Transcript

of

Thorne in Salcombe Regis

Devon & Cornwall Notes and Queries vol. VI, (January 1910 to October 1911), illus. p. 169.

by

Ethel Lega-Weekes

Prepared by Michael Steer

Mentioned in the Domesday Book as "a manor called Selcoma" held by Osbern FitzOsbern, bishop of Exeter, the manor house stood on the site now occupied by Thorn Farm. The thorn tree growing in an enclosure at the road junction above the farm marked the cultivation boundary between manor and common ground. The Note’s author appears to be seeking information relating to several of her Weeke’s family ancestors, one of whom emigrated to Dorchester, Massachusetts c. 1636. The article, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

Note 157. THORNE IN SALCOMBE REGIS (VI., par. 142, P« I 53) My surmise that "Ammiel Weekes," whose name is the last but one (after September) in the defective list of christenings at Seaton in the year "1631" (old style), was the son of George Weekes, the emigrant "from Salcombe Regis" to Dorchester, Mass., c. 1636, gains support from the information in Robert Dod Weekes' genealogy of the family (of which I had only the "Supplement" at hand when last writing) that this George brought with him children born in England, the third being his son Ammiel, who, according to his tombstone, died "Apryl ye 20, aged 46 years."

It is true that even if christened as late as March, 1632 (new style), he would have completed his 47th year before that date; but errors of a year or two in the ascription of age by surviving relatives on gravestones, etc., were by no means uncommon at that period.

May I further explain that, in alluding to the "witty pages" of a "History of Salcombe Regis," by J. Andersen Morshead, j.p., I was under the mistaken impression that the humorous résumé, of which I cherish a copy, was a verbatim reprint of Mr. Morshead's contribution to D. A. Trans., xxx., which I now find was a more seriously conceived and more fully instructive paper.

Ethel Lega-Weekes.

[We publish with this issue a revised print of "The Staircase Landing at Thorne," which subscribers are requested to substitute for the one published in the last issue. - Eds.]