First part of a short walk to Clyst St Mary Chuch placed to co-incide with the We are 16 going on 17..... event.
Clyst St Mary is a small village and Civil Parish on the main Exeter to Exmouth road in East Devon. The name comes from the Celtic word clyst meaning 'clear stream'. Clyst St. Mary contains the West of England Showground and has a small industrial estate, Langdons Business Park. The population has risen steadily over the years, it was 97 in 1801, 157 in 1901, and 642 in 2004.
Clyst St Mary was the site of one of the decisive battles in the 1549 Prayer Book Rebellion, when West Country resistance to the Protestant Reformation was quashed. After the Battle of Woodbury Common on 4 August 1549, the rebels under the control of Humphrey Arundell had re-grouped with the main contingent of 6,000at Clyst St Mary, but on 5 August were attacked by a central force led by Sir William Francis, under the control of John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford. After a ferocious battle Russell's troops gained the advantage leaving a thousand Cornish and Devonians dead and many more taken prisoner, 900 of whom were massacred later that day at Clyst Heath. The village was burned and many of the combatants and villagers drowned in the river.