Sunday 24 June 2012

Colyton Church And My Grandmother’s Magic Lemon Pudding...


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!




41 comments:

  1. I could spend hours exploring St Andrew's Church and absorbing the history. The lemon pudding looks delicious and it sounds as though even I would be able to make it. I'll let you know! What a wonderful post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Elaine,

      Glad you enjoyed the post! Yes it wasn’t until I started looking things up that I realised so much more about it. As a child you just take it for granted!!

      Delete
  2. The church is lovely and I found all the history so interesting though I did get lost after a while with all the family connections.
    The pudding is interesting as well. It is not what we would consider pudding but then I have never made pudding that didn't come from a box either. I really think I would like to try it and see what it is like.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Becky,

      I know what you mean with getting lost with all those family connections-doesn’t help when so many were called ‘John’ or ‘William’!! Still, great fun trying to sort it all out...

      Delete
  3. It's wonderful that you know so much of your family's history and have pictures of them. St. Andrew's is an incredible church and that stained glass window is spectacular! And I agree with the previous commenter, it would be a fantastic place to tour and explore.
    Your Grandmother's Magic Lemon Pudding looks delicious!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi John,

      I love old family photos. I have a lot more stored away-I really should get them out someday and sort them out...

      Delete
  4. My absolute favorite blog another wonderful adventure great job...loved it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Dusty,

      So glad you enjoyed reading it-it was fun to write too!!

      Delete
  5. Anther really interesting post! You have combined history, family and food in exactly the right measure...
    I think it is so nice to know as much as you evidently do about your family's past. I'd love to know wht my Great Grandmother cooked and ate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Mark,

      Thank you for your kind comments. I think going around the old place triggered family memories. Since writing the post I’m remembering many more!!

      Delete
  6. My mum used to make a pudding a lot like this but she called it Lemon Delicious. Funnily enough she gave me the recipe recently but my first attempt didn't work too well. Í have a heap of lemons at the moment so I think I will try your grandmothers recipe to see if I fare better with that.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I always learn so much from your posts - places, history, ..... and your writings are so interesting to read. You would make a great history teacher.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Norma,

      Why thank you for your very kind comments-much appreciated! I do like history with the Tudor era being one of my particular favourites as it was the main feature of our ‘A’ Level History course and exams at High School-all those many years ago!!

      Delete
  8. What a wonderful visit, thanks for sharing this childhood place, full of memories but also very real and surprisingly grand. The pudding's a perfect way to end the weekend with, family recipes being the best!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for your appreciative comments! I found it interesting the links between the local families and early settlement in the USA-something you don’t necessarily think of when looking at old parish churches...

      Delete
  9. wow..wat a fantastic post..
    pudding looks amazing & delicious
    Tasty Appetite

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jay,

      And the great thing about the pudding is it is so simple to make!!

      Delete
  10. I love England for this - the little churches everywhere... I love the smell of churches... the kind of cool stone, furniture polish-kind of smell all over. You don't seem to get the same feelings in other countries' churches... at least I don't.

    I love the photo of your family... how wonderful to have a piece of history showing all those generations like that... I don't think I have any such photos, although my family on my mothers' side did find a photo of a guy riding down a lane in old scratchy black and white - the photo was originally in a book I think and it actually turned out to be my grandfather when he was a lad I believe.

    Lovely looking pudding - I can definitely see how light it looks - thanks so much for sharing it with us GD!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Charles,

      You are so right! There is something about the smell of beeswax polish and that coolness and air of calmness in these churches a you wander around marvelling at the history. I love old family photos. Just wish when everybody was younger they had written down on the backs of them who everybody is in the photos!!

      Delete
  11. Do you know I left a comment on this about a week ago about my mother making this pudding and calling it lemon delicious and my comment has vanished - I'm having that happen a fair bit lately - very weird.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Liz,

      So glad you reposted. You are absolutely right...it was there one minute and then it disappeared and wasn’t even in the archive record of all comments-I almost thought I had imagined it!! I just assumed then that you had deleted it...anyway interesting to hear more families make this pudding with their own name-hope it is as delicious as its name!!

      Delete
  12. Another enjoyable post... there is so much history in the place where you grew up... and the lemon pudding, wooh, delicious looking...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Lrong,

      Thank you for your kind comments! So glad I can share some of the pleasure of the familiar things I grew up with, with others...

      Delete
  13. Hi - Just to let you know that I am passing on the 'One Lovely Blog Award' to you in recognition of your Lovely Blog - I will understand if you don't accept it but if you go to my blog at http://awomanofthesoil.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/one-lovely-blog-award.html then you will see what the conditions of acceptance are.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Elaine,

      Many thanks for the award-my very first!! Wow...

      Delete
  14. Beautiful church. I leave for the UK tomorrow - this post has made me even keener. I will spend several weeks in Devon, a county I love and where my husband, M-in-law and daughter were born. I haven't visted Colyton - must rectify.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sally,

      I expect by now you are on your way to the UK! Do hope you are able to visit Colyton whilst you are in Devon-and possibly The River Cottage Canteen in Axminster!!

      Delete
  15. What a fascinating post, so full of all that history. We just don't have anything that old here in Australia (in terms of Western civilization). What a beautiful church and I just can't believe its age and how well it looks today. They certainly knew how to build things to last back then. And I love lemon pudding. I think we call it lemon delicious. It is great at this time of the year when it's so cold you just want something warm to eat. And I love lemon delicious with a large scoop of clotted cream! xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Charlie,

      Many thanks for your appreciative comments!! You are the second person to call it Lemon Delicious-and as both of you are in Australia then it seems that is the name such a pudding is know as over there so I’ve learnt something too! Glad you think a dollop of clotted cream would be just the thing to go with it too...

      Delete
  16. Being American, all those dates are incredible to me! We think anything from the 1800's is old. :o) Your pudding looks delicious! I need to concert everything to standard measure but it looks so tasty, I'm going to give it a try.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a kind comment. It still amazes me how through blogging we can go by another blog and visit (virtually) another country. Do hope you enjoy the Lemon Pudding!

      Delete
  17. the magic pudding really is magic! so simple but looks so delicious a dessert! your grandma's brilliant! I'm going to try it if I ever crave a quick simple dessert (:

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Shu Han,

      Do give it a go! It’s really easy to make and will keep for a couple of day in the fridge. Must say have been loving the recipes on your Blog-can’t wait to see more!

      Delete
  18. What a lovely story and great that you have those memories. Your poor brother and his warty face lol! I think Grandmother's puddings are always the best and yours sounds fab.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes it was lovely to wander around the old church and relive some old memories-a real nostalgia kick!!

      Delete
  19. Thank you for the fascinating visit! The lemon pudding looks particularly luscious. Can you believe I have never made any type of pudding? Actually I haven't even tasted one...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sissi,

      Great to hear from you again. Glad you liked the post...In the UK we tend to use the term ‘pudding’ interchangeably with ‘dessert’ though often it means a hot or warm dessert such as one of my absolute favourites- Bread and Butter Pudding...

      Delete
  20. Hi Green Dragonette, I just found your lovely blog! Thanks for featuring this fascinating church in so much detail. The lemon pudding of your grandmother looks so yummy. I am really tempted to try it out!
    Christina

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Christina,

      Many thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a kind comment-much appreciated. So glad you found the post interesting!

      Delete
  21. Enjoyed the childhood memories and the church well done to the interior shots not easy to get right, will be trying the lemon pud soon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi David,

      Hope you like the Lemon Pudding too!

      Delete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.