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A brief history of Bratton Fleming

Part 3: The 17th century and the Caius College, Cambridge, connection

There is a wealth of day to day information about the normal comings and goings of rural life from the 17th century onwards, wills, deeds, church registers etc. All describe a settled and relatively prosperous community. The English Civil war must have had an impact; there was a lot of fighting in North Devon, and Barnstaple changed hands several times; but we know very little about what actually happened in Bratton. We do know that the then Rector, Matthew Gay was expelled for failing to subscribe to the Solemn League and Covenant (which amongst other religious and military provisions abolished the episcopacy).

In 1667, after passing through many hands, the advowson or living of Bratton passed to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, in whose gift it remained until very recently. In 1705 the college presented their first Rector, Bartholomew Wortley. Wortley became a student of the College in 1671 and took Holy Orders (as was very common in those days) he became a Fellow of the college and, unusually, remained there until he was 55 (at which age he was considered an old man). On his retirement he was, as was the custom, given the living of one of the colleges’ patronages, in this case Bratton Fleming.

One of Wortley’s first duties, although we have very few details, must have been to supervise the rebuilding of the church following the catastrophic collapse of the tower into the nave in the last year of the 17th century.

It would have been expected that Wortley would have a few years of peace and tranquillity in his rural parish before passing to a higher life, however, the refreshing North Devon climate must have invigorated him – Wortley died in 1749 at the age of 97! At his death Wortley was a very wealthy man, his monument in the church is the finest there, and he left much of his fortune to his old college.

Gonville and Caius still hold a dinner in his honour every other year and a scholarship “for a man from Bratton Fleming” still exists. Wortley also left the Rectors of Bratton, in perpetuity: a magnificent library, fine church silver and a £15 annual payment. The library has since been given back to Gonville and Caius College.