Blackbeard the Pirate and Stonehouse?
(Edward Thache aka Blackbeard)
When you next visit Stonehouse on the train,
Take a walk down to beautiful St Cyr’s Church:
Take a seat there by the Stroudwater Canal,
And ponder on these intriguing questions:
Could the Revd Thomas Thache, rector at St Cyr’s,
Possibly be Blackbeard’s grandfather?
And could the Edward Thache, born in Stonehouse
On June 14, 1659,
Baptized two weeks later at St Cyr’s Church,
Possibly be Blackbeard’s father?
Did that Edward Thache (senior)
Move to Bristol, marry an Elizabeth,
And have two children: Elizabeth
And the Edward who would become known as Blackbeard?
Did the family of that notorious pirate,
The legendary swashbuckler Blackbeard,
Really hail from Stonehouse?
Is St Cyr’s Church down by the canal,
Linked with the fearsome skull and crossbones,
That ploughed the waters of the Atlantic Ocean
And the Caribbean Seas?
The Blackbeard, killed near Ocracoke Island,
North Carolina, November, 1718?
The Blackbeard, pursued by Alexander Spotswood,
The Governor of Virginia?
Spotswood had authorized the expedition
That claimed Blackbeard’s head as a trophy –
So, when you visit St Cyr’s Church,
Nestling so peacefully down by the Ocean
(As that part of the canal is called),
Gaze into the azure skyscape,
And track a windblown cumulus cloud,
For you might just glimpse the head of Blackbeard –
But beware of any inexplicable light
Flashing on the limpid flowing waters:
‘Teach’s Light’, the mariners call it:
Guiding Blackbeard in the ceaseless search for his head,
Desperate that the Devil will know him still.
Think about this strange tale on your train-ride back home.