Researchers at Bideford Archive have been investigating the story of Northam’s Bone Hill monument as reported in the local press in 1897.

The initiative came from William Blakeney, who had retired to Westward Ho! after a career as a Navy hydrographer drawing up maps of the coast, mainly in the Far East.

He belonged to a breed of patriots that is virtually extinct now, having a deep love for his country. He adored Queen Victoria who, by 1897, had been on the throne for 60 years. At a meeting in February 1897, Northam Council voted to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and, at Blakeney’s suggestion, it was resolved to celebrate Queen and country by creating a cairn of 60 boulders, each bearing the name of a naval hero to include local mariners who set out against the Spanish in the reign of Elizabeth I. He was careful to get permission to remove boulders from the shore – given his life’s work he understood the power of the sea and the need for coastal defences!

The cairn was formally unveiled on Trafalgar Day 1899. There were speeches, including one from Blakeney who noted that although we might now be friends with the French, he still thought it appropriate to celebrate our victory! Apart from Richard Grenville and William Borough, the majority of named sailors were well known national figures – it seems that the Council were unable to trace records of local lads even though their intention had been to honour them.

When the queen died in 1903, a few more boulders were added for the last few years of her reign, topped off by a stone bearing Victoria’s name which was (significantly) broken from the start. It appears that the cairn had a lot more meaning at the time than we might realise now.

There is a footnote to add. Local research by Dr Tinsley from papers of the Spanish Inquisition, an organisation charged with enforcing Catholic religious conformity, has revealed the names of several whom we can honour here.  Francis Lewis from Northam and Bartholomew Cowel of Barnstaple were arrested in the Canary Islands as pirates and heretics. Other local men, including Pentecost Glasse from Combe Martin, were captured after being shipwrecked off northern Spain. Christopher Lymbury was only 16 when he was captured after a fight with Spanish ships and he was sent to a monastery. All accepted Catholicism and avoided harsh punishment. It is not known if they ever returned to North Devon.