The Village

Sampford Courtenay is a lovely, largely thatched village which is designated a Conservation Area and preserved because of it's beauty and historic significance.

Today, we have an excellent pub and a lovely church set in very quiet lanes surrounded by farmland and with views to Cosdon Beacon and Yes Tor on nearby Dartmoor. This is an excellent spot to chill out and as a base for an enormous range of outdoor activities.

Strolling through the lanes and footpaths is most relaxing, however, the village has a very interesting and rather bloody history.

Sampford Courtenay was an agricultural village with church, inn and shops (1, Part Harveys was once a butcher's - the carcasses were hung under the huge thatched eaves). Such was the demand for horsepower locally that the village boasted two blacksmiths, one forge being located just down the road, by the church (ref "Forge Cottage") and the other near the New Inn.

The powerful Courtenay family, who lived in Okehampton castle, were the Lords of this manor until 1538 when Henry, Marques of Exeter and cousin to Henry VIII was executed! Since then the Lords of the Manor have been the Provost and Fellows of Kings College Cambridge.

The village is most famous as the seat of the Western Rebellion in 1549 during which many lives were lost in protest against the introduction of the new (protestant) Book of Common Prayer, the catholic rebels demanding the reintroduction of the Latin prayer book.

The rebellion proper started on Whit Monday on the steps of Sampford Courtenay's Church House following a celebration of the illegal Latin mass. Local magistrates were called and, in the following furore, a local gentleman, William Hellyons was killed with a bill hook as he stood to address the crowd. The church house and steps remain absolutely unchanged today.

The rebels massed with thousands of protesters from Cornwall and the rest of Devon to march upon Exeter, gathering huge support on their way. Such was the popular support for the rebels religious demands, through all classes of British society, that they commanded the sympathy of the vast bulk of the population. Indeed, had they marched directly upon London rather than besieging Exeter, they would probably have massed sufficient force of arms en route to defeat the government troops and materially change English history.

The government had to resort to Genoese mercenaries (ironically Catholics) to quell the rebellion and their treatment of captured rebels was merciless.

The royal army under Lord Russel pushed west into Devon and on 17^th August 1549, met a rebel outpost east of North Tawton. A skirmish took place on the site now called "Bloody Park" and "Battishills (battles) Lane" and the royal army defeated the rebel outpost.

They captured North Tawton and advanced to Sampford Courtenay where they broke up the main body of the protestors and left between five and six hundred of them dead or dying in the streets of this village.