31 July Creber Ancestors in County Devon

31 July – Creber Clan in Devon County and Tracing Some Ancestors (Dad helped a lot drafting this one with us)

Today we were up early and off in the car from Old Alcombe Minehead at about 9.30am. We explored county Devon including the Dartmoor wilderness area and towns and villages such as Tavistock and Exeter. We saw incredible landscape including rolling and endless hills and moors, rocky hilltops (tors), forests, narrow one and two lane roads with tall vertical hedges along the edges, some with forest canopies over forming green road tunnels. There were babbling brooks and misty valleys and often eerie rays of sunshine piercing through grey cloud. Mostly the rolling hills were a patchwork of lush greens and light browns with pockets of forest and little villages and farmhouses dotted through.

Many cottages and farmhouses had thatched rooves. Most had pale wall colours white or cream with black trims. Some, particularly farm outbuildings, were brick in various state of disrepair.

The rolling hills and valleys were mostly divided into smallish rectangular farm paddocks divided by dark green hedges or overgrown rock walls for as far as the eye could see. Typical English Somerset and Devon country. We saw heaps of cows, goats, sheep, horses and ponies including in Dartmoor where through the open wilderness moor areas there were no farm fences. Animals, mostly goats and sheep were sometimes on the road. It wasn’t blue sky and sunny – in some ways that was disappointing but in other ways we appreciated the typical English south west weather.

We had a great time exploring. We had morning tea of scones and tea and juices, a nice lunch and a big dinner at Fishermans Ale (near Postbridge) of local fish (cod) and chips and dad had bangers and mash. When we arrived at Fishermans Ale there we saw a man trout fishing and within five minutes of watching him he pulled in a big trout. He caught 2 more throw backs after that.  

But our main aim for the day was to find some Creber heritage. Our Aunty Coral and Uncle Ron had researched the Creber family tree back in the 1990s and had traced and confirmed the Creber ancestry generation by generation back to the early 1600s. They had given dad a copy of the part of the family tree they had traced. There were many generations between the 1600s and the 1900s - nearly all from the Devon region, mostly Walkhampton and Sheepstor and Tavistock, a group of villages within 10km of each other on the south west side of the Dartmoor area in Devon county. Creber names included Johns, Richards, James, Jacob, Roberts, Henrys and on the female side Margaret, Ann, Agnus, Betty, Elizabeths, and Marys.   

Also dad had done some research which confirmed Crebers in these places and suggested that there were Crebers buried in cemeteries in the area. He also had information from one keen Creber historian that said that our name had been traced back to Norman times with a common ancestor called William de Creubere. The information indicated that the Crebers originated from the Devon area and that William de Creubere was granted lands in the Tavistock region by King Henry III in the 12th century. The meaning of the name is thought to be either crow hill or crow woodland. (He also read that Crebers were on the very first free settler ship from England to Australia in the 1800s).

Armed with that info, we were determined to find some Crebers today.

First we went to Tavistock where we found a large thriving village, interestingly from which Sir Francis Drake had come from in the late 1500s. There was a thriving main street and really lovely markets selling heaps of produce and clothing and jewellery. We cruised the streets and shopped in the markets for a while and had Devonshire tea inc yummy scones with jam in a nice cafe.

Then we walked down the main street.

We found N H Creber Delicatessan. We couldn’t believe it. We went inside and found a whole lot of stuff branded with the Creber brand such as wines, cheeses, jams, hams…. We bought some Creber products. The deli was established about 130 years ago. Robert Creber the current owner was on holidays so we missed out speaking to him. Dad is going to Email him.

We thought about trolling the cemetery but there were two cemeteries in Tavistock and they were big ones so we decided to look elsewhere as we only had one day.

Then we went to Walkhampton a little village nearby. We drove through narrow lanes and up a hill to the really old church and there was a cemetery there. We parked next to the cemetery. Elodie and Holly were first out of the car. Immediately, the first headstone they saw right next to the car was that of Henry Creber from the 1700s. We couldn’t believe it. We walked into the cemetery and found about 20 to 30 other Crebers ranging from the early 1700s through the early 1800s.

We spoke to the gardener who said that there were Crebers still in the area and he spoke of 80 year old Ernie Creber who lived in Church View in Walkhampton. We went inside the church and two lovely old ladies gave us tea and soft drinks and shared our story with us. Unfortunately the man who was normally at the church was ill. The lady said he would have known every detail of the Creber history. But we were excited with our discoveries so far.

We moved on the Sheepstor where we found a really small village next to a National Park area next to a large water supply dam. Driving in, we saw lots of forest areas and walking tracks and lots of tourists trekking through the forests.

The village was called Sheepstor centuries ago we assumed because of the sheep farms surrounding a prominent rocky hilltop (Tor). Dad has read that documents record that the village dates back about a thousand years. We drove through the little village narrow streets with little cottages most with thatched rooves extending to the edge of the road.

We drove past a 2nd world war memorial (a stone column and base) which formed the centre of a roundabout in the village. As we slowly drove past dad saw the name of Private John Creber on the list of about 20 names on the memorial.

We drove again up a narrow lane to a really old 1500s church and an adjacent cemetery. Dad had been told by his Aunty that this was where her oldest documented tracings of the Crebers had come from. We were told there had been a church in some form or another on the site since the 1100s.

We walked through the iron gate toward the old stone church with cemetery both sides. The first headstone we saw was that of John Creber dating back to the 1700s. We searched some more and found about 20 more Creber headstones from the 1700s and 1800s. We walked inside the church and found a marble plaque up on the wall which commemorated the opening of the newly renovated church in 1861. It had John Creber’s name at the bottom, he was the Church Warden at the time.

There were headstones at both the Walkhampton and Sheepstor cemeteries that were unreadable and some were missing. We are sure there would have been Crebers there dating further back than the 1700s. Dad is going to check the burial records with Devon Council when he gets a chance. (We later read the Walkhampton Church brochure which said that there were 150 graves in the cemetery next to the church, 53 of which were Crebers. The graves dated back to 1600).

After that we went to a little village nearby called Meavy to have something to eat and mum and dad had a beer. We walked into a church and little cemetery next door and what do we find but more Crebers, again in a little cluster right near the entry gate – first ones we saw. These ones were spread over early 1700s through to late 1800s and a couple in the 1900s.

We decided to head home but with a determination to really explore the Creber family history some more in the future.

Here is some of the Creber ancestry we have discovered - John Creber (1666 - 1719), John Creber (1687 - ), Richard Creber (Apr 1693 - 1750), Elizabeth Creber (1718 - ), William Creber (1720 - 1808), Richard Creber (1722 - ), Henry Creber (1724 - 1806), Robert Creber (1727 - 1815), John Creber (1730 - ), Ann Creber (1733 - 1821), Jacob Creber (1735 - 1787), William Creber (1695 - 1750), Theophilus Creber (1725 - 1776), Richard Creber (1728 - ), William Creber (1730 - ), Susannah Creber (1698/99 - ), Samuel Creber (1702 - ), Agnes Creber (1704 - )

We had dinner on our way home (at the Fishermans Ale) and then when we got home to Aunty Veronicas she took us up the road to a friend Jenny’s house where Jenny feeds wild badgers that come out of the woods at night.

We walked to Jenny’s back door and there were 3 badgers feeding on peanut butter sandwiches and raisins that Jenny had thrown out. We stood and watched the badgers for about 15 minutes. We were fascinated by them. They were about as big as a large cat but with a rat shaped body. They were a greyish colour, had short legs and a flat stout nose and their face was white striped. They waddled when they walked. They were a bit skittish but were intent on eating all the food that Jenny had thrown out for them. She said she sometimes gets up to 8 badgers there at any one time. She said that they dig holes in her garden but she loves being so close to the wildlife with the forest and babbling brook (little stream) backing on to her property.

Then we went home to bed, well pleased with a big day of exploring and uncovering some history.

We are off to the Olympics to see 2 football matches at Cardiff Millenium Stadium tomorrow 1 August.

Seeya.

The Creber Girls xxx