About East Budleigh Village
The earliest mention of the word Budleigh can be found in the Doomsday book where it was spelt Bodelie. William commissioned the Doomsday Book in 1066 the Conqueror as a ‘’Record of Great Inquisition of the lands of England, their extent, value, ownership and liabilities.’’ The Dooms day record of this ancient district reads as follows:
There is land for thirteen ploughs. There are sixteen villains, twenty borders, ten swineherds and four serfs with twelve ploughs. There are five acres of meadow, and one hundred acres of pasture and twenty acres of wood.
A ‘’villain’’ is what we would now refer to as a farmer, who held thirty acres, but was still subject to his feudal lord.
A ‘’border’’ is what we would now refer to as a smallholder, who owned only 5 acres.
A ‘’serf’’ held no land at all, but was in bondage to others.
The name Budleigh has changed over the centuries and here are some of the changes that have taken place.
1086 : Bodelie
1125 : Budelega
1210 : Budeleghe
1218 : Buteleg
1412 : Estbodelegh
1671 : Estbudleigh
The Black Death of 1348 led to drastic depopulation of the countryside. Fields remained unploughed, crops not sown or harvested. It was at this time when sheep were introduced on the farms to graze down the fields. In reverse to the poverty resulting from the Black Death, the ‘’town’’ of Budleigh enjoyed there after, a great deal of prosperity, thanks to the production of wool and the wool dying with whortleberries, wool trade with the Low Countries, shipbuilding at Budleigh Haven, extraction of lime and the production of salt on the foreshore.
A number of merchants occupied fine houses in the high street which can till be seen today, now split up into much smaller cottages.
The Sir Walter Raleigh pub (originally known as ‘’the Kings Arms’’) dates from the early 15th C.
Budleigh House was built in the early 19th C. Church stile Cottage was a 16th C farmhouse. Angle Cottage and No 38 also part of a 16th C farmhouse. Wynards House just over the bridge is a fine early 18th C brick frontage house with a mansard roof and cob and stone walls to the side. The back of the building is a Victorian extension; build after a fire-destroyed part of the house. When a ceiling came down in 1978, beneath the roof there was found to be a parapet wall and the remains of the original thatched roof. A very much older cob building at the back of Wynards most probably dates back to 15th C. It has the remains of a King beam and 2 ancient windows. The 3 cob and thatched Cottages next to Wynards were once a large farmhouse known as Higher Bastones.
The ancient Holly tree in the High street (opposite the pub) marks an important spot known as a ‘’Mark tree’’. This is the place where from Saxon times prayers and supplication were made during the village perambulations, or beating of the bounds. We know that ‘’Mark trees’’ served the purpose of defining boundary lines. This one most probably defined the boundaries between Budleigh Polsloe Manor (or higher Budleigh) and Lower Budleigh Manor. The last village perambulation took place in 1854. The fine black iron railings along the brook have been in place for possibly hundreds of years. They are evident in old drawings and photographs. They survived the World War II collection of metal and are still in good condition and much part of village history.
On the map in the centre pages you will see marked along the brook, the original sites of ’’ the dipping steps’’ These steps gave access to the brook and clear water from the common, before tapped water was available. The steps mostly disappeared when the flood scheme was undertaken in the 1970’s.
In 1897 The Right Hon Mark Rolle brought tapped water to the village to commemorate H.M. Queen Victoria’s Jubilee The cost of laying the mains was £320, while the villagers themselves provide £23 for the cost of the taps! The water was tapped from springs from the brake just under Hayes wood. 9 taps in all were supplied throughout the village. Only 3 now survive, but a Memorial plaque at the bottom of Middletown lane can still be seen.
There are a number of very ancient farmhouses around the village. Hill Farm next to the car park one of them, but little is know about its history. Vicars Mead opposite Hill Farm and down Hayes Lane was build in 1485. As the name implies, it was the Vicarage for many centuries. Used as a school where little boys were educated by the vicar, Walter Raleigh too received his education here.
In the 18th and 19th C smuggling was a very lucrative business and often a violent reality in Devonshire coastal villages. East Budleigh was certainly a hotbed of smuggling, especially, during the incumbency of the Rev Mundy 1741 and the Rev Ambrose Stapleton 1794 –1852. Both were deeply involved with smuggling and Vicars Mead has always been known to have been the centre of those smuggling days.
Pulhayes Farm on the edge of the village towards Salterton is a house of immense antiquity. We first hear of it in the 13th C, but most likely the present house was build upon another much older house. The same family has farmed it for many generations.
The Brick Cross on the old Roman road between East Budleigh and Otterton dates back to 1580 and is suppose the have been the place where a witch is buried.
The deep Devon lanes approaching the village would have been there 1000 years ago. They would have been kept reasonably free from debris by all the men folk at the end of each winter. The high banks we see now have been created over many centuries, by working parties, clearing the lane surface of mud and stones and by throwing their shovels full to the side. Today the banks provide a valuable environment for small creatures, birds and insects. In springtime they become a feast for the eye, when covered in bluebells, pink campion, buttercups, Queen Ann ‘s lace and Devon violets.
Budleigh Haven known locally as Bankly (not to be confused with the more modern town of Budleigh Salterton) at the mouth of the river Otter, operated as a busy sea port and thus assisting in making the town of Budleigh so prosperous. However during the latter part of the middle ages, the mouth of the river Otter slowly silted up with great banks of Jurassic pebbles. Today it is still possible to see one ring, left for tying up the great ships, fixed in the cliff side at Bankly. Nevertheless our twenty- first C village and its surrounding hills, fields and woods, would still be recognisable to villagers of centuries past.
There is land for thirteen ploughs. There are sixteen villains, twenty borders, ten swineherds and four serfs with twelve ploughs. There are five acres of meadow, and one hundred acres of pasture and twenty acres of wood.
A ‘’villain’’ is what we would now refer to as a farmer, who held thirty acres, but was still subject to his feudal lord.
A ‘’border’’ is what we would now refer to as a smallholder, who owned only 5 acres.
A ‘’serf’’ held no land at all, but was in bondage to others.
The name Budleigh has changed over the centuries and here are some of the changes that have taken place.
1086 : Bodelie
1125 : Budelega
1210 : Budeleghe
1218 : Buteleg
1412 : Estbodelegh
1671 : Estbudleigh
The Black Death of 1348 led to drastic depopulation of the countryside. Fields remained unploughed, crops not sown or harvested. It was at this time when sheep were introduced on the farms to graze down the fields. In reverse to the poverty resulting from the Black Death, the ‘’town’’ of Budleigh enjoyed there after, a great deal of prosperity, thanks to the production of wool and the wool dying with whortleberries, wool trade with the Low Countries, shipbuilding at Budleigh Haven, extraction of lime and the production of salt on the foreshore.
A number of merchants occupied fine houses in the high street which can till be seen today, now split up into much smaller cottages.
The Sir Walter Raleigh pub (originally known as ‘’the Kings Arms’’) dates from the early 15th C.
Budleigh House was built in the early 19th C. Church stile Cottage was a 16th C farmhouse. Angle Cottage and No 38 also part of a 16th C farmhouse. Wynards House just over the bridge is a fine early 18th C brick frontage house with a mansard roof and cob and stone walls to the side. The back of the building is a Victorian extension; build after a fire-destroyed part of the house. When a ceiling came down in 1978, beneath the roof there was found to be a parapet wall and the remains of the original thatched roof. A very much older cob building at the back of Wynards most probably dates back to 15th C. It has the remains of a King beam and 2 ancient windows. The 3 cob and thatched Cottages next to Wynards were once a large farmhouse known as Higher Bastones.
The ancient Holly tree in the High street (opposite the pub) marks an important spot known as a ‘’Mark tree’’. This is the place where from Saxon times prayers and supplication were made during the village perambulations, or beating of the bounds. We know that ‘’Mark trees’’ served the purpose of defining boundary lines. This one most probably defined the boundaries between Budleigh Polsloe Manor (or higher Budleigh) and Lower Budleigh Manor. The last village perambulation took place in 1854. The fine black iron railings along the brook have been in place for possibly hundreds of years. They are evident in old drawings and photographs. They survived the World War II collection of metal and are still in good condition and much part of village history.
On the map in the centre pages you will see marked along the brook, the original sites of ’’ the dipping steps’’ These steps gave access to the brook and clear water from the common, before tapped water was available. The steps mostly disappeared when the flood scheme was undertaken in the 1970’s.
In 1897 The Right Hon Mark Rolle brought tapped water to the village to commemorate H.M. Queen Victoria’s Jubilee The cost of laying the mains was £320, while the villagers themselves provide £23 for the cost of the taps! The water was tapped from springs from the brake just under Hayes wood. 9 taps in all were supplied throughout the village. Only 3 now survive, but a Memorial plaque at the bottom of Middletown lane can still be seen.
There are a number of very ancient farmhouses around the village. Hill Farm next to the car park one of them, but little is know about its history. Vicars Mead opposite Hill Farm and down Hayes Lane was build in 1485. As the name implies, it was the Vicarage for many centuries. Used as a school where little boys were educated by the vicar, Walter Raleigh too received his education here.
In the 18th and 19th C smuggling was a very lucrative business and often a violent reality in Devonshire coastal villages. East Budleigh was certainly a hotbed of smuggling, especially, during the incumbency of the Rev Mundy 1741 and the Rev Ambrose Stapleton 1794 –1852. Both were deeply involved with smuggling and Vicars Mead has always been known to have been the centre of those smuggling days.
Pulhayes Farm on the edge of the village towards Salterton is a house of immense antiquity. We first hear of it in the 13th C, but most likely the present house was build upon another much older house. The same family has farmed it for many generations.
The Brick Cross on the old Roman road between East Budleigh and Otterton dates back to 1580 and is suppose the have been the place where a witch is buried.
The deep Devon lanes approaching the village would have been there 1000 years ago. They would have been kept reasonably free from debris by all the men folk at the end of each winter. The high banks we see now have been created over many centuries, by working parties, clearing the lane surface of mud and stones and by throwing their shovels full to the side. Today the banks provide a valuable environment for small creatures, birds and insects. In springtime they become a feast for the eye, when covered in bluebells, pink campion, buttercups, Queen Ann ‘s lace and Devon violets.
Budleigh Haven known locally as Bankly (not to be confused with the more modern town of Budleigh Salterton) at the mouth of the river Otter, operated as a busy sea port and thus assisting in making the town of Budleigh so prosperous. However during the latter part of the middle ages, the mouth of the river Otter slowly silted up with great banks of Jurassic pebbles. Today it is still possible to see one ring, left for tying up the great ships, fixed in the cliff side at Bankly. Nevertheless our twenty- first C village and its surrounding hills, fields and woods, would still be recognisable to villagers of centuries past.
