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The unveiling took place on 20 March 2020 on the eve of the first covid
lockdown. There was to be an event following the unveiling in the nearby
Southernhay Church Hall with a recital of folk songs by Wren Music and a
series of displays, which this web page updates, but this indoor gathering
had to be cancelled. Sabine Baring-Gould's great granddaughter Merriol
Almond had been invited to unveil the plaque, but flights from the United
states were suspended. As committee members of the Civic Society wondered
how to proceed, a passerby asked what was happening. Her curiosity had been
aroused as she was a great granddaughter of Sabine Baring-Gould. Once she
had proved her credentials, she was invited to unveil the plaque much to
her surprise and delight.
The dedication event for the plaque was delayed and, after a couple of false starts, a Zoom presentation was arranged for 1 October 2021. The displays were converted into a Powerpoint presentation which is the basis of this web page, and there were three presentations; the first was by Wren Music who spoke on the projects to establish a digital archive of Baring- Gould's folk song manuscripts and popular literature, followed by a recital of folk songs by Marilyn Tucker and Paul Wilson, the second was by Dr Janet Tall of the South West Heritage Trust who spoke on the digitisation of a recently rediscovered volume of popular literature in the Devon Heritage Centre with a display of some of the colourful items it contained, and the third presentation was by Martin and Shan Graebe on Baring-Gould's pioneering work in collecting folk songs in the years around 1890, accompanied by performances of some of the folk songs he collected. His work is described in more detail in Martin's award-winning book As I Walked out, which was the title of his presentation. Merriol Almond's verdict on the afternoon's proceedings: "It was great!" and it was enjoyed by other members of the family scattered across the United States and the British Isles. |
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1852 Admitted to Cambridge University BA 1857. 1857 Teacher at Hurstpierpoint College. 1862 Travelled round Iceland on horseback 1864 Ordained, curate at Horbury, Yorkshire. 1868 Married Grace Taylor, daughter of a mill-hand. 1869-1891 15 children born to Grace and Sabine. 1871 Rector of East Mersea, Essex. 1872 Inherited Lewtrenchard estate in Devon. 1881 Appointed himself to the living of Lewtrenchard. 1888 Started to collect folk songs, published 1889-1891. 1893 Started excavation of hut-circles on Dartmoor. 1916 Grace died, buried in Lewtrenchard churchyard. 1924 2 Jan. Died at Lewtrenchard, buried with Grace. |
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Without the continuing interest of the descendants of Sabine Baring-Gould
in their illustrious ancestor the plaque is less likely to have been
erected. This section through the family tree, taken from The mana of
Lew by granddaughter Cicely Briggs (1993 edition) traces in a thin red
line the descent of the holders of the Lewtrenchard estate through Sabine
Baring-Gould's son Edward and his grandson Sabine Linton to his great
granddaughter Merriol Almond and her son Douglas. They have cared for the
estate and SBG's heritage over the generations, recently through the
Baring-Gould Corporation, and have supported Exeter Civic Society's work to
install the blue plaque.
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The Exeter Civic Society’s blue plaques scheme is dedicated to putting up
new plaques and creating interest in all the plaques and other monuments
that mark links between historic people and the city.
Celebrating the history of Exeter is just one of the Society’s many
objectives. The Society was established in 1961 to challenge developments
that threatened the city’s historic buildings. Among the founder members
were the historian W. G Hoskins, Bishop Wilfrid Westall, the archaeologist
Aileen Lady Fox, James Smeall (Principal of St. Lukes), Dr Fortescue
Foulkes of Poltimore Hospital, and historian Robert Newton.
Its aims are to promote high standards of planning and architecture; to educate the public in the geography, history, natural history and architecture of Exeter; and to secure the preservation, protection, development and improvement of features of historic or public interest in Exeter. The City and County Councils are challenged to ensure development is appropriate for our historic city, as well as scrutinising development plans and commenting on them. The Society has put up commemorative plaques, published booklets on Exeter communities and used their income to maintain the Matthew Miller clock, Sidwell Methodist Church cupola, the sundial on the Devon and Exeter Institution and the wind vane on the North Gate, among other things. It also holds monthly meetings with talks on Exeter's heritage and occasional open meetings with planning authorities. The Society welcomes all those who share these aims to join. The image shows that map of central Exeter from the Society's leaflet listing plaques and other monuments. |
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Leander Architectural and The Royal Label Factory are long established
businesses producing high quality signage and structures. The RLF dates
back to 1874 and Leander to 1986, with the two businesses merging in 1998.
Some of their customers have worked with them for more than 50 years and
they have made signs for the National Trust for 80 years. They have been
making blue plaques for Exeter Civic Society for several years.
Over time many aspects of their work have changed with the advent of computer graphics, laser cutting and etching, but old crafts such as sand- casting are still used. They have been making high quality cast plaques in iron, bronze, aluminium and brass for over 140 years. All the high-silicon aluminium used in their blue plaques is 100% recycled metal, reducing the environmental impact of their castings. The Society has commissioned a series of images illustrating the production of an earlier Civic Society plaque. |
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Gilbert Stephens, on whose premises the Sabine Baring-Gould blue plaque is
placed, is a leading firm of Exeter solicitors. They can trace their
history back to a firm which was founded in the late 1800s by Henry William
Gould. In 1938 the firm moved from its offices in Bedford Circus to 17
Southernhay East. They take their responsibility to supporting and
contributing to the community seriously, participating in local fundraising
events to support local branches of FORCE Cancer Charity, McMillan Cancer
Charity, Exeter YMCA and WESC Foundation as well as local art shows, brass
bands, choral societies, sporting events, and the famous Ottery St Mary Tar
Barrels event.
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| The unveiling event was due to take place in Southernhay Church Hall on 20 February 2020. The understanding of Wendy Milne when the live event was cancelled is much appreciated. |
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Wren Music is a community arts organisation based in Okehampton who have
been working with people across Devon since 1983 celebrating cultural
identities through traditional music.
The work of Sabine Baring-Gould has long inspired their work and they have for many years run workshops, festivals and other events linked to him. Following the rediscovery by Wren of important folk song manuscripts of Sabine Baring-Gould at Killerton in 1992 they set up the Baring-Gould Heritage Project which microfilmed all his known folk song manuscripts in 1998. Most of these items were later digitised, again through Wren, for the Devon Traditions project in 2009/11 and images and indexes of folk songs were made available on the English Folk Dance and Song Society's website. The image shows Marilyn Tucker (left) and Paul Wilson (right), the two prime movers of Wren Music |
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available through the English Folk Dance and Song Society |
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The archive was gathered together by the Wren Trust through the Baring-
Gould Heritage Project which microfilmed all the items then identified in
1998. Most items were digitised, again by Wren, for the Devon Traditions
project in 2009/11 and images and indexes of folk songs were made available
on the English Folk Dance and Song Society's website. The Sabine Baring-
Gould folk song archive is made up as follows: SBG1 Devon Heritage Centre (formerly at Killerton). SBG1/1-3 Personal copy manuscript. 3 volumes (compiled ca. 1889- 1893). SBG1/4-7 Songs and ballads of the West. 4 parts. Interleaved and annotated set. SBG1/8 Garland of country song. Interleaved and annotated copy. SBG2 Devon Heritage Centre (notebooks formerly at Killerton). SBG2/1-3 Working notebooks 2-4 (formerly Killerton notebooks 1- 3). SBG2/4 Emily Baring-Gould's manuscript song book. SBG3 The Box (Plymouth and West Devon Record Office). SBG3/1 Fair copy manuscript (compiled 1892). SBG3/2 Working notebook 1 (formerly Plymouth notebook 1). SBG3/3 Composition notebook (formerly Plymouth notebook 2). SBG3/4-16 Rough copy notebooks volumes 1-11, 13-14. SBG4 Popular literature (Devon Heritage Centre, printed). SBG4/1/1-3 Chapbooks (3 volumes). SBG4/2/1-7 Ballads (7 volumes). SBG4/3 Broadsides (1 volume recently rediscovered and digitised). SBG5 Harvard SBG5 Ballads and songs collected by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, chiefly in Devonshire, and sent by him to Prof. F.J. Child. |
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The National Sound Archive, a department within the British Library,
includes some 6,500 field recordings of traditional songs, music,
storytelling and customs made between 1969 to 2001 mainly in the south west
of England, in Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall by Bob and Jacqueline
Patten.
The collection includes original performances of West Gallery Music, Shape Note Singing, and carols as well as recordings of traditions such as wassailing, children's rhymes, songs and games and interviews about rural life. The Archive also comprises music manuscripts of the 19th century, slides, photographs, video recordings and research notes. In future years the Archive will be housed in the Taunton office of the South West Heritage Trust. The archive continued to grow after 2001 and is a worthy continuation of the pioneering work of Sabine Baring-Gould. Like his collections, the Patten collection can be enjoyed by everyone. |
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Lewtrenchard Manor was built in the 1620s but was altered considerably by
Sabine Baring-Gould who resided there for many years. In 1872 he inherited
the family estates of Lewrenchard, which comprised 3,000 acres, and the
gift of the living of Lewtrenchard parish. When the living became vacant in
1881 he was able to appoint himself as parson and he lived there until his
death in 1924.
The house contains a significant part of the Baring-Gould library and also the Shacklock Collection of books relating to Sabine Baring-Gould. It is now a hotel and can be visited to enjoy the house, the church of Saint Peter, where Sabine and his wife Grace are buried, as well as the beautiful grounds and the recently rediscovered Forgotten Garden. The hotel also provides tea, coffee and meals. |
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The Devon Heritage Centre holds all types of historical archives relating
to the county of Devon and the City of Exeter. The West Country Studies
Library is now also located there.
Devon Record Office moved from the Centre of Exeter to Great Moor House in 2005 and the Westcountry Studies Library was relocated there in 2012. Since 2014 the joint service has been run by the South West Heritage Trust under the name of the Devon Archives and Local Studies Service. The Westcountry Studies Library contains many volumes by or about Sabine Baring-Gould and the Record Office hold (on loan from the Baring-Gould Corporation) a large part of the Baring-Gould manuscript and popular literature collection, much of which was formerly housed in Killerton. It has digitised a recently rediscovered volume of broadsides that was collected by Sabine Baring-Gould. The image shows the score of "Widecombe Fair" from the personal copy manuscript of folk songs held by the Devon Heritage Centre from the English Folk Dance and Song Society website with permission of the Baring-Gould Corporation. |
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The Kent Kingdon Bequest exists to purchase books for the Exeter Public
Library and works of art for the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter. It
was established under the will of Kent Kingdon, an Exeter cabinet maker who
died on 2 April 1889.
In the early part of the twentieth century the funds facilitated the purchase of many items but over the years they were eroded by inflation. From the 1970s the fund became dormant but in 1994 the Bequest was revived and the income which had accrued over the previous twenty years was reinvested and a number of grants were made to the Museum and Library. After 2005 there was a second period of dormancy but the charity is now back in action, in 2020 making significant grants to Wren Music to complete the Devon traditions digitisation project and to the Westcountry Studies Library for retrospective purchases to fill gaps caused by the years of austerity. The iamge shows the book fool from Alexander Barclay’s translation of The ship of fools (1570 edition), the earliest printed book by a Devon writer, one of the many books purchased for the Westcountry Studies Library by the Kent Kingdon Bequest |
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Plymouth operates a separate record office, housed in The Box, opened in
September 2020 and the local studies library, housed in the Central
Library, 167-171 Armada Way.
Each holds significant collections of material relating to Sabine Baring- Gould including the Francis Nicolle Collection and Baring-Gould's fair copy folk song manuscript and his rough copy notebooks. The image shows the score of "Widecombe Fair" from the fair copy manuscript of folk songs held by the Box from the English Folk Dance and Song Society website. |
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The Friends of Devon's Archives was founded in 1998 to promote the
preservation and use of historical records throughout Devon and to raise
public awareness of their importance for research and education. It
provides financial support for the acquisition of Devon documents, arranges
a programme of lectures and volunteer projects, and liaises closely with
the local record offices in Devon to improve standards of care and
availability of the county's written heritage.
Its newsletter includes details of current projects, and lists of recent acquisitions by archives in the county of Devon and city of Plymouth. The image shows "An account of the patrons and all the ecclesiastical benfices in the diocese of Exon" (1747?), a recent purchase by the Friends of Devon’s Archives |
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The Special Collections department manages the University's collections of
unique and rare materials, which include archives, manuscripts, and rare
books. Material in their collections is available for everyone - students,
staff and external researchers – to access in the Ronald Duncan reading
room. The collections cover a wide range of subjects, including Arab and
Islamic Studies; Art History and Visual Culture; Business Studies; Drama;
English; Geography; History; Literary Studies; Local Studies; Modern
Languages; Politics; and Theology and Religion.
It also includes a major part of the Baring-Gould library, which was transferred from Killerton in 2012. The contents have recently been recatalogued by qualified volunteer staff and sets of volumes long broken between the University, Devon Heritage Centre and Lewtrenchard Manor reunited. The link below homes in on the 1,800 records in the Baring-Gould collection which includes a copy of The book of werewolves (1865), illustrated in the image to the right. |
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The Institution was established in 1813 at its present home in 7 Cathedral
Close. Established "… for promoting the general diffusion of Science,
Literature and the Arts, and for illustrating the Natural and Civil History
of the county of Devon and the History of the City of Exeter", it became an
educational charity in 1989.
It maintains a library of 35,000 volumes and many thousands of maps, prints, pamphlets, cuttings and leaflets. The library is deemed of national importance as an intact collection in its original setting. Its collections include many items by or relating to Sabine Baring-Gould, one of which English folk-songs for schools is illustrated to the right. |
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Since 1977 the project has been undertaking research into book history at
an international level but concentrating on Exeter and Devon. Its main
project currently is:Established in its present form in 2015 to complete Devon's record of publishing, the Devon bibliography picks up on the annual publications produced from 1985 to 2005 by the Westcountry Studies Library. Based on the old catalogue of the Library, retrieved from a web archive, it is supplemented by the British national bibliography, JISC discovery hub, WorldCat and other sources and now contains more than 100,000 records of books, newspapers, periodicals, articles, theses, non-archival manuscripts, maps, prints and digital records held in collections across Devon and beyond. The Devon bibliography includes a full listing of works in Baring- Gould's Library split between the University of Exeter, the Devon Heritage Centre and Lewtrenchard Manor, and also Baring-Gould items in Plymouth, Exeter and the Shacklock Collection at Lewtrenchard. There are also listings of Icelandic sagas and several thousand broadside ballads, most of them given by Sabine Baring-Gould to the British Library. Firther work was undertaken on the library in Lewtrenchard during October 2021. |
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The Society was established by David Shacklock in 1989. The purpose of the
Society was to enable those interested in Sabine Baring-Gould and his work
to share their enthusiasm and to spread that enthusiasm among others.
Two publications were produced by SBGAS: the Newsletter was issued in February, June and October each year and Transactions, produced annually from 2001 to 2018. Archived copies can be read on the website. The Society also organised an annual meeting in lcations linked to Sabine Baring-Gould both inside and outside Devon. The Society was wound up in 2019. Its website is being maintained in the medium term and contains much valuable material. A relationship with former members is being maintained and Martin Graebe remains a point of contact for those who wish to know more about Baring- Gould and his work. |
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David Shacklock is an enthusiast for Sabine Baring Gould who was the prime
mover in setting up the Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation Society in 1989.
For many years he collected works by Sabine Baring-Gould, both separately
published and issued as articles in complete volumes of magazines. He also
collected works which contained references to Baring-Gould and places where
he lived. This collection of more than 1,000 items was donated to the
Baring Gould Heritage Trust at Lewtrenchard Manor in 2018.
A listing has been provided through the Devon Bibliography. |
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Dr Roger Bristow was a geologist who worked for the British Geological Survey. This made him an expert in assessing Sabine Baring-Gould's interest in geology and he has contributed on this to the Transactions of the Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation Society, for which body he served for some time as editor. He was also an internationally renowned expert on the butterflies of the world.
His main contribution to the heritage of Sabine Baring-Gould is A bibliography of the works of Sabine Baring-Gould, a mammoth task. The introduction reveals quite what a prolific writer Sabine Baring-Gould was. Between 1852 and 1924 he wrote at least 1153 works in all. In addition to books and pamphlets this total included articles published in 235 magazines, journals and newspapers throughout the world. His output varied from no publications in 1878 to a maximum of 43 in 1887. However, the actual number of publications is not necessarily a true reflection of his output as their length varied from just a short letter in a newspaper to several hundred pages, with some of the books running to several volumes. His most productive year, in terms of pages written, was 1899 with 2424 pages, but, interestingly, his second most productive year was quite late in his life with 2369 pages in 1908. Sadly, Roger Bristow died in September 2020. |
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Rev Prebendary Norman Wallwork is an authority on Baring Gould’s writings,
particularly his hymns. The more than eighty hymns and carols he has
identified are listed with texts and historical details in his booklet Most
highly favoured lady, the translations and hymns of Sabine Baring-Gould :
an annotated anthology, a first draft of which appeared in 2013.
The 2014 issue of the Transactions of the Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation Society includes an article by Norman Wallwork on Sabine Baring-Gould's hymns. |
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Ron Wawman is a retired psychiatrist cum local historian and playwright. He
lives near Lewtrenchard Manor and produced the biographical community play
about Baring-Gould Like a buoy that in 2007 was successfully produced in
West Devon by Red Spider Company.
His book Never completely submerged, looks at Sabine’s life through the important twenty year diary written by Sabine, transcribed by Ron Wawman and published in 2009. His website also features much other little known and unpublished material written by Sabine in the form of notebooks, diaries, letters, articles and a book. Between them they shine light into corners of this important 19th century polymath's life, that are not illuminated by either his own published Reminiscences or by the four biographies that have been written about him. A chance discussion with the then gardener of the Lew Trenchard Hotel led Ron to form the Friends of the Forgotten Garden of Lew Trenchard which can now be enjoyed by visitors to Sabine Baring-Gould's home. |
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Mint Press has recently published a book on Uncle Tom Cobley and all, as
well as many other works on Devon and its heritage.
Mint Press was established in 2000 by Todd Gray and by 2020 has published some fifty titles relating to Devon, mainly written by Todd himself. He studied for a doctorate at the University of Exeter from 1984 to 1988. He has been involved with many local organisations including Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries, the Devonshire Association, Devon History Society, the Devon and Cornwall Record Society, Devon Gardens Trust, Devon Family History Society, the Centre for South-Western Historical Studies at the University of Exeter and the Friends of Devon's Archives. He has discovered many hidden gems in archives and libraries across Britain, has spoken widely on Devon's history and campaigned for Devon's heritage, recently for the Royal Clarence Hotel after the devastating fire. |
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Martin researches, writes, and gives talks about traditional song. An
important part of this work has been his study of Sabine Baring-Gould’s
pioneering project to document the songs of the ordinary people of Devon
and Cornwall. The outcome of this work is his recent, award winning book As
I walked out, Sabine Baring-Gould and the Search for the Folk Songs of
Devon and Cornwall.
Martin contributed many articles to the publications of the Sabine Baring- Gould Appreciation Society (SBGAS), of which he was the chairman and Transactions editor until 2019. He was also the editor of the SBGAS website (www.sbgas.org), which continues to be maintained as a source of information for those with an interest in Sabine Baring-Gould. He edits an occasional newsletter, Onward!, for former members of the Society. Martin and his wife, Shan, perform traditional songs, many from the Baring-Gould collection. They also maintain two other websites, one on the folk songs collected by Sabine Baring-Gould (www.sbgsongs.org) and the other on their own musical activities (www.martinandshan.net). |
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The vision of the designation by UNESCO of Exeter as City of Literature at the end of 2019 is for Exeter and the wider region to be a place of readers and a beacon for the literary arts. Across all art forms and all communities, the initiative aims to:
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This page last updated 14 October 2021
