Historical Timeline
|
Date |
World Events |
South Tawton, St. Andrew's and Church House
|
| 1086 |
|
The Manor of South Tawton (Tauetona) appears in Domesday Book (1086) as a demesne of the King, and as a portion of the dowry of Githa, the mother of King Harold. |
| 1199 |
|
The church probably originated as a manorial chapel, but the "parochia de Suthaw- thune" South Tawton Parish is met with as early as 1199. |
| 1262 |
|
First known Parish Priests: Nicholas Lungespeye appointed Rector of St Andrew's
Alan de Yeteminstre appointed Vicar
|
1387 |
Geoffrey Chaucer begins work on The Canterbury Tales |
|
1431 |
Jeanne d'Arc burned as a witch at Rouen ; Henry VI of England crowned king of France in Paris |
? Was there an earlier 2 bay Church House on the site that the current one (built in 1490) now stands? |
1454 |
Printing with movable type is perfected in Germany by Johannes Gutenberg |
|
1469 |
|
Walter Rendell appointed Parish Priest (to 1499 - in post when Church House was built)
|
1476 |
William Caxton sets up printing press at Westminster |
|
1483
|
Richard III King of England (to 1485); Edward V and his brother (little princes ) are murdered in the Tower of London |
|
1484 |
Caxton prints Morte D'Arthur , the poetic collection of legends about King Arthur compiled by Sir Thomas Malory |
|
1485 |
Battle of Bosworth Field Henry Tudor defeats and kills Richard III in the decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses. Takes throne as Henry 7th |
Late 1400s - St Andrew's church enlarged and rebuilt - main patron Wyke family & other wealthy landowners. Statues to St. Andrew, St. Peter, St. George, St. Katherine, Jesus, Mary. |
1490 |
|
Church House is (re?)built as a five bay Parish Hall with kitchen for baking, brewing and cooking on ground floor and feasting hall on upper floor. Church Ales (feasting events with entertainments) a regular feature at the many church holidays to raise money for church upkeep, charities and running costs.
Roof carvings in St Andrew's paid for by Church Ales |
1497 |
John Cabot discovers Newfoundland |
|
1509 |
Henry VIII becomes king |
|
1517 |
The Protestant Reformation begins; Martin Luther nails his "95 Theses" against the practice of selling indulgences, on the church door at Wittenberg |
|
1534 |
Act of Supremacy : Henry VIII declared supreme head of the Church of England |
|
1536 |
Dissolution of monasteries in England begins under the direction of Thomas Cromwell, completed in 1539. Act of Union - England Wales |
|
1539 |
|
Statues, altars and paintings etc removed from St Andrew's by royal decree |
1543 |
|
145 Householders noted paying tax in South Tawton Parish (main income Sheep Farming and Cloth Making) |
1548 |
|
The church authorities banned Church Ales |
1549 |
Edward VI's Book of Common Prayer - abolished the Latin mass |
Adjoining Parish Sampford Courtenay Murder and Rebellion against Book of Common Prayer |
1553 |
Mary I daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England (to 1558); Restoration of Roman Catholic bishops in England |
St Andrew's - altar rebuilt & mass book and pyx bought again |
1554 |
|
New rood for St. Andrew's and cross & cope brought back |
1555 |
|
A new face for St Peter statue carved and new image of St. Andrew. Note regarding payment for "game, meat, drink and making a dressing board"
1555 - 1562 A poor child's keep paid for by the Parish |
1558 |
Elizabeth I daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, becomes Queen; Repeal of Catholic legislation in England |
John Servys appointed Parish Priest. Statues, altars etc. stripped again and 4 parishioners excommunicated for failing to take down rood loft in time. Various attempts to ban church ales. An inventory of 1558-59 notes contents - boards, tressels, "crockes & and olde pan.... a lytell cawdron" and "Fetch crock from Colbroke - boards, planks, spit, cauldron etc." |
1563 - 65 |
|
"Great crock" (brewing pot) mentioned. Crock mended. |
1571 |
|
Notes of barrel repair& cloth made. |
1572 -73 |
|
Major building/repair works to church house - west end wall & hearth reconstruct "taking down a wall, carry stones, scaffolding, pointing, nails, thatch, oven, clean up" plus a Rood for Church House |
1575 |
|
Oven repaired and re-thatched |
1572 - 76 |
|
" paid for food, clothes & lodging for Eston's child" |
1579 - 83 |
Stubbes abuses "merrie making" calls to end ales and church holidays |
|
1586 |
Expedition of Sir Francis Drake to the West Indies |
|
1588 |
The Spanish Armada is defeated by the English fleet under Lord Howard of Effingham, Sir Francis Drake, and Sir John Hawkins |
|
1597 |
Tillage Act |
|
1599 |
|
In 1599 CHURCH ALES were declared unlawful at all times in Devon and in a Canon of 1603 they were prohibited everywhere. |
1600 |
Elizabeth I grants charter to East India Company |
|
1601 |
Elizabethan Poor Law charges the parishes with providing for the needy; Job creation & chastisement |
1603 Church House possibly used as a Poor House? |
1605 |
Gunpowder Plot ; Guy Fawkes and other Roman Catholic conspirators fail in attempt to blow up Parliament and James I |
|
1610 |
Hudson Bay discovered |
|
1611 |
James I's authorized version (King James Version) of the Bible is completed |
|
1624 |
Virginia becomes crown colony |
|
1629 |
Famine in England |
|
1642 |
Civil War breaks out |
|
1649 |
Charles I is tried and executed ; The Commonwealth is established and lasts until 1660 |
Church Ales finally die away in the country due to Puritan pressure - Church House used for meetings and as a store (building materials, tables, etc) |
1660 |
Parliament restores Charles II to throne |
|
1661 |
English acquire Bombay |
|
1663 |
|
Parish applies to appoint schoolmaster - various repairs to Church House |
1664 |
England siezes New Amsterdam from the Dutch, change name to New York |
Purchase of benches for school in Church House |
1665 |
Great Plague in London |
|
1666 |
Great Fire of London |
|
1679 |
Act of Habeas Corpus passed, forbidding imprisonment without trial. Whigs ( Liberals ) & Tories ( Conservatives ) formed |
|
1690 |
King William defeats the Irish and French armies of his father-in-law at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland |
|
1694 |
Foundation of the Bank of England |
|
1699 |
|
Stephen Morehouse appointed Parish Priest |
1700 |
|
New chimney added in center of Church House. Timbers cut 1699-1700, adding 4 more fireplaces (2 up and 2 down) and 2 rooms up and 3 down. Also east first floor ceiling added and door to lobby.
Were the outside stone steps added now? |
1704 |
The British capture Gibraltar from Spain |
|
1707 |
The Act of Union unites the kingdoms of England and Scotland and transfers the seat of Scottish Government to London |
|
1719 |
South Sea Bubble bursts, leaving many investors ruined after speculating with stock of the 'South Sea Company' |
|
1723 |
Poor Law Act - Workhouses for commercial exploitation & to punish |
|
1726 |
Jonathan Swift publishes his 'Gulliver's Travels' |
|
1738 |
John and Charles Wesley start the Methodist movement in Britain |
|
1740 |
|
Notes regarding 'Righting' the oven - purchase of wood for oven to burn & straw to make cob |
1744 |
|
Sweeping the chimneys became a regular expenditure - for instance 15 times between 1744 and 1769. |
1754 |
|
Thomas White appointed Parish priest
'Little Necessary House' built outside Church House |
1755 |
Johnson's Dictionary published |
|
1769 |
James Watt patents the Steam Engine |
|
1775 |
American War of Independence begins |
|
1776 |
On 4th July, the American Congress passes their Declaration of Independence from Britain |
|
1783 |
Britain recognises American independence at the Peace of Versailles |
|
1789 |
Outbreak of the French Revolution |
|
1799 |
|
About this time, the use of Church House as a school ends |
1801 |
The first British Census is undertaken |
|
1804 |
|
First mention of Church House as a Poor House |
1805 |
Nelson destroys the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar |
|
1813 |
Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice' is published. |
|
1815 |
The defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo marks the end of the Napoleonic Wars |
|
1818 |
Mary Shelley's publishes her 'Frankenstein ' |
|
1819 |
|
Alteration to Church House - west end chimney blocked up. Fireplace (& partition?) installed upstairs |
1821-23 |
Famine in Ireland |
|
1825 |
The World's first railway service , the Stockton and Darlington Railway opens. Trade Unions are legalized |
|
1829 |
The Metropolitan Police Force is set up by Robert Peel. |
|
1830-32 |
First major cholera epidemic in Britain |
|
1833 |
Abolition of Slavery in British Empire . Factory Act prohibiting under nines from work in factories and reducing working hrs of women & older children |
|
1834 |
Parliament passes the Poor Law Act , establishing workhouses for the poor |
|
1837 |
Queen Victoria to throne. Charles Dickens publishes 'Oliver Twist ,' Births, deaths and marriages must be registered by law |
|
1840 |
The penny post is instituted |
|
1841 |
The first British Census recording the names of the populace is undertaken. |
Census : There were 20 people in four rooms in Church House |
1842 |
|
Outside steps extended, Door from first floor east room knocked out and railings added to steps |
1844-45 |
Railways mania explodes across Britain . Massive investment and speculation leads to the laying of 5,000 miles of track |
|
1845-49 |
Irish Potato Famine kills more than a million people |
|
1848 |
Parliament passes the Public Health Act |
|
1851 |
The Great Exhibition is staged in Hyde Park |
Census : Details of four big families living in Church House |
1853 |
Vaccination against smallpox is made compulsory |
|
1854 |
Workhouses introduced |
|
1859 |
Charles Darwin publishes his 'The Origin of the Species' |
|
1861 |
|
Census : Church House still a Poor House |
1863 |
The Salvation Army is founded |
|
1870 |
Primary education becomes compulsory in Britain |
|
1880s |
Dairy Schools introduced |
Use as Poor House gradually discontinued |
1881 |
|
Census : ? Almshouse - Deserving Poor Women? |
1888 |
The County Councils' Act establishes representative county based authorities |
|
1899-1902 |
Boer War in South Africa |
|
1914 |
First World War starts |
|
1915 |
|
Photo of Traveling Dairy School in Church house |
1916 |
|
Upper floor used for Sunday School & Meetings |
1918 |
End of World War 1 |
|
1939 |
World War 2 starts |
|
1940 |
27 th may - 4 th June - Dunkirk Evacuation |
Billeting for Dunkirk Soldiers and then used as a Canteen |
1945s |
World War 2 ends |
'3 wooden screens' noted- Store for coal, equipment and coffin |
1961 - 75 |
Vietnamese War |
Peter Apps appointed Parish Priest |
1962 |
|
Kitchen, drains and toilets added, first floor hall re-floored and electricity installed for 700th anniversary of first Parish Priests |
1967 |
|
Church House 'Listed' Grade 2 - 22nd February 1967 |
1962 - 2002 |
|
Used for Youth Club, Sunday School, Christening, Funerals and Quaker Meetings etc. |
1969 |
First moon landing - 20 th July |
|
1980 |
|
John Ellis appointed Parish Priest
Need for renovation noted. |
1985 |
|
First Church House Management Committee (disbanded 1989) |
1987 |
|
Listed Grade 2 * upgrade - suggested uses: art exhibitions, small family/group parties, committee meetings. working groups, reading circles, discussion groups, public meetings, workshops, exhibitions, film/tv location, training/education courses, cultural open visits |
1989 |
Berlin Wall falls 9 th November |
Barry Wood appointed Parish Priest |
| 2001 |
World Trade Centre Disaster September 11 |
|
2002 |
Euro currency introduced |
Church House needed re-thatching. Deborah Griffiths(Head of Archaeology DNPA) suggests comprehensive restoration.
3rd October: Public Meeting. Decided to apply for grants and Working Party formed.
November: Working Party report should set up Management Committee and get Structural and Historical Surveys.
December: Dartmoor National Park
funding and advice.
|
2003 |
Space shuttle Columbia explodes
Iraq war |
29th January: Inaugural Meeting of Church House Committee
26th February: Okehampton Times Notice to set up "Friends of Church House" to raise finance.
Dartmoor Sustainable Development Fund (DNPA & DERFA), English Heritage, Parish Council and Friends of Church House fund the commisioning of 1. Historical Survey 2. Feasibility Study 3. Architectural Condition Survey
March: Keystone Buildings Historical Survey received
April: Interest shown by artist groups
7th May: John Christian Art Exhibition
21st May: Friends of Church House officially launched
28 th May: Management Committee Constitution accepted
Jun 6: Michael Thayer appointed Parish Priest
17th July, 27th Aug, 17th October: Meetings
September: Preparation of bids for funding to HLF and other sources
3rd December: Van der Steen Hall's Architectural Condition Survey received
28th December: Cynthia Gaskell Brown's Feasibility Study received |
2004 |
Asian tsunami on Boxing Day |
10th January Application for Heritage Lottery Fund grant
24 th March: Meg Wolton resigned AGM
14th April: Cynthia Gaskell-Brown & Allen Architects appointed
16th June: Heritage Lottery Fund granted (£274,000 - 78%)
Applications to other Trusts and Charities for remaining 22%
25th November: John Letts thatch investigation
2nd December: Ian Tyers dendrochronology investigation |
2005 |
Pakistan Earthquake |
Quantity Surveyor appointed (Bare, Leaning and Bare) and tenders invited for Main Contractor.
18th February: Darrock and Brown appointed as Main Contractors and Malcolm Hayes as Thatcher
17th March: Historical Interpretation Drawings commissioned from Dr. Pat Hughes
22nd March: Inaugural Meeting of whole Restoration team
25th April: Contractors arrive and restoration commences
10th May: Thermal Imaging investigation Robert Demaus
30th November - St. Andrew's Day: Restoration complete. Church House opened by Deborah Griffiths Dartmoor National Park Authority
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