In Swymbridge Church, where Parson “Jack” Russell ministered so long, is a “shoppy” inscription on a monument erected to the memory of “John Rosier, Gent., one of the Attorneys of the Court of Common Pleas and an Auncient of the Honble Society of Lyons Inne, who died the 25th day of December, 1685, Ætatis suae, 57.” It is as follows:—
“Loe with a warrant sealed by God’s decree
Death his grim sergieant hath arrested mee,
No bayle was to be given, no law could save
My body from the prison of the grave.
Yet by the Gospell my poor soule had got
A supersedeas, and death seaz’d it not;
And for my downe cast body, here it lyes;
A prisoner of hope, it shall arise.
Faith doth assure mee God of his great love
In Christ will send a writ for my remove,
And set my body, as my soul is, free
With Christ in Heaven—Come, glorious Libertie!”
Our next and last point is Combmartin, Westcote’s village—a long, straggling place, which Miss Marie Corelli annexed for her Mighty Atom, and another lady, whom I met at Challacombe some years ago, designated with pious horror as “dark”—no doubt in allusion to the bits of folklore, which—happily, as I think—yet linger in these rural districts. It would be easy to cite many illustrations of West-country “superstition,” such as the fruitful influences of the moon, which will send a man to dig in his garden when it is covered with snow; but, having devoted a considerable section of my Book of Exmoor to this fascinating topic, I will here confine myself to the principal interest of Combmartin—namely, its silver mines. In the reign of Elizabeth, however, it was a great place for hemp, and a project was formed for establishing a port at Hartland entirely on account of this trade. As it was, the shoemakers’ thread manufactured in the neighbourhood was sufficient to supply the whole of the western counties.
As to the mines, Westcote states:—
“This town hath been rich and famous for her silver mines, of the first finding of which there are no certain records remaining. In the time of Edward I. they were wrought, but in the tumultuous reign of his son they might chance to be forgotten until his nephew (?) Edward III., who in his French conquest made good use of them, and so did Henry V., of which there are divers monuments, their names to this time remaining; as the King’s mine, storehouse, blowing-house, and refining-house.”
The industry was resumed in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, but seems to have been checked by the influx of water. However, a great quantity of silver is said to have been raised and refined, mainly through the enterprise of Adrian Gilbert and Sir Beavois Bulmer, who bargained for half the profit. Each partner realised £10,000. The owner of the land, Richard Roberts, who happens to have been Westcote’s father-in-law, presented William Bourchier, Earl of Bath, with a “rich and rare” cup, bearing the quaint inscription:—
“In Martin’s Comb long lay I hiyd,
Obscur’d, deprest wth grossest soyle,
Debased much wth mixed lead,
Till Bulmer came, whoes skill and toyle
Refined me so pure and cleen,
As rycher no wher els is seene.
“And adding yet a farder grace,
By fashion he did inable
Me worthy for to take a place
To serve at any Prince’s table,
Comb Martyn gave the Oare alone,
Bulmer fyning and fashion.”
Another cup was given to Sir Richard Martin, Lord Mayor of London, who was also master and manager of the Mint, the design being that it