Parish History
The history of Offwell is closely bound to the Copleston family, who were rectors of Offwell from 1773 to1954 and their imprint on the village can be widely seen. Edward Copleston (later Bishop of Llandaff and Dean of St. Paul’s) built the village school in 1840, which is one of the oldest in the West Country.
He is also responsible for the building of various other significant buildings including Offwell House, The Old Rectory, The Bishop’s Tower, The Vestry and the stone cover and pump for the well, known as Offa’s Well, which stands in the middle of the village and from which the village takes its name.
Publications
Available in St Mary’s Church are a number of publications tracing Offwell’s history from the 13th Century to the present day.
‘A History of Offwell Church & Parish’ Debrett Ancestry Research MMIX
(£15 – available to purchase in St Mary’s Church)
Illustrated in colour, this book is 150 pages long and includes an index, bibliography and genealogical charts. It covers the Medieval Church, Reform and Refurbishment, Civil War and Commonwealth, the 18th Century, the Copleston era, 1772-1954 and the modern church.
‘The History of Colwell Wood and Cottage (2016)’ Debrett Ancestry Research MMVI
Illustrated in colour, this book is 130 pages long and includes chronological tables, abstracts of deeds, abstracts of wills, sale particulars and a bibliography. This study traces the history of the estate or manor of Colwell from medieval times to 1725, and then the history of Colwell Wood and Colwell Wood Cottage to the present day.
‘The 1918 Offwell & Widworthy Commemorative Exhibition’
Produced by Frank & Carol Hayes, 2019
An exhibition held at St Marys Church in November 2018 is now available in book form. The exhibition boo commemorates the lives of the seven boys from Offwell and Widworthy who left their villages in East Devon to fight in the Great War, never to return.
The book not only remembers these seven lives lost but also gives a flavour of an East Devon farming community that was to change forever, involving the break-up of many farming estates including the Widworthy Estate. There are stories of Devon farmers pleading with the army not to take their farm horses, and of the hardships of rural domestic service that were to continue well into the 1920s and 30s plus the final years of the Copleston rectors.
‘St Mary’s Through The Ages’ Produced by Frank & Carol Hayes
(Document folder in St Mary’s. Not published. Click here to download)
St Mary’s has a rich and distinguished history. This illustrated 8-page document follows the fortunes of Offwell Church from the 13th to the 20th Century. In the 14th Century there was bubonic plague and the mini ice age; in the 15th Century many priests went to France as military chaplains with Henry V’s army; the 16th Century saw the Prayer Book Rebellion and during the Civil War, Offwell’s priest was an active Royalist. The Copleston era began in 1772 and for the next 181 years, members of the Copleston family served continuously as Rectors of the parish.
‘The Life & Times of Bishop Edward Copleston’ Produced by Frank & Carol Hayes
(Document folder in St Mary’s. Not published. Click here to download)
Edward Copleston came from an ancient and formidable clerical dynasty. This illustrated study follows Bishop Copleston’s early life, his time as Provost of Oriel College, his appointment as Bishop of LLandaf and Dean of St Paul’s and his great affection for and constant visits to Offwell.
Bishop Copleston was a prolific letter writer and diarist. He suffered from continual ill-health in his later years and his correspondence often refers to his ‘dispeptic malady’ when he would seek solace at his Offwell home.
As a moderately reforming bishop of the period, his letters also touch on a great many issues of relevance for the church history of the 18302 and 40s.
The Letters of Edward Copleston, Bishop of Llandaff, 1828-1849, ISBN 0 9525961 7 2
Edited by Roger Lee Brown (2003)
Memoir of Edward Copleston, DD, Bishop of Llandaff: with selections from his diary and correspondence etc
Edward Copleston (author), William James Copleston (Author)
(370 pages published by Nabu Press, 2010), ISBN-10: 117191055X
Bishop Copleston documents (letters and manuscripts) are kept by the Devon Archives in Exeter. www.swheritage.org.uk (devonarchives@swheritage.org.uk) and by the National Library of Wales.
‘St Mary’s Churchyard, Offwell’ Produced by Frank & Carol Hayes
(Document folder in St Mary’s. Not published. Click here to download)
An illustrated 14-page document tells the stories of some of the men, women and children who are buried in the vaults and graveyard at St Mary’s – including 40 members of the Copleston family; village benefactors in the 18th and 19th Centuries; the Bagwell family who were hung, drawn and quartered during the Monmouth Rebellions; smugglers, farmers, publicans and war heroes.
‘St Mary’s Historic Features’ by Carol Hayes
(Document folder in St Mary’s. Click here to download)
This guide includes eleven of St Mary’s historic features including: a 19th Century stained glass window dedicated to Catherine Anne Copleston, St Mary’s graffiti, ‘Moon’ carings, medieval stained glass, Flemish roundels, a 17th Century carved wooden screen and lectern, a Scudamore Organ (1859), 17th Century wall painted biblical texts and a 16th Century Tower Screen.
‘Q90 Exhibition – Offwell Village from 1926 to 2016’ Produced by Frank & Carol Hayes
(Document folder in St Mary’s. Not published. Illustrated 36-page document)
In June 2016 an exhibition on display in St Mary’s celebrated the nine decades of Queen Elizabeth II’s life. The display (now in document form) portrayed the lives of Offwell residents from 1926 to 2016. It included stories of school days in the 1920s; London evacuees during World War II and the Offwell men who didn’t return; personal memories of Coronation Day; the creation of Offwell WI in the 1950s; farming life through the bitter winters in the 1960s and 1970s plus the creation of the Offwell Woodland Educatin Centre with the Princess Royal’s visit in 2005.
The display included many church milestones including the addition of a new treble bell in the 1950s; the acquisition of the 16th Century Tower Screen in the 1970s; restoration work at St Mary’s and the Yew Tree designation as a ‘Great Tree of Devon’ in 2008 plus the publication in 2009 of Debrett’s ‘A History of Offwell Church and Parish’.
‘Offwell Village’ Leslie W Garey (1990) Published by Obelisk Publications, Exeter
(click here to download) (An illustrated 56-page booklet, no longer in print)
Dedicated to William Easton Wright, Rector of Offwell 1969-1985, this booklet covers Offwell past and present from the Saxon and Norman period. From Roman roads to two World Wars, including names of themen who served and died; Copleston houses, farm houses and cottages; the coming of the railway; Offwell School history; Offa’s Well, the Parish Pump and Copplestone Cross; Offwell’s Feoffee Charity; St Mary’s Church and seating plan 1658 and 1854 plus plans of churchyard additions in 1886 and 1922.
‘The History of Offwell & Widworthy’ Colonel Josslyn Ramsden (1946)
(Despite extensive research this publication appears to have remained in manuscript form with three known volumes. The Preface was dated December 31st 1946)
This 83-page document lists detailed land records and parish accounts for both Offwell and Widworthy. It also gives a detailed record of the following: Geology, Flora & Fauna of East Devon; Parish Boundaries’ Etymology of the Parish Place Names; History of Offwell Village |& Church; Industries of Offwell and Widworthy; Inns of Offwell and Widworthy; Offwell and Widworthy Populations 1801-1931; Offwell Parish Rights of Way 1810; Phosphatic Chalk of Wilmington and Sutton Barton Lime Quarries. Both the Debrett History and Garey’s ‘Offwell Village’ use extensive research material from Ramsden’s book.
‘VE Day 75 – Offwell Memories’
Four residents of Offwell, aged between 84 and 94 have spoken about their memories of the war years and how World War II impacted on their own lives. Barry Tuke, a navy man, remembers visiting Southend with his father and seeing merchant ship convoys: he was four years of age.
May White’s school in Newbury was bombed 20 minutes after school finished for the day.
Dick Erith was working on his father’s farm on the Suffolk/Norfolk border alongside American Air Force bases and POW camps.
Grace Ayers went to Colyton Grammar School along with evacuee children from London. Her father was a local baker and St John ambulance driver.
75th Anniversary of VJ Day
Saturday 15th August, the 75th anniversary of VJ Day, marks the surrender of Japan and the end of World War II.
Three Offwell residents still living in the Parish have family connections with those who served in the Asia-Pacific War.
‘Victory over Japan Day’ commemorates these men and the nephew of Frederick Copleston, the last of the Copleston rectors, who died in Malay in 1942.
Copleston Rectors During WWI and WWII
Copleston Rectors During WWI and WWII and The Copleston Spy
The History of Bell Ringing and the Ellacombe chimes Bicentenary (June 2021)
Produced by Frank & Carol Hayes (Document folder in St Mary’s)
The History of Bell Ringing document covers the story of bell ringing from 1000 AD to the present day. The folder also includes information about St Mary’s bell ringers from 1983 to the present day. On 26th June 2021, St Mary’s Tower Captain, John Tristram, took part in ‘Chime around the World’ to celebrate the bicentenary of the Ellacombe Chimes. By the 1800s change ringing became synonymous with ‘swearing, smoking and riotous behaviour’. Rev Ellacombe at St Mary’s in Bitton, South Gloucestershire came up with a solution – a device that enabled one trusted person only to ring all the bells of a church.
The commemorative book ‘Ellacombe Chimes: Two Hundred Years’ can be found on St Mary’s bookshelves.