Ottery St Mary

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Ottery St Mary is a town in Devon, England, on the River Otter, about ten miles east of Exeter. It is part of a large civil parish of the same name, which also covers the villages of West Hill, Metcombe, Fairmile, Alfington, Tipton St. John and Wiggaton. The parish has a total population of 7692. (2001 census).

The town is known as the birthplace of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and the place where the noted diplomat Sir Ernest Satow spent his retirement years (1906-29) at the house called 'Beaumont' which still survives, though it is now divided into three or four dwellings. Satow was buried in the churchyard, and a commemorative plaque to him is in the church.

Ottery's notable buildings include the Tumbling Weir and Ottery St Mary church. The town is the site of The King's School, now a comprehensive school, founded in 1545.

Major events are held in Ottery on Guy Fawkes Night, when flaming tar barrels are carried through the town, and on Pixie Day.

Near by the town is the Elizabethan Manor House of Cadhay that has several historic links to the town.

Church

The church viewed from North East.

Ottery St Mary Church was built in 1280 then rebuilt in 1337 by Bishop John Grandisson, imitating Exeter Cathedral. The great Ottery Clock in the south transept is one of only four pre-Copernican clocks in the country.

The clock.

There is a hymn tune called Ottery St Mary.

External links

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