| Ottery
St. Mary is one of the oldest and most historic towns in Devon.
The Parish bounds remain virtually unchanged since they were
fixed by Edward the Confessor in 1061
At the time
of the great English Civil War, Ottery St. Mary became the headquarters
of the King's troop in the South West. Cromwell thus met with
little response when he tried to raise men and money for his
army.
William
of Orange dined here in 1688 on his way to London to claim
the throne from James II.
The poet
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born in the town in 1772 and spent
much of his childhood here: whilst author William Makepeace
Thackeray was fond enough of the town to include it, under
the name Clavering St. Mary in his autobiographical Pendennis.
More recently Ottery St. Mary has featured in the Harry Potter
books as Ottery St Catchpole.
The
Church of St. Mary
St. Mary's
Church is the jewel of Ottery, and a focus for visitors. A
church existed here pre-Conquest, and with its Manor was given
to the Cathedral Chapter of Rouen by Edward the Confessor.
The present structure crowning the hill above the town is
the forteenth century legacy of John de Grandisson, Bishop
of Exeter, who remodelled the original into a miniature of
Exeter Cathedral, with a still accurately-working mediaeval
clock and the added "Dorset aisle"
Ottery's
most famous son - Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 - 1834
Variously
described as poet, philosopher, journalist, literary critic,
psychologist, fell walker, travel writer, naturalist, translator
and letter writer, Samuel taylor Coleridge was born at Ottery
St. Mary at about 11.00 a.m. on 21st October 1772. The precise
place of his birth is uncertain.
Phyllis
Coleridge, in her six penny guide "for the benefit of
The Ancient Church of Ottery St. Mary", says that Samuel
was born in the Vicar's House. |
