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Summary

Site of the Seven Brethren Tombstone marking the burial place of a family who died from the plague in 1646 after recovering a floating bundle of contaminated bedding from the river.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS53SE/215
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SS53SE39

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• COMMEMORATIVE STONE (XVII - 1601 AD to 1700 AD (Between))

Full description

02/07/1984, Seven Brethren Tombstone (Personal Comment). SDV72403.

Site visit 2nd July 1984. No trace of tombstone.

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'Seven Brethren Tomb Stone (Site of)' marked in antique writing on the 1880s-1890s 25 inch Ordnance Survey map on the west embankment on a bend of the River Taw circa 65 metres south of the railway.

Thornton, W. H., 1910-1911, The Plague at North Bovey, 199 (Article in Serial). SDV350877.

Coulter, J., 1996, Tawstock and the Lords of Barnstaple, 166-7 (Monograph). SDV350878.

Exeter Archaeology, 2000, Archaeological Assessment of a Proposed Development Area at Larkbear Near Barnstaple, 6 (Report - Assessment). SDV79105.

Four brothers of the Ley family recovered a floating bundle of contaminated bedding from the river from which they contractd the fatal disease. They were buried on the river bank.

Collings, A. G., 2002, Archaeological Assessment of Proposed Tarka Tennis Centre, Seven Brethren Bank, Barnstaple (Report - Assessment). SDV336154.

Seven elms were planted to the brothers' memory giving the name Seven Brethren to the area extending as far as Long Bridge. It is not clear whether the elms and memorial stone were established on the floodbank.

Ordnance Survey, 2013, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV350786.

The embankment is now called Seven Brethren Bank.

Lewis, D., Sept 2011, Land at Larkbear, Barnstaple: Archaeological Desk-based Assessment, 11, 17 (Report - Assessment). SDV352261.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, Unknown, SS53SE39 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV72401.

Site visit 17th October 1953. No trace of stone. According to Wainwright, a tombstone dated 1646 stood here commemorating the death of seven brothers from plague. In a marsh near Tawstock there is a stone recording the death by plague of four children of the same family in August 1646.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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