Murder of a Spaxton Rector 1645

Taken from 'The History of the Church and Village of Spaxon' by M. J. Odlum 1974.

In the Chapter 'The Rectors of Spaxton and Charlynch', a long list is produced starting in 1291 through to 1968. Notes are written on what is known of these rectors. Some have no or little information whereas others have great detail. Such are the notes on Richard Powell.

Richard Powell, son of Richard, also a rector of Spaxton, caught my eye as not only did he survive the plaque, he is also said to have survived an attempted poisoning and the cruel treatment of the Parliamentarians during Cromwells Restoration in the English Civil War (1645-1660). Odlum tells us:

Richard Powell, junior, rector 1624-1648.

“The son of Richard Powell senior, he was born in 1601. He matriculated on November 10^th 1615 and entered Magdalen College, Oxford, where he gained his B. A. on February 5^th 1620, and his M. A. on July 3^rd 1623.

On January 29^th 1624, at the age of 24, he was instituted as Rector of Spaxton, but of course by our calender it would be reckoned 1625. In this same year he signs the Spaxton Baptismal register as 'Richardus Powell filius pater dicti Richardi rectoris de Spaxton' which loosely translated is 'Richard Powell, priest, son of the said Richard, Rector of Spaxton'. I wonder why he used the word 'pater' instead of 'sacerdos', but I am no scholar.

According to the Baptismal register a total of eight children were born to him and his wife Cecily:-

1626. Dorothy

1627. Richard

1631. John

1634. John

1635. Margaret

1637. Mary

1638. Benjamin

1642. Hugh

How many of these survived is not certain, but his firstborn, Dorothy, is of considerable importance in the story of the Powell family in Spaxton and we return to her later. He also made a note in the register from time to time of the number of communicants during the year – in 1626 he writes 'Communicants this yeare 392', in 1633 there were 449 and in 1635 there were 444 communicants. I would hazard a guess that he made a note of the number of communicants in order to claim his Tithings oblation from them (see Charlynch tithe details).

In 1645 Richard Powell was captured in Bridgwater by the Parliamentary Army, conveyed as a prisoner to London and there murdered. For the account of this we now turn to a 17^th century book by John Walker called 'The Sufferings of the Clergy in the time of the Grand Rebellion', but it will perhaps help in the understanding of this story is I first tell you that, in my opinion, the story that follows is told by Henry Carlile, the grandson of the murdered man, and John Walker wrote it down as it was told to him.

In the time of the late unhappy Civil Wars, he (Richard Powell junior) according to his duty, both preached up the bounden duty and allegiance that the People owed their Sovereign King Charles I, of ever blessed memory ; and by his private conversation and practice did encourage and confirm them in the same :

And when Bridgwater was besieged, he went into that Town, and acted as a true subject ought to do, to vindicate his rightful and lawful King. At the same time the Parliamentary Army possessed Taunton; and when this clergyman repaired to his own house, he was forced to place people to watch whether any of the Parliamentary Army were coming : who had often searched his house, and thrust their swords through his beds to find him. And when Bridgwater was delivered up to the Parliament, all those Clergymen who would not take the Covenant were driven away on foot to Portsmouth ; amongst who was this Mr Powell ; and there they were put on board a ship to be carried to London : and upon a Sunday, when they were there on ship-board, the clergy being at prayers upon the deck, the children of the town came as near as they could to the ship, calling them Baal's priests, and throwing stones at them : and it was observed that one of the children, as he was throwing stones and calling names, fell down dead and never more could be restored to life. 

 

When they were taken prisoners in Bridgwater, before they drove them away like dogs, they searched their pockets, and would let them have but a small parcel of money with them. 

 

After that they went from Portsmouth, and were carried to London and there put into a Pest-house, and allowed no other lodging than the hard floor ; and fearing the Plague would not kill them fast enough, they sent them a dish of Capons with a delicate sauce, as they pretended. The poor, innocent, half-starved clergymen, thinking this dish to have come from a friend, and being very hungry, eat very freely of it ; but one of them, viz Mr Collier, minister of Ashcott upon Polden Hill, near Bridgwater, bid them have a care, fearing there might be poison among it ; and upon that takes a spoonful of the sauce and gargling it in his mouth, presently spit out all his teeth. Immediately upon this all of them died, except Mr Collier, who afterwards had the Plague in the Pest-house in which they barbarously placed him ; but by the provision of God he outlived both the Plague and the Rebellion and was settled again in his own parsonage, after the happy restoration of King, Church and State.

Death Toll from the Plague in Spaxton 1641-1647

It was from this surviving gentleman that I had these and many more words, who with tears concluded the relation, saying 'that he only was escaped alone to tell me'.

After this, when Mr Powell was thus barbarously murdered, their malice was not yet satisfied, for they were not contented with his death, but would starve his family. And in order to (do) that they denied his son (Richard Powell the third, aged 18), who had the next presentation to Spaxton, and was then a student at Oxford and fit for holy orders, to be admitted into it ; and declaring positively that no Powell or any of his relations should ever be admitted into that or any other place ; which wicked resolve was put into execution, and poor Mr Powell's wife and six children forced to live upon what little estate he had left them.

And when I (Henry Carlile) was, a long time after, in a prospect of succeeding my Grandfather, the said Mr Powell, the above-mentioned Mr Collier never saw me but he broke forth into those words of David, which, he said he could confirm from his own experiences, viz, “I have been young and now am old, yet saw I never the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging their bread”.

As I said earlier, it appears from the way this account has been written that the story was told by Mr Collier to the grandson, Henry Carlile, who in turn related it to John Walker the author of the book.

In 1645 the Rector of Spaxton, Richard Powell the second, was murdered in London. His widow and six children were turned out of the Rectory and obliged to live on the small estate which apparently was the only property that Richard Powell owned in his own name – and this was Tuckers, next to Legg's Mill. The Parliamentarians promptly installed John Carlile as the Minister for Spaxton, vowing that no Powell need look for preferment at their hands. However, the following year the Puritan, John Carlile, marries Dorothy Powell, the eldest child of the murdered rector. John Carlile remains as Minister for Spaxton until his resignation in 1668.

In the meantime Richard Powell, the third, completes his studies and returns to Spaxton, serving as Churchwarden in 1656 to his brother-in-law John Carlile, Unable, or unwilling, to oust his brother-in-law as Rector of Spaxton after the Restoration in 1660, Richard Powell accepts the parish of Cannington, where he remains until his death in 1685.

About the year 1655 a son Henry is born to John and Dorothy Carlile, and in 1680 this Henry Carlile marries Mary Powell of Cannington, who is probably his first cousin. She dies within a few years and he marries again, a girl named Joan ; she dies in 1704. On January 12^th 1708 this Henry Carlile is instituted as Rector of Spaxton, though he has probably been living in the parish without a Living of his own for the last ten years. In September of the same year, 1708, he marries for the third time, a widow called Ester Blake, but he himself died in 1712. His successor as Rector of Spaxton, William Yorke, marries a Mary Carlile in 1713, and she is probably one of Henry's children ; another probably child, Christopher Carlile, succeeds to the family property of Tuckers.

The details are these:-

The eldest son of the murdered Rector was also called Richard, the third Powell to bear that name. He was born in 1627 (Spaxton Register) and at the time of his father's murder he was 18 years old and a student at Oxford. According to John Walker's account 'he had the next presentation to Spaxton' and was 'fit for holy orders', but though he may have been the Patron and therefore entitled to choose the next Rector, he could hardly have put himself forward as he was far too young. Perhaps he intended to pay a curate to look after the parish until he was old enough to be ordained himself. Anyway, the Puritan extremists declared that neither he nor any of his relations would be admitted to a Living, and they nominated John Carlile as Minister in 1645”.

as Minister in 1645”.

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