Copplestone

Copplestone Cross

In the centre of the village, standing at the junction of the three parishes of Colebrooke, Crediton and Down St Mary, or the surviving shaft of a decorated late Saxon cross. It stands 3.2 metres high, and is 0.6 metres square, covered with intricate relief sculpted decoration. Parallels of the intricate interlacing design have been drawn with those designs of crosses found in the Isle of Man. The granite for the cross must have been brought some 9 miles from Dartmoor, which suggests it had some deep cultural significance. It was mentioned as Copelan Stan Putta, the second and last Bishop of Tawton (reigned 906–910), was murdered in 910 whilst travelling from his see at Bishops Tawton, on the River Taw 2 miles south of Barnstaple in North Devon, to visit the Saxon viceroy Uffa, whose residence was at Crediton. It is believed that Copplestone Cross, situated 6 miles north-west of Crediton and 22 miles south-east of Bishops Tawton, was erected in commemoration of his murder at this spot.

Manor of Coplestone

The Copleston Cross or Stone gave its name to the estate or manor of Copleston (modern: Coplestone) which was the earliest known home of the Copleston family.

Copplestone family

The Copplestone family married into both the French landowning Umfraville family and the noble Ferrers family, both noble aristocratic English families.

Notable members of the Copplestone Family include Thomas Coplestone, Edward Copleston, Frederick Copleston and more recently Michael Onslow, 7th Earl of Onslow.

More recently, the concentration of Copplestone family members has gradually moved from Devon into Hampshire and West Sussex.

References

References

1. (2004). "The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names". Cambridge University Press.
2. "Map of Devon Parishes". Devon County Council.
3. link. (3 March 2016 Retrieved 27 January 2010)
4. "Parish Population 2011".
5. "Yeo ward 2011".
6. Hoskins, W.G.]], A New Survey of England: Devon, London, 1959 (first published 1954), p.372
7. [[Nikolaus Pevsner. Pevsner, Nikolaus]] & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.276
8. Goodwins, Sara. [https://loaghtanbooks.com/product/cross-purposes-an-introduction-to-mediaeval-manx-crosses/ Cross Purposes: an introduction to mediaeval Manx crosses p. 32]
9. in a charter dated 974.[[Sabine Baring-Gould. Baring-Gould, Sabine]] (1834-1924), A Book of the West, Being an Introduction to Devon & Cornwall, Vol. I, Devon, London, 1900, p.98 [https://archive.org/stream/bookofwest01bari/bookofwest01bari_djvu.txt]
10. Chattaway, Joseph, An Historical Sketch of the Danmonii: Or Ancient Inhabitants of Devonshire, 1830, p.79 [https://books.google.com/books?id=EtpEAAAAYAAJ&dq=bishop+putta+murdered+906&pg=PA79]
11. Pole: ''"Putta was next Bishop of Tawton & was slayne in his journey towards Crediton to visitt the Kinge"'', as recorded by [[John Hooker (English constitutionalist). John Hooker]] (d.1601) ([[William Pole (antiquary). Pole, Sir William]] (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.27)
12. "Copplestone Cross, Copplestone, Devon".
13. Coplestion, Paul. "Copelston Family History". copleston.net.
14. "General history: Families removed since 1620 | British History Online".