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Domesday, Tudors,Raleigh, Drake
Both Raleigh and Drake had close relatives in nearby villages with Raleigh's at Smallridge and Drake's at Yarcombe. In 1644 the Civil War came to the area - in April parliamentary Lyme Regis was attacked - in June parliamentarians passed through Chard followed by Charles himself in September; in November Royalist Axminster was attacked. The following year there were fatalities in Membury, at Forde, to the north, and in October of that year there was a skirmish in which royalists from Honiton attacked parliamentarians based in Membury. The event was recorded in a parliamentary report as, ‘the only affront the enemy put upon us'. In 1650 the area was once again involved in the parliament versus king history, when Charles 11 tried unsuccessfully, to escape to France from Lyme Regis, and had close encounters with parliamentary soldiers at Charmouth and Bridport. His Restoration commemorated in Membury (as has been the case ‘from time immemorial'), with the suspension of an oak bough from the church tower, a costumed procession, a proclomation, and jollification. During the following Restoration period religious tolerance was uncertain, and non-conformists in the parish were hounded - Quakers in the south of the parish, in Lea Hill, were persecuted and their Meeting House, at ‘Quakers', was raided. (George Fox himself the leading Quaker of that period was believed to have visited Membury). On 11th June 1685, four months after the death of Charles II, Charles' illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth, landed at Lyme Regis, to claim the throne. He marched north to gather the disaffected into a rebel army; the route moved through Membury parish and a few volunteers were collected. By the 15th July 1685 Monmouth had been proclaimed King in Taunton, defeated at Sedgemoor and executed at the Tower. There were hangings of his supporters at Lyme Regis, Axminster and Chard. Membury lost one on the battlefield, a couple to the gibbet and a few transported. Web site address: www.thelocalhistorychannel.co.uk/memburylocalhistorysociety
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