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First mentioned in the Domesday Book Petrockstowe is a small village in the Devon district of Torridge in Northern Devon. It is near the end of the Tarka Trail. Its population has fluctuated between 400 and 600. Petrockstow railway station carried passengers between 1922 and 1965, the village also had a school and a tannery.
There is ongoing debate as to whether the name of the village is Petrockstowe or Petrockstow, with two of the signs entering the village reading Petrockstowe and two reading Petrockstow.
The Baxter Hall is the name of the village hall, which is situated at the centre of the village along with The Laurels public house.
Rolle and Yeo brasses
On the north wall of the church are affixed two monumental brasses of Henry Rolle (left, westernmost) and his wife Margaret Yeo (d.1591), the heiress of the manor of Heanton Satchville within the parish of Petrockstowe (right, easternmost). These are not in their original positions, which would have been on a now lost monument or slab in the chancel, no doubt joined together with husband and wife facing each other over the prie-dieu, half of which is depicted in each brass. The two halves of the shields when joined would show the arms of Rolle impaling Yeo.
Brass of Henry Rolle
Inscribed in Roman capitals below is the following text: "Here lyeth the body of Henry Rolle Esquieer fourth sonne of George Rolle of Stevenston who maryed Margaret Yeo daughter and sole heire unto Robert Yeo Esquir decesed and had issue by hir sonnes & doughters nyneteene". On a speech scroll issuing from Henry Rolle's mouth the words MORS MIHI LUCRUM, from St Paul's Epistle to the Philippians, 1:21 (Mihi enim vivere Christus est et mori lucrum, transated in the King James Bible as: "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain"). The Rolle armorials, with difference of a mullet, here intended to denote a fourth son (omitted from drawing), are shown each side of him: ''Or, on a fesse indented azure between three billets of the second each charged with a lion rampant of the first three bezants. Above is shown the crest of Rolle, a cubit arm with clenched fist (omitted from the drawing).
Brass of Margaret Yeo
Affixed in modern times immediately to the right of the brass of Henry Rolle is that of his wife Margaret Yeo, heiress of Petrockstowe manor. Inscribed below is the following Gothic text: "Here lyeth the bodye of Margaret the wife of Henry Rolle Esquier, daughter and hayre of Robert Yeo Esquire who deceased the Vth day of January and in ye yeare of Our Lorde God 1591". From her mouth issues a speech scroll inscribed: "My children feare the lorde", referring to Psalms 34:11: "Come ye children hearken unto me I will teach you the fear of the Lord" A human skull is shown directly in front of her face, symbolising death, and perhaps her contemplation of that event. Shown either side of Margaret is a shield bearing the arms of Yeo: Argent, a chevron sable between three drakes azure, which arms can be seen in stained glass reset in incomplete form in the vestry window. Above is shown the crest of Yeo, apparently a lapwing bird, with crest feathers and long peacock-like tail reaching the ground (omitted from the drawing).
Heanton Satchville
Main article: Heanton Satchville, PetrockstoweThe mansion of Heanton Satchville has today been obliterated almost without a trace, but was at one time "one of the most imposing houses ever to exist in Devon" The Hearth Tax return of 1674 recorded 26 hearths for the house, making it the second largest house in Devon after Werrington Park (now in Cornwall) north of Launceston. The manor had been held by the Yeo family from at least 1359 when William Yeo was recorded as Sheriff of Devon. In 1570 Margaret Yeo, the sole heiress of Robert Yeo married Henry Rolle (d.1625), the 4th son of George Rolle (d.1552) of Stevenstone manor in the parish of St Giles in the Wood, MP for Barnstaple. Thus the manor passed to the Rolles, which family became the largest landholder in Devon, and is now represented by the family of Fane-Trefusis, Barons Clinton. In 1795 the house was destroyed by fire, after which the Trefusis family purchased Innes House in nearby Huish and made it their seat, having renamed it Heanton Satchville.
Notable People
John Bassett Martin, (1847-1944] Pre-eminent Victorian Journalist and Freemason. Born in Petrockstowe on 2 October 1847.
References
- Domesday On-line
- History of Village
- Village Web-site
- The tincture of the mullet is unknown but may not be argent in contravention of the heraldic rule of "no metal on metal"
- Quote from King James Bible
- www.yeosociety.com
- Lauder, Rosemary, Vanished Houses of North Devon, 2005, p.49
- Lauder, Rosemary appears to be in error re the occupants & builders of Werrington, which she states erroneously to have been the 2nd Duke of Albemarle
- anon (1915). Representative British Freemasons. London: Dod's Peerage Limited. pp. 238–240.
External links
Media related to Petrockstowe at Wikimedia Commons
