Among the many streets in the post-war Manadon estate to be named after famous British writers is Coverdale Place. Miles Coverdale was born in Coverdale, Yorkshire, in 1488 and was educated at Cambridge. He became an Augustinian canon, but was afterwards one of the first supporters of English Reformation. It was he who, with William Tyndale (who also has a street in that area named after him), translated the bible into English for the first time, at Hamburg in 1535. He spent a lot of his life in Germany but returned to England after the death of Henry VIII.
In 1519, he assisted Lord Russell, who had been sent into Devonshire to suppress the Prayer Book Rebellion, and preached on the field after the skirmish of Clyst St. Mary. He was appointed to the See of Exeter in 1551 after the resignation of Bishop Veysey. When Queen Mary came to the throne he was imprisoned, but released on the request of King Christian of Denmark and permitted to retire there. He then moved on to Geneva and finally back to England on Mary’s death. He himself died in 1569 and is buried in London.
