Ottery St Mary
Ottery St Mary
A small market town with a superb 14th century parish church modeled after Exeter Cathedral, Ottery St Mary has been settled since the time of Edward the Confessor. The mechanical medieval clock still strikes the hours. In 1688 William of Orange stayed here while on his way to London to be crowned William III of England. Author Samuel Taylor Colerige was born in the vicarage here in 1772.
Ottery St Mary is famous for the ancient ceremony of the Flaming Tar Barrels. Every November 5 lit barrels of tar are carried through the streets of town in a rite whose origins are lost in the mists of time.