Coldridge

Coldridge
Coldridge Church
St Matthew's Church, Coldridge
Coldridge is located in Devon
Coldridge
Coldridge
Location within Devon
Population498 (2011 UK Census)
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townCrediton
PoliceDevon and Cornwall
FireDevon and Somerset
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Devon
50°51′12″N 3°51′06″W / 50.853359°N 3.85166°W / 50.853359; -3.85166

Coldridge or Coleridge[1] is a village and parish in central Devon, England. It appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Colrige, which is thought to mean ‘the ridge where charcoal is made’.[2] It has a church dedicated to St Matthew dating from the 15th and early 16th century which is a Grade I listed building.[3][4]

In 2021, investigations started as to whether John Evans, a medieval lord of the manor buried in the church, may in reality have been the missing Edward V, one of the princes in the Tower, whose mother Elizabeth Woodville travelled to Devon in 1484 and whose son Thomas Grey owned land at Coldridge. The church contains an unusual stained glass portrait of Edward V, and other alleged clues. The investigations have been set up by writer and historian Philippa Langley, and follow suggestions originally made in the 1920s by local historian Beatrix Cresswell.[5][6]

The name "Coleridge" is borne (among others) by a number of people associated with Eton College, including

  • Sir Nicholas Coleridge, currently (October 2023) the provost-elect
  • Frederick John Randolph Coleridge (vice-provost 1967-79)[7]
  • Coleridge House, a former boarding house demolished in 1937[8]

References

  1. ^ "History of Coldridge in Mid Devon". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  2. ^ "Coldridge, Devon". Rootsweb. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  3. ^ "Coldridge". Devon County Council. Archived from the original on 3 November 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  4. ^ "St Matthew, Coldridge". A church near you. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  5. ^ "Devon church holds clues to Princes in the Tower mystery", Diocese of Exeter, 4 January 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2022
  6. ^ St Matthew's Church, VisitMidDevon. Retrieved 9 January 2022
  7. ^ "COLL VP 03 | Eton Collections".
  8. ^ "FDA-E.509-2013 | Eton Collections".