12 Records of the Rising in the West, A.D. 1655. 
Pass we now to something more authentic. 
In the Compton Chamberlayne Register there is the following 
entry in Mr. Martin’s (the Vicar) handwriting :— 
‘John Penruddock E**. died at Exceter May 16*, and buried at Compton 
the 19th of the same month.” 
In the account book preserved at Compton which has been already 
mentioned, we read :— 
ffor bringing home Mr. Penruddock’s body from Exon to — 
Compton £07 09 00 
ffor a tombstone the Mason’s work about it 02 O07 06 
More for ribbands and gloves 00 19 11 
Then follow items, poor rates, servants at Exon, and one that 
looks ominous—“ sawing boards;” and we hurry on gladly to an 
entry ahead, ‘‘ George Penruddock his expences at Oxon in 1660.” 
We may be sure then that the last tributes of respect were paid 
to John Penruddock, in his old home, by his loving wife and children ; 
but no further record of what occurred has reached me. 
In the autumn of 1855 some repairs were made to the floor of 
the Penruddock family pew in Compton Church, when, in a small 
brick vault beneath, a large coffin was discovered, almost entirely 
decayed—the bottom only just holding to the sides. No doubt it 
was that of John Penruddock. 
It appeared on examination that a body had been enclosed, first 
in a half-inch elm shell, and that again in a mahogany coffin, having 
an outer covering of oak with large thick pieces of wood screwed on 
the outside as if to protect it and form a packing case for travelling 
to the whole, a large extra lid being fastened on the top ofall, The 
nails were of brass, thickly gilt. No inscription survived. Cloth 
had been used as a covering of the coffin, but it was totally decayed, 
the brick vault in which the interment was made having been very 
damp. The inner coffin contained bones (apparently thase of a middle- 
aged man) and portions of a substance supposed to be skin, with 
short light-colored or red hairs on it. No part of a skull or teeth 
could be discovered, so that most probably the head was never 

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