THOMAS CORYATE
Thomas Coryate, who was born in Odcombe, in 1579, the son of the Rector at that time, George Coryate., who died in 1606 and is buried in the Chancel. Thomas was educated at Oxford, and was received into the family of Henry, prince of Wales, which gave him an introduction to all the wits of that time. His claim to fame comes mainly from his travels, on foot, through Europe in 1608. In five months he travelled 1975 miles, mainly on foot, with only one pair of shoes. On his return he hung those shoes up on the hook in the north-east corner of the Nave, where they remained until 1702, but there is no trace of them now! However a Hamstone replica was commissioned in the year 2000 to celebrate the Millennium and is to be found on the East wall of the South Transept. His book, "Coryat's Crudities" published in 1611 chronicled his journeying, and he is credited with introducing the fork and the parasol into England. In 1612 he set out again, intending to spend the next ten years travelling through Europe, the Middle East and India. He learnt to speak four more languages, including Turkish and Arabian, and a number of his letters, observations and speeches during this expedition were published. Unfortunately he became ill and died in India in 1617.
Following Tom There is a bit about Tom Coryate in the ‘Church Guide’ section of this site. Chris Worledge, son of one of the Odcombe Churchwardens, recentlyt completed a journey to Venice and back, following in Tom Coryate’s footsteps. He has also created a great WEB site www.followingtom.com which is well worth a visit