214 KINGSBRIDGE 



of Watcombe, near Torquay, and nephew of the late Richard 

 Peek, Esq., of Hazlewood, South Devon. This latter gentle- 

 man was founder of the mercantile house which has 

 enriched all the family. The father of Richard Peek was 

 an agricultural labourer, and when Richard served the 

 office of Sheriff of London and Middlesex he had his aged 

 father up to town to see his 'brave' equipage. There was 

 settled in business in London the son of a Devonshire 

 yeoman, who had employed the father in husbandry in 

 Devon, and the old man went to him and described, in 

 ecstatic terms, the wonderment of the finery in which he 

 saw his prosperous son arrayed. 'Lor a' massy — zilver 

 harness and goold lace, and sich cattle, and sich a bootiful 

 coach !' The worthy old rustic was only restrained by the 

 slenderness of his vocabulary from doing justice to his 

 feelings. We had the story from a gentleman well known 

 in Devonshire, and who is a brother of the merchant in 

 London to whom the old man delivered his mind on the 

 subject. Richard Peek was a rigid Nonconformist, and was 

 the life and soul of ' the cause ' in his district. He went to 

 London an unfriended youth, with nothing but good prin- 

 ciples and a sound constitution to stay him — and they 

 brought him to a first-rate position in London. The new 

 Baronet became a Churchman and a Tory. He has used 

 his great wealth freely in ' helping ' churches and Tory 

 candidates. Restoration of fabrics, ornamenting interiors, 

 giving new organs, have all been described as modes by 

 which he has shown his zeal for religion." 



The village of Woodleigh, which gives its name to a 

 Deanery, is in the Avon Valley. The manor belonged at 

 an early period to the Damerells, but now, we believe, 

 it is the joint property of three or four families. The small 



