The Mad Folk of Devon

Best viewed large for total madness lol

Devon is renowned for being slow, perhaps a bit backward, certainly not entirely in tune with the rest of the modern world. But the part of Devon I reside in live in the past, as in the actual past, the way way way back past... my local town is known as 'The Cavalier Town 1646' as the main pub The Black Horse is where they signed the peace treaty for the civil war - it all happened in these fields - fighting, battles, blood, gunpowder.. the whole area is haunted... believe me it is, so many people reporting ghostly soldiers dressed in 15th Century clothes, carrying muskets, on horse back, floating over the fields & down the back lanes...

The house of Great Potheridge stands in 8 acres in the lands of Merton - the home & birthplace of General Monck, born in 1608 - the village of Merton's sign now pays tribute to that fact - 'Merton the birthplace of General Monck' he was a professional solider & Duke... he fought for both sides in the Civil War & secured the restoration of Charles II. The house now is a shadow of it's former self, it was built as a palace, but was never completed & like most of these great buildings suffered a devastating fire around the year of 1752 - two thirds of the house was demolished & only the back remains - here it is, it's owned by Lord Clinton & leased to an outdoor activity centre for young children. It's Grade 1 listed but in a sad state of disrepair, gaping holes in the ceiling, cracks in the plaster & the stone walls, the once great ceiling paled beyond recognition, covered up by the Victorians, uncovered when it was a farm house, the grand staircase unkempt, the panelled dining room fading - it needs an injection of money, it needs TLC!

Today we were there to see our friends - next door neighbours in fact - they have a business called past present the blurb on their website reads provides 1st person interpretation to make a historic site come alive. We research their characters to be relevant to the location and period. - basically they go around schools & bring history lessons alive, they're very dedicated & extremely good at it, I wonder how they can slip back into the modern world so quickly, they really are at home many centuries ago! They also, with other friends, run another business called the Medieval Free Company, this what we saw today - they had been camping in their 'village' since Friday night, whether they had stayed in costume the whole weekend, I didn't like to ask - but our friend Peter did have to come back yesterday to feed their cat! (wonder if he changed before he left?!) Archery is one of their main specialities, they practice it in the field opposite - actually here's Peter on the left with members of the company

I think I started this blip negatively, sorry for the essay - I do find history interesting, but I wish this corner of Devon would enjoy the modern world too, just a bit... so I was pleased to find a gallery of photos from the Medieval Free Company entitled Oops! Things the public are not meant to see!

I was going to blip the front gate of Great Potheridge, but the row of them all in the middle of 'cast off' is that the term? felt better!

More history about Great Potheridge here

And to end with a little known ghost story - just the basics. When the G Poth was turned into a working farm house, the renovations started up ghostly screams & sobbing in the roof - the loft was made accessible, but nothing was found. The ghostly cries got louder & louder, each night, the sobbing increased. Finally the new owners now out of their minds, took parts of the roof apart & they found the remains of a small guillotine! They removed this gruesome object & the screams & sobbing stopped....