Religious dissent and the relationship between the established Church and the parishioners
of Exmouth and Woodbury and the growth of nonconformity
It has to be said that the rise of religious dissent in Devon was greatly helped by the laxity of the Established Church. This certainly was the case in Littleham but not so in Woodbury .
Exmouth
The main issue for Exmothians was the accessibility of the church for worshipers although it has to be said that the lack of availability of the local vicar was also a problem. In order to understand the difficulty of travelling to the church it is necessary to know the geography of the area. Exmouth today is made up of three villages - Littleham, Exmouth and Withycombe Raleigh.
In Littleham village a church dedicated to St Andrew has existed since Saxon times, and in 1234 it was given to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter Cathedral, since when the chapter has appointed the vicars of Littleham.
In 1291 Withycombe became the chapelry of East Budleigh church and by 1441 it was dedicated to St John the Baptist. More recently it has been known as St John's in the Wilderness because of its isolated position.
Meanwhile during the 12th and 13th centuries a hamlet started to develop around the ferry station on the mouth of the river Exe(Exmouth) The journey from there to St Andrews at Littleham was said to be hazardous, and by 1329 a new chapel was built - probably on the site of St Margaret’ s Chapel at the junction of Chapel and Margaret streets on the coast.
By 1414 it became evident that this was too small for the inhabitants. In a petition to the Pope, the population complained that people in the western part of Exmouth were cut off by the sea from the church. They added that in winter the” floods were so great and the road so muddy and rocky that the dead could not be carried thither for burial, children were denied christening and women were not churched” . Even when people could make the journey, they were afraid in case pirates might take the town and burn it. Nothing happened.
Thus, the growing settlement at the river’s mouth continued to have no resident vicar and locals were expected to undertake the long trek into the hinterland to make their devotions. One parishioner complained in 1819 that ‘my parish church is absolutely inaccessible to my family, five miles on Devonshire’s roads being little better than a pilgrimage’.
The result of such isolation was that Exmouth was poorly served by "underpaid'” curates or sometimes not served at all. The vicar of Littleham sat in his vicarage at Littleham opposite the east end of the church, and his relationship with his parishioners in the town down on the coast inevitably suffered. In 1613 the vicar, Simon Peake was accused of allowing the vicarage to fall into disrepair and not preaching regularly on Sundays and it was reported “….that he doth hunt and use alehouses disorderly’.
In 1628 Robert Drake tried to improve matters by bequeathing money to pay for a local cleric in Exmouth but apparently the cash found its way into the Littleham vicar’s pocket and that was the end of that.
Even if you could find your way to the church it was not a very comfortable experience. In 1656 Trinity Chapel was described as “nowe in very great ruine and decay, the lead which covered the same being cutt off, the timber work destroyed”.
The state of the building and the lack of dedicated clergy meant that things went from bad to worse. So bad in fact that in 1664 the vicar, Daniel Moore, was transferred elsewhere by Bishop Ward, who believed that he would “doe but little good by his ministry because of differences and animosities’ with his parishioners”.
The church seemed to care very little for this growing hamlet on the Exe. In 1779 they appointed Vicar John Fortescue but he did not live at Littleham but at Topsham and because he was totally blind was unable to celebrate divine service.
In Withycombe things were no better. Locals there were served remotely by the East Budleigh vicar until as recently as 1850 and curates only did duty as long as Budleigh vicars were prepared to pay their salaries. As no house was provided for them it was difficult to attract people to the post.
In 1724 Vicar Benjamin Jouxson was suspended when he tried to dispossess his Withycombe curate, and Matthew Mundy, vicar from 1741, did without a curate altogether. In fact Matthew was notorious for stopping in the middle of his Withycombe sermons to ride post-haste to preach at Budleigh. Furthermore he did nothing for his reputation nor that of the church, when in 1788 he demolished the south aisle and chancel of St ]ohn’s, sold the bells and allegedly pocketed the proceeds.
This was not a local problem however. The whole of Devon seemed to suffer from the laxity of the Church. The bishops responsible for managing the clergy seemed to lack interest and on the whole seemed satisfied to let things deteriorate. Bishop Lancelot Blackburne (1717-24) for instance was reported to have been "away from the diocese for long periods”. As a result few new clergy were introduced and those that were, often required to appear in London or Bath to carry out ceremonies on his behalf.
Bishop Keppels when he “ visited” Devon in 1765 found that the “church life had reached a low level” He found that nearly one-half of the incumbents of Devonshire parishes were non- resident, and a half of the benefices were held in plurality.
The rector of St. Mary Tavy near Tavistock, was also vicar of St. Cleer in Cornwall and lived at neither. In fact he had resided for thirty-four years at East Looe, whose church he also served.
In Shaldon the flock had to be content with one afternoon service a fortnight, because the incumbent was also rector of Widecombe-in-the-Moor. Rather than live in one of his parishes he chose neither, choosing Teignmouth instead. The pluralist parson of Eggesford and Mariansleigh said he would conduct one service each Sunday but he shut down altogether in winter “ on account of the badness of the roads and shortness of the days.”
The rector of Bigbury in South Devon was found to be away in Spain for several years. The vicar of Hartland was believed to be living in London, but no one was sure. The vicar of Walkharnpton was master of the grammar school at Exeter, forty miles away across Dartmoor, and served three churches in the city.
Such was the laxity that by 1794 most clergy did not even bother to respond to the Bishop’s Visitation inquiries.
In Exmouth when improvements came, it was not the church but the local gentry that stepped in. In 1722 they paid for the building of St Michael’s Chapel and in 1779 the Holy Trinity church on Chapel Hill, the latter being the only place of worship in this expanding urban area. This rapidly became the centre of religious life.
In the first 40 years of the 19th century, Exmouth’s population almost doubled and by 1818 Trinity was overflowing so in 1824 a new church was built on Beacon Fields, thanks wholly to Lord Rolle’s generosity.
Even with Lord Rolle’s help, the cost of equipping the church was too much for the parishioners. An old barrel organ was played for two years until a new organ was ceremonially ‘played in‘ by Mr Salter from Exeter Cathedral.
The church authorities finally came to terms with the town’s expansion and in 1827, a new vicarage was built and the vicar came in from Littleham at last.
Relationships between the clergy and his flock did not seem to improve however. In 1806 the Vicar ]ohn Rymer was involved in what seems to be an argument with his parish clerk over fees for a wedding he was celebrating. Apparently as the ceremony got under way he discovered that these had been paid to the clerk and not to him so he threw off his surplice and refused to continue with the ceremony. This was duly reported to the bishop. Then in 1808, this time in the Holy Trinity’s pulpit he rebuked a trio of young ladies who were misbehaving themselves and found himself up in front of the Bishop again. In less than a year death released him from the ordeal of serving his unruly parishioners.
The next two vicars did not even bother to live in the town, but in 1845 a new incumbent J Rocke arrived fresh with his new “Tractarian” practices. This did little to lend itself to harmony between him and his flock. By 1851 relations had deteriorated so much that he organised a meeting of his parishioners who were protesting against his methods. He reportedly listened briefly and then “promptly ejected” them, but it proved less easy to silence the wagging of their powerful tongues.
Such awful neglect by the Anglican Church elsewhere in the South West led to the development of a powerful dissenting faction with left-wing leanings. The population of Exmouth however began to be accused of being irreligious rather than radical. It was felt that dissention managed to get a foothold because the area was made up of small and distant conurbations with a shifting male population, many of whom would have been at sea at any one time. In fact in 1776 a gentleman from Exeter considered the town to be “so wicked a place that even nonconformity was unlikely to gain a toe-hold”.
Were they wicked or just fed up with the Established Church? When non- conformity did eventually arrive it was this evangelical message which would appeal to the labourers, sailors and tradesmen of the town.
In 1776 Wilhelmina, Vicountess Glenorchy, brought her chaplain to preach at Exmouth. Despite being ejected from the Globe Inn by Samuel Eyre, a local justice, they had within a year established an Independent (later Congregational) Chapel behind Mona Island in Exeter Road.
If the Established Church could not offer continuity, the non -conformists could. The first two pastors together served the chapel for 85 years. Robert Winton from 1776 to 1818 and Richard Clapson from 1820 to 1863. By 1784 the chapel had a burial ground and from 1817 a Sunday School.
The Chapel was rebuilt in 1866, although the Ilfracombe builder went bankrupt during 'the course of the contract and my ancestor John Searle completed it.
However in Exmouth, religion and arguments never seemed to be far away. In 1806 after a dispute with Robert Winton, a splinter group led by Richard Staple broke away to worship in Bicton Place, where they built a meeting-house in 1810. It was known as the Ebenezer Chapel which locals renamed ‘The Little Revenge’.
Even here there was not total accord. By 1855 it was closed (briefly) because the congregation disapproved of its minister wearing a white hat “as it did not look clerical”. It later became known as the Beacon Congregational Church, was rebuilt in 1893, and replaced in 1955 by a United Reformed Church at Littleham on the Salterton Road. The 150 year-old rift was mended by naming the new building ‘Glenorchy’.
The Wesleyan Methodists arrived in the town in 1808. This was somewhat later than in the rest of Devon. Their first meetings were near Glenorchy Chapel, later transferring to Fore Street and in 1843-4 a new chapel was built on The Parade.
In 1858 there was a seeming obligatory division of opinion, which led to the Primitive Methodists staying at The Parade whilst the Wesleyans had to make do with a succession of local homes before they built a new chapel in Brunswick (now Windsor) Square in 1872. In 1895 they moved to their present church in Tower Street.
The Windsor Square Chapel, renamed Christ Church, was taken over by the Reformed Episcopal Church, yet another local breakaway group from the Anglicans, later known as the Free Church of England.
A Wesleyan Chapel, was also established in Withycombe village in 1884, and was rebuilt in 1907.
The Plymouth Brethren held their first meeting in the town in 1843, causing a public sensation in 1860 when they tried to baptise eleven converts in the sea on an ebb tide. Their Zion Chapel in Margaret Street was replaced in 1872 by the present Gospel Hall in Exeter Road.
The Baptists arrived in 1891 and built a church in Victoria Road in 1900. The Exmouth Independent Evangelical Church in Scott Drive was founded in 1967. Other sects, such as the Society of Friends, Salvation Army, Sanctuary of the Spirit, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christian Scientists, have also established themselves in Exmouth.
Woodbury
Woodbury parishioners relationship with the Established Church was less troublesome and except for a brief flirt with non- conformity they remained true to the Church.
When King Charles II returned to the throne in 1660 life once more became difficult for Puritans. The Act of Uniformity in 1662 compelled the clergy to conform to beliefs and practices that many honest men could no longer in all conscience obey. In Woodbury Vicar Sam Fones was one of the 121 clergy in Devon who did not sign the Declaration by St. Bartholomew’s Day, 24th August 1662, and was ejected from his Living and deprived of his right to preach. He seems to have been universally beloved by his parishioners and when he climbed to preach his farewell sermon, after 16 years as Vicar of Woodbury his congregation wept.
Fones however did not immediately leave Woodbury and seems to have gathered round him a small congregation of Presbyterians who met at his house. Later they transferred their meetings to the home of Thomas Lee at Sparkshayes where they met secretly at great personal risk to themselves until the Toleration Act of 1689 provided freedom of conscience to religious “dissenters” of all shades.
This must have been a great relief to Lee and his friends. They had already identified a plot in a corner of a field he owned at Gulliford and started to build a permanent chapel. Their first minister was Samuel Tapper, a scholar and former parish priest who, like Sam Fones, had been deprived of his living after 1660.
Tapper’s “warm practical preaching and holy exemplary conversation” made him hugely popular with his people. His congregation increased, and he “was blessed with success in the conversion of many souls.” However these qualities did not save him from the fury of High Church bigots, who, during the times of persecution, violently entered the meeting- house and broke the windows.
All the costs of Gulliford were met by subscription and the surviving lists tell of the rise and eventual fall of Gulliford Meeting over a period of a century and a half, and of the part played by Woodbury families who shared the Chapel with their brethren in Lympstone and Exmouth.
So life continued in Woodbury with church and parishioners in harmony until 1846 when a new vicar Fulford arrived on the scene.
The first sign of a problem between the new incumbent and his Vestry came at their first Annual Meeting in 1847. Fulford, obviously meaning to start as he meant to go on, challenging the right of the Vestry to appoint both Churchwardens and brought an action against them which he lost in the Bishop’s Court. It cost him several hundred pounds and soured the relationship at the outset.
His next encounter came in 1848 and was really started by a quite trivial matter concerning a Wedgewood porcelain bowl given to the Church by Lady Drake for use in the Communion Service.
Fulford for some reason best known to himself declined to use it but instead took it home for his own use and when asked by the Council to return it, made what were considered churlish remarks. Suddenly a fairly minor issue became a matter of principle and a “furiously indignant” Council threatened him with legal action. The clerk was instructed to write the letter that finally returned the bowl to the Council. Lady Drake was now dead but her husband Sir Trayton felt that Fulford had insulted his wife’s memory. His feelings were deeply hurt and as long as he lived he never forgave him.
By this time Fulford had embarked on the first of his extensive alterations to the church. He hoped to restore the building to something like its pre-Reformation glory and make it more suitable for his High Church rites. As work proceeded the Vestry Council had to hold meetings at The Globe Inn where on 14th November 1849, they summoned the parishioners and rate-payers
“to receive a Communication from the Churchwardens on the subject of certain alterations made in the Church, as is represented to them, by the order of the Rev’d. J.L.Fulford minister thereof, without their Sanction or Authority.”
Those present were asked to vote on his proposed changes which resulted in an overwhelming defeat for the vicar. He seemed genuinely perplexed by the resolute opposition that all his new ideas encountered. He further enraged his flock when he insisted they turn East for the Creed, introduced intoning the responses and prayers, having a robed choir and, for some reason not quite clear, using the marriage service from the Prayer Book.
In fact by 1849 so great was the antagonism towards him that he decided to print a “Letter to the Inhabitants of the Parish of Woodbury” in which he expressed surprise and concern that his plans had been misunderstood. He attempted to set out a carefully reasoned argument for the changes in which he quoted the Prayer Book.
Fulford’s innovations and his autocratic disregard for others split the village and led to a number of influential parishioners setting up their own church at Christ Church in 1851 in which they continued to use the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. Christ Church was built by subscription amongst it's supporters and William Wippell became their minister.
The splinter group flourished as long as Fulford lived and largely fell out of use when his popular successor reclaimed his flock to the Parish Church and peace was restored.
Sources:
History of Devonshire, 1793-1806 Richard Polwhele,
Memoirs of Exmouth 1872 Rev William Webb, published by T Freeman
The Book of Exmouth Robin Bush, Barracuda Books
Woodbury View from the Beacon, Ursula Brighouse
Exmouth Milestones Eric R Delderfield ERD Publications Ltd
Old Devon WG Hoskins (London: David & Charles, 1966)
The Guide to the Parish and Non-Parochial Registers of Devon and Cornwall, 1538-1837, by Hugh Peskett (Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1979,
of Exmouth and Woodbury and the growth of nonconformity
It has to be said that the rise of religious dissent in Devon was greatly helped by the laxity of the Established Church. This certainly was the case in Littleham but not so in Woodbury .
Exmouth
The main issue for Exmothians was the accessibility of the church for worshipers although it has to be said that the lack of availability of the local vicar was also a problem. In order to understand the difficulty of travelling to the church it is necessary to know the geography of the area. Exmouth today is made up of three villages - Littleham, Exmouth and Withycombe Raleigh.
In Littleham village a church dedicated to St Andrew has existed since Saxon times, and in 1234 it was given to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter Cathedral, since when the chapter has appointed the vicars of Littleham.
In 1291 Withycombe became the chapelry of East Budleigh church and by 1441 it was dedicated to St John the Baptist. More recently it has been known as St John's in the Wilderness because of its isolated position.
Meanwhile during the 12th and 13th centuries a hamlet started to develop around the ferry station on the mouth of the river Exe(Exmouth) The journey from there to St Andrews at Littleham was said to be hazardous, and by 1329 a new chapel was built - probably on the site of St Margaret’ s Chapel at the junction of Chapel and Margaret streets on the coast.
By 1414 it became evident that this was too small for the inhabitants. In a petition to the Pope, the population complained that people in the western part of Exmouth were cut off by the sea from the church. They added that in winter the” floods were so great and the road so muddy and rocky that the dead could not be carried thither for burial, children were denied christening and women were not churched” . Even when people could make the journey, they were afraid in case pirates might take the town and burn it. Nothing happened.
Thus, the growing settlement at the river’s mouth continued to have no resident vicar and locals were expected to undertake the long trek into the hinterland to make their devotions. One parishioner complained in 1819 that ‘my parish church is absolutely inaccessible to my family, five miles on Devonshire’s roads being little better than a pilgrimage’.
The result of such isolation was that Exmouth was poorly served by "underpaid'” curates or sometimes not served at all. The vicar of Littleham sat in his vicarage at Littleham opposite the east end of the church, and his relationship with his parishioners in the town down on the coast inevitably suffered. In 1613 the vicar, Simon Peake was accused of allowing the vicarage to fall into disrepair and not preaching regularly on Sundays and it was reported “….that he doth hunt and use alehouses disorderly’.
In 1628 Robert Drake tried to improve matters by bequeathing money to pay for a local cleric in Exmouth but apparently the cash found its way into the Littleham vicar’s pocket and that was the end of that.
Even if you could find your way to the church it was not a very comfortable experience. In 1656 Trinity Chapel was described as “nowe in very great ruine and decay, the lead which covered the same being cutt off, the timber work destroyed”.
The state of the building and the lack of dedicated clergy meant that things went from bad to worse. So bad in fact that in 1664 the vicar, Daniel Moore, was transferred elsewhere by Bishop Ward, who believed that he would “doe but little good by his ministry because of differences and animosities’ with his parishioners”.
The church seemed to care very little for this growing hamlet on the Exe. In 1779 they appointed Vicar John Fortescue but he did not live at Littleham but at Topsham and because he was totally blind was unable to celebrate divine service.
In Withycombe things were no better. Locals there were served remotely by the East Budleigh vicar until as recently as 1850 and curates only did duty as long as Budleigh vicars were prepared to pay their salaries. As no house was provided for them it was difficult to attract people to the post.
In 1724 Vicar Benjamin Jouxson was suspended when he tried to dispossess his Withycombe curate, and Matthew Mundy, vicar from 1741, did without a curate altogether. In fact Matthew was notorious for stopping in the middle of his Withycombe sermons to ride post-haste to preach at Budleigh. Furthermore he did nothing for his reputation nor that of the church, when in 1788 he demolished the south aisle and chancel of St ]ohn’s, sold the bells and allegedly pocketed the proceeds.
This was not a local problem however. The whole of Devon seemed to suffer from the laxity of the Church. The bishops responsible for managing the clergy seemed to lack interest and on the whole seemed satisfied to let things deteriorate. Bishop Lancelot Blackburne (1717-24) for instance was reported to have been "away from the diocese for long periods”. As a result few new clergy were introduced and those that were, often required to appear in London or Bath to carry out ceremonies on his behalf.
Bishop Keppels when he “ visited” Devon in 1765 found that the “church life had reached a low level” He found that nearly one-half of the incumbents of Devonshire parishes were non- resident, and a half of the benefices were held in plurality.
The rector of St. Mary Tavy near Tavistock, was also vicar of St. Cleer in Cornwall and lived at neither. In fact he had resided for thirty-four years at East Looe, whose church he also served.
In Shaldon the flock had to be content with one afternoon service a fortnight, because the incumbent was also rector of Widecombe-in-the-Moor. Rather than live in one of his parishes he chose neither, choosing Teignmouth instead. The pluralist parson of Eggesford and Mariansleigh said he would conduct one service each Sunday but he shut down altogether in winter “ on account of the badness of the roads and shortness of the days.”
The rector of Bigbury in South Devon was found to be away in Spain for several years. The vicar of Hartland was believed to be living in London, but no one was sure. The vicar of Walkharnpton was master of the grammar school at Exeter, forty miles away across Dartmoor, and served three churches in the city.
Such was the laxity that by 1794 most clergy did not even bother to respond to the Bishop’s Visitation inquiries.
In Exmouth when improvements came, it was not the church but the local gentry that stepped in. In 1722 they paid for the building of St Michael’s Chapel and in 1779 the Holy Trinity church on Chapel Hill, the latter being the only place of worship in this expanding urban area. This rapidly became the centre of religious life.
In the first 40 years of the 19th century, Exmouth’s population almost doubled and by 1818 Trinity was overflowing so in 1824 a new church was built on Beacon Fields, thanks wholly to Lord Rolle’s generosity.
Even with Lord Rolle’s help, the cost of equipping the church was too much for the parishioners. An old barrel organ was played for two years until a new organ was ceremonially ‘played in‘ by Mr Salter from Exeter Cathedral.
The church authorities finally came to terms with the town’s expansion and in 1827, a new vicarage was built and the vicar came in from Littleham at last.
Relationships between the clergy and his flock did not seem to improve however. In 1806 the Vicar ]ohn Rymer was involved in what seems to be an argument with his parish clerk over fees for a wedding he was celebrating. Apparently as the ceremony got under way he discovered that these had been paid to the clerk and not to him so he threw off his surplice and refused to continue with the ceremony. This was duly reported to the bishop. Then in 1808, this time in the Holy Trinity’s pulpit he rebuked a trio of young ladies who were misbehaving themselves and found himself up in front of the Bishop again. In less than a year death released him from the ordeal of serving his unruly parishioners.
The next two vicars did not even bother to live in the town, but in 1845 a new incumbent J Rocke arrived fresh with his new “Tractarian” practices. This did little to lend itself to harmony between him and his flock. By 1851 relations had deteriorated so much that he organised a meeting of his parishioners who were protesting against his methods. He reportedly listened briefly and then “promptly ejected” them, but it proved less easy to silence the wagging of their powerful tongues.
Such awful neglect by the Anglican Church elsewhere in the South West led to the development of a powerful dissenting faction with left-wing leanings. The population of Exmouth however began to be accused of being irreligious rather than radical. It was felt that dissention managed to get a foothold because the area was made up of small and distant conurbations with a shifting male population, many of whom would have been at sea at any one time. In fact in 1776 a gentleman from Exeter considered the town to be “so wicked a place that even nonconformity was unlikely to gain a toe-hold”.
Were they wicked or just fed up with the Established Church? When non- conformity did eventually arrive it was this evangelical message which would appeal to the labourers, sailors and tradesmen of the town.
In 1776 Wilhelmina, Vicountess Glenorchy, brought her chaplain to preach at Exmouth. Despite being ejected from the Globe Inn by Samuel Eyre, a local justice, they had within a year established an Independent (later Congregational) Chapel behind Mona Island in Exeter Road.
If the Established Church could not offer continuity, the non -conformists could. The first two pastors together served the chapel for 85 years. Robert Winton from 1776 to 1818 and Richard Clapson from 1820 to 1863. By 1784 the chapel had a burial ground and from 1817 a Sunday School.
The Chapel was rebuilt in 1866, although the Ilfracombe builder went bankrupt during 'the course of the contract and my ancestor John Searle completed it.
However in Exmouth, religion and arguments never seemed to be far away. In 1806 after a dispute with Robert Winton, a splinter group led by Richard Staple broke away to worship in Bicton Place, where they built a meeting-house in 1810. It was known as the Ebenezer Chapel which locals renamed ‘The Little Revenge’.
Even here there was not total accord. By 1855 it was closed (briefly) because the congregation disapproved of its minister wearing a white hat “as it did not look clerical”. It later became known as the Beacon Congregational Church, was rebuilt in 1893, and replaced in 1955 by a United Reformed Church at Littleham on the Salterton Road. The 150 year-old rift was mended by naming the new building ‘Glenorchy’.
The Wesleyan Methodists arrived in the town in 1808. This was somewhat later than in the rest of Devon. Their first meetings were near Glenorchy Chapel, later transferring to Fore Street and in 1843-4 a new chapel was built on The Parade.
In 1858 there was a seeming obligatory division of opinion, which led to the Primitive Methodists staying at The Parade whilst the Wesleyans had to make do with a succession of local homes before they built a new chapel in Brunswick (now Windsor) Square in 1872. In 1895 they moved to their present church in Tower Street.
The Windsor Square Chapel, renamed Christ Church, was taken over by the Reformed Episcopal Church, yet another local breakaway group from the Anglicans, later known as the Free Church of England.
A Wesleyan Chapel, was also established in Withycombe village in 1884, and was rebuilt in 1907.
The Plymouth Brethren held their first meeting in the town in 1843, causing a public sensation in 1860 when they tried to baptise eleven converts in the sea on an ebb tide. Their Zion Chapel in Margaret Street was replaced in 1872 by the present Gospel Hall in Exeter Road.
The Baptists arrived in 1891 and built a church in Victoria Road in 1900. The Exmouth Independent Evangelical Church in Scott Drive was founded in 1967. Other sects, such as the Society of Friends, Salvation Army, Sanctuary of the Spirit, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christian Scientists, have also established themselves in Exmouth.
Woodbury
Woodbury parishioners relationship with the Established Church was less troublesome and except for a brief flirt with non- conformity they remained true to the Church.
When King Charles II returned to the throne in 1660 life once more became difficult for Puritans. The Act of Uniformity in 1662 compelled the clergy to conform to beliefs and practices that many honest men could no longer in all conscience obey. In Woodbury Vicar Sam Fones was one of the 121 clergy in Devon who did not sign the Declaration by St. Bartholomew’s Day, 24th August 1662, and was ejected from his Living and deprived of his right to preach. He seems to have been universally beloved by his parishioners and when he climbed to preach his farewell sermon, after 16 years as Vicar of Woodbury his congregation wept.
Fones however did not immediately leave Woodbury and seems to have gathered round him a small congregation of Presbyterians who met at his house. Later they transferred their meetings to the home of Thomas Lee at Sparkshayes where they met secretly at great personal risk to themselves until the Toleration Act of 1689 provided freedom of conscience to religious “dissenters” of all shades.
This must have been a great relief to Lee and his friends. They had already identified a plot in a corner of a field he owned at Gulliford and started to build a permanent chapel. Their first minister was Samuel Tapper, a scholar and former parish priest who, like Sam Fones, had been deprived of his living after 1660.
Tapper’s “warm practical preaching and holy exemplary conversation” made him hugely popular with his people. His congregation increased, and he “was blessed with success in the conversion of many souls.” However these qualities did not save him from the fury of High Church bigots, who, during the times of persecution, violently entered the meeting- house and broke the windows.
All the costs of Gulliford were met by subscription and the surviving lists tell of the rise and eventual fall of Gulliford Meeting over a period of a century and a half, and of the part played by Woodbury families who shared the Chapel with their brethren in Lympstone and Exmouth.
So life continued in Woodbury with church and parishioners in harmony until 1846 when a new vicar Fulford arrived on the scene.
The first sign of a problem between the new incumbent and his Vestry came at their first Annual Meeting in 1847. Fulford, obviously meaning to start as he meant to go on, challenging the right of the Vestry to appoint both Churchwardens and brought an action against them which he lost in the Bishop’s Court. It cost him several hundred pounds and soured the relationship at the outset.
His next encounter came in 1848 and was really started by a quite trivial matter concerning a Wedgewood porcelain bowl given to the Church by Lady Drake for use in the Communion Service.
Fulford for some reason best known to himself declined to use it but instead took it home for his own use and when asked by the Council to return it, made what were considered churlish remarks. Suddenly a fairly minor issue became a matter of principle and a “furiously indignant” Council threatened him with legal action. The clerk was instructed to write the letter that finally returned the bowl to the Council. Lady Drake was now dead but her husband Sir Trayton felt that Fulford had insulted his wife’s memory. His feelings were deeply hurt and as long as he lived he never forgave him.
By this time Fulford had embarked on the first of his extensive alterations to the church. He hoped to restore the building to something like its pre-Reformation glory and make it more suitable for his High Church rites. As work proceeded the Vestry Council had to hold meetings at The Globe Inn where on 14th November 1849, they summoned the parishioners and rate-payers
“to receive a Communication from the Churchwardens on the subject of certain alterations made in the Church, as is represented to them, by the order of the Rev’d. J.L.Fulford minister thereof, without their Sanction or Authority.”
Those present were asked to vote on his proposed changes which resulted in an overwhelming defeat for the vicar. He seemed genuinely perplexed by the resolute opposition that all his new ideas encountered. He further enraged his flock when he insisted they turn East for the Creed, introduced intoning the responses and prayers, having a robed choir and, for some reason not quite clear, using the marriage service from the Prayer Book.
In fact by 1849 so great was the antagonism towards him that he decided to print a “Letter to the Inhabitants of the Parish of Woodbury” in which he expressed surprise and concern that his plans had been misunderstood. He attempted to set out a carefully reasoned argument for the changes in which he quoted the Prayer Book.
Fulford’s innovations and his autocratic disregard for others split the village and led to a number of influential parishioners setting up their own church at Christ Church in 1851 in which they continued to use the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. Christ Church was built by subscription amongst it's supporters and William Wippell became their minister.
The splinter group flourished as long as Fulford lived and largely fell out of use when his popular successor reclaimed his flock to the Parish Church and peace was restored.
Sources:
History of Devonshire, 1793-1806 Richard Polwhele,
Memoirs of Exmouth 1872 Rev William Webb, published by T Freeman
The Book of Exmouth Robin Bush, Barracuda Books
Woodbury View from the Beacon, Ursula Brighouse
Exmouth Milestones Eric R Delderfield ERD Publications Ltd
Old Devon WG Hoskins (London: David & Charles, 1966)
The Guide to the Parish and Non-Parochial Registers of Devon and Cornwall, 1538-1837, by Hugh Peskett (Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1979,