakespeare’s play The Tempest was based on this as
Sir Thomas and William Shakespeare knew each other very well.
Bringing things up to more modern times, it is said that the
De La Pole family in one of its branches, feature in the family ancestors of
Prince William and Prince Harry through their mother, the late Diana, Princess
of Wales.
Moving on now to food!
Whilst my grandfather enjoyed being involved with the church
and naturally attended the Sunday service in his role of Head Church Warden, my
grandmother preferred to stay at home and rarely attended. She, when asked,
said she needed to remain at home to cook the Sunday lunch...
Seen below is an old family photo probably taken about 1904
with my grandmother as a very young child seated on the ground at the front on
the far left. My great grandmother is seated behind looking down at her and my
great, great grandmother is behind her, dressed in black.
One of my favourite puddings to be had on a Sunday, was my grandmother’s
Magic Lemon Pudding. So called because she simply threw all the ingredients in
together and then ‘magically’ once cooked it turned into a wonderfully light
sponge with a delicious lemon sauce hiding underneath.
When I was older my
grandmother told me she had named it thus to encourage it to be eaten-not that
I needed any persuading!
Meanwhile my grandfather had confided in me that he
had been the one responsible for naming it as he thought it was a ‘miracle’
that my grandmother had produced something so good out of the ramshackle way
she cooked...
Below is the recipe although I’ve guessed at the quantities
as my grandmother never actually wrote it down but passed it verbally on to my
mother who in turn passed it on to me. Eggs and lemons can vary so much in size
so you may have to play around a bit with the recipe to find what works best
for you.
Magic Lemon Pudding
3
large juicy lemons-grated zest and juice
4 medium eggs, separated
100g butter slightly softened
175g of sugar (caster or granulated)
50g plain flour
100ml milk
Icing sugar-for dusting at the end
Preheat your oven to 180C.
The pudding is going to be cooked
using the Bain-marie method so make sure you have a large deep pudding dish
that can sit in an even larger container so that water can come up half to two
thirds up the side. I would suggest testing this out before you add the pudding
mixture so you can judge if it will work then place the larger pan with the
water in the oven to heat up. The alternative is to add boiling water to the
larger pan once the mixture is in the smaller bowl but this can be a little
fiddly.
Place the larger bowl with the water in it into the oven to
warm up and grease the smaller pudding bowl.
To make the lemon pudding, cream the butter and sugar
together until light and creamy.
Beat in the egg yolks but not the whites-place the whites in
a separate large clean bowl.
Add the milk, lemon zest and juice. Don’t panic as the
mixture looks curdled-this is normal!
Fold in the flour.
In the other bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft
peaks.
Add about a quarter of the whisked egg whites to the lemon
mixture to ‘slacken’ it then gently fold in the remainder keeping the mixture
light and airy.
Pour the mixture into the greased pudding basin and gently
place the filled basin in the middle of the larger water filled container in
the oven.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Don’t
worry if there are cracks in the crust.
Once cooked, remove from the oven and dust generously with sieved
icing sugar.
Serve immediately perhaps with some nice Devon Clotted Cream
if you are feeling indulgent.
The pudding should have a lovely light sponge on
the top with a delicious lemon sauce rather like lemon curd underneath.
Do enjoy-it is really rather magical!
