Crediton Museum and Downes House (History Section)

Morning: A visit to Crediton museum and talk by Tony Gale about the Crediton 1743 project.

The Crediton 1743 Project has been developed around two striking things which happened that year. A very detailed map of the town was drawn up in response to a dispute about the marketplace: just a few months later, most of the town was destroyed by fire. The map was then annotated to show the extent of the destruction. There is also a rich archive of contemporary documents about the fire and its aftermath.

Afternoon: At 2 pm. A visit to Downes House and guided tour by owner Henry Parker.

Downes has been the seat of the Bullers since 1739 when James Buller married Elizabeth Gould whose grandfather built Downes in 1692. Our guide will be Henry Parker, great-great nephew of Redvers Buller VC and 10th generation of the family to live at Downes.

The house, built in the Palladian style, has seen a number of changes over the years. It now comprises a total of 70 rooms. Visitors will be shown most of the main rooms which include numerous family portraits, as well as shields and spears retrieved from the Zulu War and from the Sudan Expedition of 1874 when Redvers Buller was involved in trying to rescue General Gordon from Khartoum where he was besieged by the Mahdi and his followers. There is also a small museum containing a number of artefacts from Redvers Buller’s various military campaigns fought during the reign of Queen Victoria.

Mr Parker will recount the story of his ancestor winning the VC when in command of the Frontier Light Horse at the Battle of Hlobane in March 1879 and will talk about his time fighting the Boers in South Africa between 1899 and 1900.

Cost: Morning only: DA members £5, non-members £8.
Afternoon only: DA members £10, non-members £12
Morning and afternoon: DA members £15, non-members £20

Booking is essential before Friday, 14th April by contacting the organiser below. If emailing, please put emailing “DA Crediton visit” in the subject box.

Please note that lunch is not included, but tea/coffee/biscuits will be provided in both the morning and afternoon.