XXX. 



descendants in 1588 died and with his wife were buried in Musbury 

 Church. They had six children, of whom one, afterwards Sir Barnard 

 Drake, was ranked second amongst the famous sea captains of his time." 

 From Pulman's " Book of the Axe " we further learn that on September 

 14th, 1625, the Duke of Buckingham, Earl of Holland, Earl of Derby, 

 and divers other gentlemen lay at Ashe and passed through Colyton. 

 The King lay at Pauletts, at Hinton St. George, Somerset. They were 

 then on their way to review the army and the fleet about to embark on 

 some attempt against the dominion of Spain. The family genealogy is 

 further traced to the marriage of Elizabeth with Sir Winstone Churchill, 

 of Minthorne, Dorset, who, for his adherence to the cause of Charles I., 

 was much harassed by the Commonwealth and remained for some time 

 at Ashe, -where on June, 24th, 1650, the lady gave birth to a child, who 

 became the famous Duke o7UTaiiborough. The house at Ashe was burnt 

 in the civil wars, but rebuilt by Sir John Drake in 1669. On the 24th 

 September, 1787, a fire broke out which consumed the offices and stables 

 with 13 coach horses and hunters. The property subsequently passed to 

 Mr. G. Tucker, Axminster, thence to Mr. Marwood Woolcott, of Seal- 

 combe, and now belongs to Captain Still. Only a fragment of the old 

 mansion house of the Drakes remains, with the ancient chapel, which is 

 very small and in the Perpendicular style of architecture, used now as 

 an outhouse. 



After walking round the orchard, formerly occupied by the fish ponds 

 and ornamental ponds of the family residence, and examining a carved 

 oak mantelpiece and remains of old woodwork within the dwellinghouse, 

 the drive was resumed to Musbury Church, distant a little over a mile. 

 The oldest part of the building appears to belong to the 13th century, 

 but it has undergone so much repair and alteration that little of the 

 original fabric remains. Its chief interest lies in the fine series of 

 monuments which it contains, erected to members of the Drake family. 

 These are in the best style of the Elizabethan period, and offer examples 

 of mural monuments of that age such as are seldom seen in a country 

 church. They consist of kneeling figures in three pairs male and female 

 the males in full armour, the females in the costume of the period in 

 which they lived. The inscriptions underneath record the death of 



John Drake, Oct. 4, 1558. 



His wife, Annie, Feb. 18, 1577. 



John Drake, buried April 11, 1628. 



Dorothy, his wife, Dec. 13, 1631. 



Sir John Drake, Aug. 26, 1626. 



Dame Mary Roswell, wife of Sir Roger Roswell, Nov. 4, 1643. 



And of Sir Barnard Drake and his wife. 



