voluntary subscriptions in the old schoolhouse opposite the church, and conducted first by a dame schoolmistress, and afterwards by a master, the last being the late Mr. John Doidge of Pennaton, who is affectionately remembered by many of the present villagers. In 1873 a Board School was built under the provisions of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, the parishioners being unwilling or unable to meet the expense of erecting and maintaining a new school by voluntary subscriptions. 66 The following note about our landed gentry is very interesting: Any one who has at all explored the parochial registers of our county must have been struck with the great change which has come over the social aspect within a century or a century and a half. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries every parish contained several landed gentry and several yeomen. Whitchurch was inhabited by the Moringes, the Skirrets, the Glanvilles, a branch of Drake, of the Courtenays and of Arundells. All have gone. In the eighteenth century a great change took place, which swept away both yeomen and gentry, and, I believe, this was effected by the bottle and gamingtable, and the title-deeds I have examined show these families falling deep into debt for money generally borrowed of the lawyers. However, though the families have disappeared, their houses remain, and owing to the good stone and eternal granite of which they are built, they remain in a singularly perfect condition in our neighbourhood, now for the most part turned into farmhouses, but, alas! doomed to disappear, for the houses that contented the squire two hundred years ago, are not deemed good enough for farmers now."1 At the beginning of the nineteenth century we find that the fine Elizabethan mansion of Sortridge was owned by the Pengelleys, the Elizabethan Manor House of Walreddon by the Courtenays, Caseytown by the Cudlipps, Grimstone by the Colliers, Holwell by the Scobells, Grenofen by Bulteel Harris, and Moortown by the Rideouts. All but one have changed in ownership. These were days of open-handed hospitality and high living. It was no uncommon thing for the "bon-vivants of the day to be attending social entertainments, principally dinner parties, almost nightly. These social amenities 1 The Western Antiquary, Vol. III, p. 249, "The Old Manor Houses of South Devon" (S. Baring-Gould). involved long and tedious carriage journeys, and frequently the scene of the festive board was not left till long past midnight, and home would not be reached until the grey dawn. Sometimes those who came on horseback, and had dined not wisely but too well, would rely on their trusty steeds to bring them safe home again. It is related of a party of "bon-vivants" that, having respectively mounted the wrong steeds, they found themselves in the early morning as having arrived at wrong destinations. In the middle of last century, when the mining industry was in full swing, there were some five or six tin and copper mines in the parish at work, but these have been closed down, mainly owing to the low price of the metal, which made it unprofitable to work the mines. The character of the village was in those days somewhat rough, and lively scenes were witnessed in the village inn. The parish stocks, which are still in existence, would, if they could speak, tell many an exciting tale. In a muster-roll of the Stannary of Tavistock, with the officers and soldiers within the Stannary, under the command of Sir Nicholas Slanning, Lieut.-Colonel, Joseph Drake, Esq., Capt.-Lieut., John Jacob, gent., Ensign, four sergeants, and eight corporals, we find that the total force was 156, of whom about two-thirds were armed with muskets, and one-third with pikes. Of this number thirteen were raised in Whitchurch.1 As regards outdoor sport, in addition to hunting, shooting, fishing, and cock-fighting, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, in the days of that renowned sporting family, the Deacons of Holwell, two days' horse races were held on Whitchurch Down, and were held annually until 1887, when the races were suspended for twenty-five years, but revived two years ago. The parish being on the forest of Dartmoor, possesses venville or common rights of pasturage, for which a yearly acknowledgment is paid to the Duchy. These rights are highly valued and jealously guarded. The last thirty years have witnessed a rapid development of Whitchurch. The parish is now practically a suburb of Tavistock, being connected with it by an almost continuous line of houses. Before many years have passed, the two places will have become amalgamated for civil 1 Worth's Tavistock Parish Records, p. 47. purposes, and, indeed, the first step towards this has been taken in the present year by the extension of the Tavistock water supply into the village, which will be shortly followed by the extension of gas or introduction of electricity from Tavistock into the village. The population in the last ten years has largely increased, and now numbers 1500 souls. The recent extension of the popular golf links with the development of the Whitchurch Down estate with its fine residential sites, and the imminent provision of additional adjuncts of modern civilisation, will cause considerable expansion in the near future. List of the Incumbents of the Vicarage of Whitchurch, in the County of Devon and Diocese of Exeter, from 1321-2 to the present time, extracted from the Registers of the Bishops of Exeter. Date of Institution. March, 1330-1. 10 April, 1354. Sir James Franceis (occurs as Vicar, 14 Jan., 5 April, 1356. 14 Oct., 1362. William Smyth. Priest. On whose death, 25 May, 1398. Priest. 12 Feb., 1432-3. (Not recorded.) 1 July, 1503. Henry (Smyth) occurs as Vicar 1390-1. John Raddych. (Sir John Radish in next record.) On whose death, Sir William Macy. On whose death, Sir John Wynne, Chaplain. 4 March, 1503-4. Robert Barber. (Master Robert Barber, Priest. 25 May, 1727. 17 Oct., 1738. 23 May, 1740. 12 May, 1758. 16 Oct., 1767. 15 Sept., 1769. 9 March, 1785. 25 Sept., 1823. 3 Aug., 1848. 6 Aug., 1870. 14 Aug., 1878. 5 Nov., 1883. 26 July, 1898. 10 July, 1900. 7 March, 1908. Christopher Furneaux. on the 31st Aug., 1638, as he appears in the Visitation Records for that year.) (Was Vicar on 13th Nov., .1662, as he appears in Visitation Records that year.) Master Henry Pengelley, M.A. On whose resignation, On whose death, On whose cession, On whose resignation, On whose death, On whose death, On whose resignation, Samuel William Featherstone, B.A. William Hampton Chambers, M.A. CROWNDALE. BY J. J. ALEXANDER, M.A., J.P. (Read at Tavistock, 22nd July, 1914.) CROWNDALE is a group of farms situated in the valley of the Tavy, rather more than a mile below Tavistock. The largest of these farms, called simply Crowndale, comprises all the land on the right bank, and is in Tavistock parish; the others, formerly known as West and East Crowndale, are on the left bank and in Whitchurch parish. The Tavistock Crowndale was part of the Abbey lands. In a Survey of the Monastery lands taken about 1488, and preserved among the Duke of Bedford's papers, there are two entries relating to it. The translation of the first is as follows: "Croundell. Simon Drake holds there all Messuages Lands and Tenements with their Appurtenances which Henry Drake before held for the term of 46 years the term beginning at the feast of St. Michael the Archangel 21 Edw. IV. and renders per annum £4 3s. 4d. at 4 terms and Suit of Court twice per annum and 6s. 8d. in the name of an heriot, etc., 20s. 10d." The second entry is much to the same effect, except that it gives forty years as the terms of the lease; several instances of a forty years' period occur elsewhere in the Survey, so that the "46" may be a transcriber's slip. It also implies that Crowndale had been formerly tenanted in succession by persons named Richard Lamborne, Stephen Browning, and John Strode, so that the Drake family tenancies began about the middle of the fifteenth century. A further examination of this Survey shows there were several persons named Drake holding lands under the Abbot in Tavistock and the adjoining hamlets. Simon Drake received in 1519 a renewal to his heirs John and Margery Drake and their son John, for their |