Coldridge or Coleridge is a village and parish in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England. It appears in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086 as ''Colrige'', which is thought to mean ‘the ridge where charcoal is made’. It has a church dedicated to St Matthew dating from the 15th and early 16th century which is a Grade I listed building. In 2021, investigations started as to whether John Evans, a mediaeval lord of the manor buried in the church, may in reality have been the missing

Edward V Edward V (2 November 1470 – mid-1483)R. F. Walker, "Princes in the Tower", in S. H. Steinberg et al, ''A New Dictionary of British History'', St. Martin's Press, New York, 1963, p. 286. was ''de jure'' King of England and Lord of Ireland fro ...

, one of the

princes in the Tower The Princes in the Tower refers to the apparent murder in England in the 1480s of the deposed King Edward V of England and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York. These two brothers were the only sons of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville sur ...

, whose mother

Elizabeth Woodville Elizabeth Woodville (also spelt Wydville, Wydeville, or Widvile;Although spelling of the family name is usually modernised to "Woodville", it was spelt "Wydeville" in contemporary publications by Caxton, but her tomb at St. George's Chapel, Wind ...

travelled to Devon in 1484 and whose son Thomas Grey owned land at Coldridge. The church contains an unusual

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

portrait of Edward V, and other alleged clues. The investigations have been set up by writer and historian

Philippa Langley Philippa Jayne Langley (born 29 June 1962) is a British writer, producer, and Ricardian, who is best known for her role in the discovery and exhumation of Richard III in 2012 (the ''Looking for Richard'' project), for which she was awarded an ...

, and follow suggestions originally made in the 1920s by local historian Beatrix Cresswell. The name "Coleridge" is borne (among others) by a number of people associated with

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

, including * Sir

Nicholas Coleridge Sir Nicholas David Coleridge (born 4 March 1957) is a British former media executive, author, and cultural chair. He is chairman of the Victoria and Albert Museum, chairman of the Prince of Wales' Campaign for Wool, chairman of the Gilbert Trus ...

, currently (October 2023) the provost-elect * Frederick John Randolph Coleridge (vice-provost 1967-79) * Coleridge House, a former boarding house demolished in 1937https://catalogue.etoncollege.com/object-fda-e-509-2013

References

Villages in Mid Devon District Civil parishes in Devon {{Devon-geo-stub