The Quicke family's lucky break came in the 1530s when Richard Quicke married Elizabeth Bidwell. Her father, Thomas, had been given monastery land in Newton St. Cyres by Henry VIII after he fell out with the Catholic Church over his marriage to Anne Boleyn.
Now established at Newton St. Cyres, the Quickes wanted to stay. So the eldest sons - mainly Johns with a few Andrews - stayed back on the land farming and land owning - not risking, but not losing their land. The girls could expect to marry local landowners, churchmen or soldiers, but the odd one or two ran away - one married the groom and went to America.
Some of the younger sons went into the Army, never rising very far (not that they were dim - there are two fellows of New College, Oxford). Many became churchmen, vicars at the church at Newton St. Cyres, in the heart of the village. The family motto "Petit ardua virtus", meaning "Strength seeks challenges" encouraged the family to work for a better farm, a better village and a beautiful place to live. In the Civil War Andrew Quicke wondered what to do to avoid change, even though he objected to King Charles I's dictatorial policies. Andrew died in 1654, and his brother John Quicke was able to welcome the new monarchy back.
After the Civil War, with the aristocrats broken as a force, squires of old England like the Quickes lived well. They had carriages, servants and fine clothes. Their good fortune didn't go to their heads, and they made the changes they needed to.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Quickes and their neighbours developed a sideline of manganese mining, bringing a lot of new jobs into the village.
Manganese was used to harden steel and the mines around Newton St. Cyres produced more than anyone else. The mines closed down when the South African mines opened up, with their very cheap labour and plentiful seams.
In the Agricultural Depression, after the Canadian Pacific Railway opened up, American wheat poured into Britain. Farming had to make changes. The Quickes planted entire fields with acorns because they the fields weren't worth farming. They're still there, making Newton St. Cyres a beautiful wooded parish, where Dr John Quicke still plants more than 7000 trees a year.
In the Two World Wars, the government tightly controlled cheesemaking in the desperate need to feed the population. Farmers were only allowed to make "National Cheese", a mild cheddar-style cheese that was bland enough to put anyone off cheese for life.
Other forms of farming fed the people, and paid the wages, so few went to the extra trouble of cheesemaking.
It was only in the 1970's, when agricultural surpluses became a problem, that Sir John Quicke went back into cheesemaking, bringing new jobs to the village.
With the weight of history behind the family they determined to make the finest cheese in the world.
Traditionally made, long maturing, with a long round and complex flavour, our cheese represents the qualities that have kept the Quicke family in Newton St. Cyres for 450 years.
