| There is no part of the work of the former Bible Christian Church which has told more effectively upon the life of the people than that done by its pioneers in the villages and hamlets throughout the West of England. The far-reaching character of that work can scarcely be credited by those who have not followed the subsequent career of individuals who began life under the spell of the gracious influences which attended the ministry of O'Bryan and Thorne, Reed and Mason, Billy Bray and Billy Bailey, and of those who were animated by a like spirit and literally turned upside-down the opinions, as well as the social life, of the districts which they visited. Sutcombe is the South Coombe or valley which lies on the road between Bradworthy (the Broad-weorthig, or place of protection) and the still more important defensive post known as Holsworthy, where the Thorne family can be traced back to the reign of King John. The parish church stands out boldly at the head of the coombe which it overlooks, and on a clear summer night, when the air is still, a threefold echo may be heard from a point just below it as the sound reverberates from the sides of the cross-shaped valley. The King's Pamphlets, in the British Museum, make it clear that the clatter of the hoofs of the Royalist cavalry was heard along the high road in this neighbourhood, as the great Civil War approached its conclusion, for it is stated that “they returned back westward to Monkleigh, Bradworthy, Sutcombe and parishes adjoining." The chapel lies at the foot of the hill by the side of a mill-stream, which fills the large pond adjoining the mill on the other side of the main road, and, having turned the old mill wheel, runs on to the river Waldon, which is crossed by a stone bridge a little further down the high road. The Allin family has occupied the Town Farm, at the head of the hill, near the church, and the mill at the foot, for generations past. Members of the same family have at times been the tenants of the fine old Manor House at Soldon and of the more modern farmhouse at Hawkwill, as well as of Thuborough Barton, which is said to stand on the site of an old abbey or monastery. A family of Distinction. It used to be said that the people of Sutcombe were mostly Allins, and when some of the principle farms of the neighbourhood were in the hands of the Allin family, this certainly seemed to be true. In the words of the villagers, there were Allins to Mill and Allins to Hawkwill, Allins to Thuborough and Allins to Town, to say nothing of the Allins to Brendon and Allins to Soldon. This state of things owed its origin to the fact that early in the last century four brothers of the same name married four sisters of the same name. These were not closely related before marriage, but no doubt they were akin. The parish registers show that the name was formerly spelt Alleyne which, like that of Mountjoy, suggests a Norman ancestry. Recent investigation shows that the Allins intermarried with the ancient Prideaux family in 1747. Whatever their ancestry, however, it cannot be denied that the family possessed qualities which marked them out for distinction. They were certainly "rich in saving common sense." To a family of this kind came the ministry of the early Bible Christians, and the preachers received a hospitable welcome in the various farmhouses. To this day class-meetings are held in some of them, for the family tradition must be observed long years after the original need has passed away. Chapel House still bears its name, and its occupant for many years was an honoured local preacher, Mr. Edmund Mountjoy, who for the last half century or more rendered valiant service in the Shebbear Circuit. His wife was the daughter of Mr. William Allin, who was one of the early fellow-labourers of James Thorne in the propagation of the Gospel throughout North Devon. His journeys frequently equalled those of James Thorne himself, for he, too, would often walk forty miles or more on the Sunday and preach three times. But they were giants in those days! The first chapel was on the higher side of the mill-stream, and was of that simple structure which characterised the early Methodist places of worship. It was full, however, of that spiritual fervour which is too often wanting in the more ornate buildings of a later period. Those who knew it still speak with great delight of the "times of refreshing" experienced there, as one and another of the preachers expounded the word of life and the melodious voices of the choir – for the Allins were always singers – gave a foretaste of that holy rapture which only the redeemed must know in all its fullness. The congregation outgrew the limits of their first sanctuary and a larger building was erected on the lower side of the mill-stream, where it stands to this day as a typical representative of those neat country wayside chapels which have made our modern democratic life a possibility. It cannot be gainsaid that the salvation of the democracy of to-day is due in large measure to the training in self-government which the people have received in these rural centres where the Nonconformist chapel has been the rallying place for the thoughtful members of the working class community. The result may be seen in the influence which these men have acquired when they have migrated into the towns and have mixed with the more restless but less steadfast elements there found. Even to-day the staunchest adherents of our town churches have in a multitude of instances been trained in our country chapels and Sunday Schools. The Measure of Our Church Life is in the effectiveness of the characters of the men and women brought into contact with it. This standard may be applied with the perfect confidence to the work accomplished at Sutcombe and to the Allin family in particular. There were few failures among them, and these were due to those insidious temptations which are as killing as the canker to the rose. More than sixty years ago one branch of the family went off to Canada, where a settlement was made in the neighbourhood of Bowmanville, on the shores of Lake Ontario. There at Allindale a fine family has grown up reaching now to the third and fourth generation, but preserving many of the best characteristics of the Sutcombe ancestry.. "We have bought out a good many of these American hustlers," said the present occupier of Allindale a few years ago, in conversation with the writer, and it was evident that the patient industry of many years combined with the highest integrity of character had borne its fruit. For even in this life it is true, as Methodists have often sung: To patient faith the prize is sure, And they that to the end endure The cross, shall win the crown. To hear the stalwart sons sing in the parlour of the comfortable farm-house was to listen over again to the Sutcombe choir in the hey-day of its glory, when the late Mr. Daniel Allin would roll out his basso profundo in such a manner as to remind one of the words of James Russell Lowell: My! When he made Old Hundred ring, They knowed the Lord was nigher. Two of those sons are now famous surgeons in Alberta, and their "clinic" or medical establishment in Edmonton bids fair to be the most important in that part of Canada. They regularly set apart a portion of their growing income towards mission work, and more than one has experienced that inherent kindliness of heart which prompts them to go about doing good. But what shall we say of Alice Allin, the good wife of Farmer John Allin of Town, the farm adjoining the church? James Thorne used to regard her as the heroine of the neighbourhood on account of the uncomplaining patience with which she bore her lot. Early in their married life the husband became so crippled that he lost the use of his limbs though he was vigorously active in mind and of good general health. This meant that the burden of a large household and the task of bringing up a considerable family devolved chiefly upon the wife. She was, however, more than equal to the work, for she found time to take an active interest also in all that went on at the chapel, besides maintaining the class-meeting which was regularly held in her parlour. She had repeatedly to pass through the ordeal of seeing her children grow up to an age when they might be of some real help in the home and then droop and fade. Four were spared to her throughout her life and three still survive in or near the home which is so full of hallowed memories. The Sutcombe Society – Generous and Loyal. At a time when temperance reform was in its infancy she heard James Thorne give an address which so convinced her of its necessity that she there and then signed the pledge. She went home and told her husband, who said in despair "Of course Alice must be first and foremost! Here have I just got a new cider-press, and she must go and sign the pledge and make it of no use whatever." But Alice had her way, and the principles of total abstinence were adopted throughout the home life of her family, and her influence told upon the entire neighbourhood which to this day supports no public house. Hospitality of the most generous kind was readily accorded to the preachers, local and itinerant, who came to the chapel on Sundays and during the week. Sutcombe was always regarded as one of the chief societies in the Shebbear Circuit because of the cordiality of its people and their loyalty to every good cause supported by the denomination to which they were devotedly attached. The mother circuit of the Bible Christian Connexion has always contributed liberally to missions, and Sutcombe never failed to do its share. Mr. Edmund Mountjoy up to the time of his death last year took a keen interest in getting funds together to help the missionary society, in addition to the excellent service he rendered throughout the circuit as a local preacher. His own wife was a member of the Allin family, being a daughter of Mr. William Allin, of Chapel House, mentioned above. Another daughter was the wife of Mr. Daniel Allin, of Hawkwill and mother of Margaret, the wife Thomas Ruddle, head master of Shebbear College. It will be seen therefore that Sutcombe had attractions for some who originally dwelt outside its borders. Among these was a certain Thomas Grills, of the same family as that Thomas Grills Vanstone who went out with Samuel Thomas Thorne as the earliest gift of the Bible Christian Church to mission work in China. He visited the home of Alice Allin at Town, where he succeeded in winning the hand of Mary Grace, the eldest daughter. For some years this young couple lived not far from Sutcombe in touch with the farm from which Thomas Grills had come. His father, trusting to the promise of a brother, passed him over in his will, though he was the eldest son, with the result that he found himself deprived of the tenancy of the farm that should have been his. This subsequently led to his taking a business in Plymouth, where, with his wife and family of three children, he made a new home. Within six months he died of pleurisy occasioned in the first instance by a long walk of over twenty miles from Launceston to Sutcombe, imposed upon him through the impatience of the person who should have met him at the station. The Fire Still Burns on the Old Altars. Now all the grit of the Allins asserted itself in the widow. She found herself thrown on her own resources with her little family, the eldest of whom was only twelve. The simple faith of her old home came to her aid and buoyed her up when she might easily have become disheartened. She attached herself to the church at East Street, Stonehouse, where she found a true friend in the saintly Joseph Yeo, whose work and influence abide to this day, though he has been gone for more than twenty years. On the tombstone of Thomas Grills, in the Sutcombe churchyard, these words from the prophet Jeremiah may be seen: Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; And let thy widow trust in Me. The widow trusted and the fatherless children were preserved for some years to be a comfort to their mother, who outlived all but one of them. She owed much, however, to the help rendered her in these early years of trial by her own devoted mother, who came from Sutcombe and stood by her until she had made a prosperous business. Her second husband was the late Mr. Charles Marrow, who had served on board H.M.S. "Serapis" when King Edward VII., then Prince of Wales, went in that ship to India. Mr. Marrow, who originally came from Trent, in Staffordshire, was a member of our Stonehouse Church up to the time of his death in October 1910. Great had been the joy of his wife, when, many years before, he had walked up the aisle during a mission conducted by Miss North. He made straight fir the enquiry-room whilst the choir was singing a hymn, the appeal of which was to him irresistible, as he recalled his mother’s prayers. God is calling yet, oh hear Him! Mrs. Marrow passed away almost suddenly on the morning of January 13th, 1909, in the seventy-fifth year of her age. She had been at her usual place at the chapel the evening before, bright and cheerful as ever, but the summons came in the early morn, and she died in the faith in which she had been nurtured in her Sutcombe home. The Rev. Samuel Allin was another member of the same family. He rendered valuable service to the Bible Christian Connexion in the various circuits in which he travelled, and was so esteemed by his brethren that he was made President of the Conference after occupying other important Connexional offices. The Rev. John Allin, who was a brother of Mrs. Alice Allin, of the Town Farm, fulfilled a lengthy ministry among the Wesleyans and spent the later years of his life in the city of Bristol where the fragrance of his memory still abides. The Rev. Thomas Braund, whose sister was the widow of the late Mr. Richard Allin, of Thuborough, always held the Allin family in high esteem. It was, however, the spirit, which he himself so notably preserved throughout the wide districts in which he ministered for many years as faithfully as William O'Bryan and James Thorne before him, that caused this family, in common with many other noteworthy families in this neighbourhood, to maintain such a high standard of honour and such a staunch faith in the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. No matter how far their descendants may wander from the old homesteads they can never forget the hallowed influences which hovered around them at Sutcombe, nor are they lost sight of by those who still remain there, for there is nothing that more delights the present occupants than to receive a visit or letter from friends far distant or long absent. Though many changes have taken place at Sutcombe in recent years it is pleasant to know that the fire divine still burns on the old altars, and that the new occupants of the farms around are maintaining the work of God which has been carried on for so many years in this prosperous corner of the historic Shebbear Circuit. [Transcribed by PCM 2004] n.b. Charles Marrow came from Trentham, not 'Trent'. |