The sarcophagus of Ordulph, Tavistock ([1834])

Bray, Mrs. The borders of the Tamar and the Tavy; London: W. Kent and Co., 1879. Vol. I. pp. 383-6.I must, however, first observe that Orgar, Earl of Devon, died A. D. 971, and was interred in the Abbey Church of Tavistock, where his tomb, and that of his son Ordulph, William of Malmesbury states were to be seen in his time. […]Ordulph is represented to have been of gigantic stature, and prodigious strength. Travelling towards Exeter with King Edward the Confessor, to whom he was related, when they came to the gates of the city they found them locked and barred, while the porter, knowing nothing of their coming, was absent. Upon this Ordulph, leaping off his horse, took the bars in his hands, and with great apparent ease broke them in pieces, at the same time pulling out part of the wall. Not content with this, he gave a second proof of his strength; for, breaking the hinges with his foot, he laid the gates open. Whilst those who witnessed this extraordinary feat could not suppress their admiration, the king, pretending to underrate his prowess, declared it must have been done by the sole power of the devil, and not by the strength of man. However wonderful this story may appear, it is not more so than what William of Malmesbury relates of him in another particular - that he was of such gigantic stature, that for his amusement he would often bestride a river, near his residence, of ten feet broad; and with his knife would chop off the heads of such wild animals as were brought to him, and so cast them into the stream.[Text may be taken from a different source or edition than that listed as the source by Somers Cocks.]

Wood engr

60x85mm

On same sheet as 1767