The History of Saint Swithun’s Church

Littleham, North Devon.

The availability of wells in the neighbourhood played an important part in the siting and this explains, perhaps, why the parish church was tucked away in a sheltered spot rather than perhaps being built in a more conspicuous position on a hillside.

The history of Littleham's first church was researched in depth by Dr. G.S. Spinks, a learned scholar who was Rector at Clovelly, before filling a vacancy at Littleham from 1962-64.

The first church, it is thought, would have been built of wood and in addition to the local inhabitants, Little­ham in those far-off days would have been far larger than Bideford, there would almost certainly have been a sprinkling of travellers.

A constant reminder of the antiquity of St. Swithun's is the well-worn chest, which dates from around the year 1100 and is the oldest item in the church.

It was the Domesday book which decreed that all churches should have a chest made out of solid oak in which church valuables and registers should be kept and the parishioners of Littleham, as instructed, duly selected an oak tree and began the tremendously laborious task of making the chest, in effect digging it out from the solid wood. There were to be three locks with keys being held by the Rector or Bishop and two churchwardens. Today it is no longer in use - and the locks have long disappeared - but its presence in the church forms a direct and impressive link with the past.

Also interesting are the bench ends, which date back to Elizabethan times.

LITTLEHAM - or Liteham as it was know earlier, although other spellings included Litelhama, Litleham and Litelham - belonged before the Conquest to Brictic, Thane of Gloucester, but was afterwards seized and granted to Queen Matilda. It was Crown land at the time of the Domesday Book.

It is believed that the first institution of a Rector at Littleham was in 1310 but evidence of an earlier church on the site was recorded in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas in 1288. A report made in 1923 stated: "Possibly the north transept represents this earlier church as it exhibits traces of masonry anterior to the rest of the building." Entire reconstruction, added the report, was effected in 1319 and recorded in what was termed "Bishop Stapeldon's register. "

The Stapeldons (this was the way the name was spelt then) were recorded as being the holders of the manor in the mid-1300s and records show that the church was consecrated on October 17, 1319, by Walter de Stapeldon, Lord Bishop of Exeter.

The amazing timescale involving Littleham church can be gauged by the fact that Edward II had already been on the throne of England for three years when early in the 14th century David de la Bere, then the lord and patron of Littleham, appointed what the records list as "Sir Symon" as the first Rector.

It was during his incumbency that the church was re-consecrated after being enlarged or indeed perhaps even rebuilt from an earlier building dating back to circa 1100.

Meanwhile the pages of English history were still being written. Sir Symon had been Rector for four years when Robert Bruce defeated Edward 11 at the Battle of Bannockburn - although one wonders whether the news ever reached this corner of North Devon - and he was still Rector when Edward 111 succeeded to the throne after his father had been deposed and murdered.

The next Rector listed at Littleham was John le Wolf in 1337. History was still being made outside North Devon - the One Hundred Years War between England and France began the following year when Edward 111 claimed the French crown - and there had been an English victory at the Battle of Crecy three years before Symon Robert took over the parish from John le Wolf in 1349. The year after Crecy, Calais had surrendered to the English army and in 1349 the infamous Black Plague originated in Central Asia and spread rapidly through Europe, carried by the fleas of black rats, to kill between one third and one half of England's population in a matter of months.

Symon Robert was succeeded in 1365 by Thomas Thomas who was to stay at Littleham for 34 years. It was during his rectorship that Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales which helped to popularise English as a literary language and Wat Tyler led the Peasants Revolt.

The arrival at Littleham of John Peers or Piers as the new Rector in 1399 coincided with Richard II being deposed as King and his replacement by Henry IV.

And so it went on with new Rectors arriving from time to time, perhaps bringing with them news of what was happening in the world outside Littleham's parish boundaries . . .

Richard Covyan was Rector during a period that saw the crowning of Henry V in 1413 and his death nine years later; the succession of Henry VI, a child of nine months; and the burning of Joan of Arc by the English in Rouen in 1431.

One wonders whether the news of the War of the Roses, the succession of various Kings, the discovery of the outposts of the American continent by Columbus and of Newfoundland by Cabot, sailing from Bristol, ever reached the villagers of Littleham. Would they have heard the news of the risings in 1549 following the compulsory use of the new Book of Common Prayer - or the return in 1580 of Francis Drake after sailing around the world?

Almost certainly the destruction in 1588 of the Spanish Armada sent to invade England would have reached Littleham - the glorious news would surely have sped through every Westcountry lane - and it was this same year that James Bate became Rector with no less a personage than Queen Elizabeth as his patron.

France was proclaimed a republic in 1792 - the year Archibald Stevenson was inducted as Littleham's Rector - and his replacement seven years later by Nicholas Mill coincided with the introduction into Britain of income tax.

The 29-year service of Mr. Mill and that later of three more Rectors who between them served an impressive 73 years at Littleham took the village to the edge of a new 20th century but the close of the 19th century was not going to slip by without a most unusual happening. The Rev. William Pereth, who had been named to succeed the Rev. George Morse, collapsed and died as he was ringing a muffled peal for Queen Victoria's funeral and so was never instituted as the parish priest. It fell to the Rev. Geoffrey Simeon to take Littleham church into the new century in 1901.

CHURCH RESTORATION

THE CONDITION of Littleham Parish Church today is evidence not only of the care it has been given during the 20^th. Century but also of the various restoration work carried out during the previous century, especially the major repairs put in hand in 1892/93 by the then Rector, the Rev. George Morse.

He not only made sure that the entire fabric, by then extremely dilapidated, was restored but met the cost largely out of his own pocket.

He earned further praise, too, by keeping a remarkably detailed diary of the vast amount of work that was necessary to put the church in good order.

In repairing the church, in what appears to have been a top to bottom exercise, traces of decorations in earlier periods was discovered. Figures of saints had been whitewashed over and texts printed in their places and these in their turn have also been obliterated together with diamond patterns on the walls.

Recesses, which had been built up with stones and then plastered over, were also brought to light. One of the first discoveries in the eastern wall of the north transept was a painting of a Bishop, presumably St. Swithin and possibly dating back to the 14th century, if not earlier.

The Bishop is shown wearing a dark red chasuble - a long sleeveless outer vestment worn when celebrating Mass - together with red gloves. He holds a pastoral staff in his left hand while his right hand is raised in the attitude of blessing with the two fingers and thumb extended.

Thanks to the restoration work carried out then, this picture of St. Swithin was preserved and glazed and can be seen in the church today.

Unfortunately, pictures of St. Christopher, St. Margaret and St. Laurence could not be saved - neither, too, could another showing a figure which, recorded Mr. Morse, "must be meant for Our Lord.-­

This was found on the north wall just west of the north transept. The Rector wrote in his diary: "This is a standing figure full face to the spectator and naked with the exception of a loin cloth. The head and face is in good preservation, short hair with small pointed beard. The elbows are close to the sides with the palms of the hands turned outwards towards the spectator and in each hand is a mark which may be meant for the scar of the nails. The left foot has a very distinct stigma, black, with yellow rays of glory round it. The right foot is nearly obliterated. On the left side is an immense elongated diamond shaped patch which presumably is intended to represent the Wound in the Side, but the puzzle of the picture consists in the surroundings of the Figure. In the upper left hand corner above the Head are a pair of scales and something else; on the right of these are two small flasks, while down the left side are a pair of pincers, something which might be a blacksmith's anvil, an old-fashioned curved saw, a hammer, a pair of large long handled tongs, and two or three odd shaped things which may be anything."

The 75 hand-written pages in the diary bring to life the tremendous work by Mr. Morse in recording the week-to-week activities, with sketches and photographs providing additional information. Some parts of the church building were reported to be "quite Norman in character" and it was considered highly probable that one transept was a portion of the older church which existed before 1319.

There is no lack of detail. On March 3, 1893, for instance, it was recorded that the cross was fixed on the porch and also on the gable at the east end of the chancel and that on April 4 the font was set up.

A service of reconciliation was held on May 28 with about 40 people present and on May 31 the Rector recorded: "At 8 a.m. the Holy Eucharist was celebrated, this being the first celebration in the restored church." Probably more than 250 people attended, reported Mr. Morse.

During the time restoration work was in progress, prayers were distributed on a printed card for use by parishioners.

Included was a verse which read: -

Stern the strokes, the dint was heavy,

Keen the graving of His Hand,

Ere each finished stone was planted,

As the Master-Builder planned,

Beauteous, changeless, through all ages

In the house of God to stand.

There can be no doubt at all that it will be one of the happiest days Littleham has experienced when the bells of St. Swithun's once more ring out over the countryside.

It will indeed be a case of normal service having been restored after the break of some two years caused by the church bells being considered unsafe because of the ravages of time. There have been other occasions too when the bells have been forced to remain silent.

It was in March 1893, during the restoration of the parish church, that the then Rector, the Rev. George Morse wrote in his diary: "The beams supporting the old bell chamber floor were worm-eaten through and through and the ends on which of course all the weight rested absolutely broke up into dust in the course of removal. It is only by the great mercy of God that there has not been a serious accident with all the bells falling down."

A report on Devon churches a little over 60 years ago revealed that the Church Goods Commissioners reported in 1553 that Littleham - spelt Litleham then -had "four belles yn the towre their." The researcher stated :hat two of these medieval bells had been retained and were the third and fourth of the peal. Two of the bells had Latin inscriptions - the others, - which were recast later, bore the names Thomas Bilbie 1740 and John Squire 1825.

Two more bells were added in 1910, it being felt by the ringers that a peal of six would be a great improvement, and the existing four bells were renovated. The cost of that work is recorded as being £142 10s -this time the bill will be around £10,000 including the replacement of rotten beams.

THERE can be little doubt that in the wide wide world beyond the boundaries of Littleham there cannot be many people who realise the importance of Littleham churchyard as a haven for wild flowers.

At the last count no fewer than 91 different varieties of wild flowers were catalogued, plus nine different varieties of grass, and it is amazing figures such as this which bring many visitors to St. Swithun's every year.

In Littleham's own God's acre the variety ranges from scented agrimony to yellow pimpernel, together with spotted purple orchids, red campion, speedwells, stickywort, lady's smock, columbines, ransoms and dog's mercury, to name but a few.

Reference to this enchanted spot was made by Francesca Greenoak in her knowledgeable book on flowers "God's Acre" in which illustrations were added by Clare Roberts. But Littleham has its own excellent record of flowers together with expertly-done sketches, the work of Miss Mariel Stapledon who lives at The Glebe almost within flower-throwing distance of the parish church.

She is not alone among the wild flower enthusiasts who wait eagerly each year to discover perhaps another new flower in this special corner of the Westcountry. Miss Stapledon has one word for this magic summer scene "beautiful." And who would disagree with her?

PERHAPS one of the crowning glories of Littleham Parish Church, it could be said, is the golden-coloured weathercock high on the tower.

But how many know that it once bore the marks inflicted by on-target bullets?

They came from the rifles of members of the local Home Guard in the early days of the last war. There were fears then of a possible German invasion of Great Britain and the temptation to use the weathercock for target practice could not be resisted.

The copper-gilded weathercock had been in place for some years, having replaced an old zinc one installed way back in March 1893, but it was not repaired until 1965. It was in this year, it seems, that Sir Robert Stapledon, former Governor of the Bahamas who was then living at the Old Rectory in Littleham, found it in the corner of a stable and after repair work restored the weathercock to its former full glory.

ST. SWITHIN, from whom the church at Littleham takes its name, was at one time chaplain to Egbert, King of Wessex, and was Bishop of Winchester from 852, but it is likely that most people will know of him because of his association with rain.

The tradition that if rain falls on St. Swithin's Day (July 15) it will rain for the next 40 days is believed to refer to the heavy rain said to have occurred when his relics were to be transferred to a shrine in the cathedral.