BRAMPFORD-SPEKE is a pleasant scattered village, in the vale of the
river Exe, near the Bristol and Exeter Railway. Its parish contains
115OA. 2R. 30P., and 393 inhabitants, including the hamlet of
COWLEY, which is separated from the rest of the Parish by
Upton-Pyne, and comprises about 500 acres, near Cowley
Bridge and the confluence of the Creedy and Exe, two miles N.
of Exeter. Near this bridge, are houses in the parishes of St.
Thomas the Apostle and Upton Pyne. Sir S.H. Northcote, Bart., is
lord of the manor of Brampford Speke; but a great part of the soil
belongs to the Roberts, Blackall, and other families. It was
anciently held by the family of Espek, or Speke, who
appropriated the church in the reign of Stephen, to St. Nicholas's
Priory, Exeter. It was purchased by its present lord in 1815, and
had previously been held by the Pierce, Taylor, and Palk families.
Cowley belongs chiefly to the Rev. W.H. Alundell, Dr.
Blackall, and E.G. Roberts, Esq. It is supposed to have had a
chapel, though there are no traces of such a building. The parish
Church (St. Peter,) is an ancient structure, to which a
north aisle was added in 1840. It has a substantial tower,
containing five bells; and on its south side is an ancient chapel,
or chantry, in which was formerly a monumental effigy of one of the
Spekes. The vicarage, valued in K.B. at £10, and now
worth £250 a year, was endowed in 1269 with the rectorial
tithes of Cowley, now commuted for £63. 17s. 3d. per annum.
In 1842, the rectorial tithes of Brampford Speke, which belong to
the Bishop of Exeter, were commuted for £115. 13s., and the
vicarial tithes for £132. 10s. per ann. The vicarage has 39A.
of glebe, and is in the patronage of the Lord Chancellor, who in
1847 appointed the Rev. Geo. Cornelius Gorham, B.D., to the
benefice; but the Bishop of Exeter has refused to institute him to
the living, in consequence of his not holding the doctrine of
baptismal regeneration. The Rev. B. Houchen is now the curate and
sequestrator. The church and poor have long held five tenements in
St. Thomas's parish, which were let in 1800 for three lives, at the
nominal rent of 10s., in consideration of a fine of £125, now
invested in £136. 10s. four per cent. stock. MRS. MARY
TUCKER, who died here in 1849, bequeathed no less than
£12,200 stock to various charitable and public uses; among
which are, £1000 for repairing and altering Brampford Speke
church; £500 for the poor of this parish; £1100 for the
poor and Infirmary of Barnstaple; £1000 to the Devon and
Exeter Hospital; £300 to the Exeter Refuge for Destitute
Women; £500 to the Blind Institution in Exeter; £200 to
the Exeter Dispensary; and £300 to the Deaf and Dumb Asylum
in Exeter. Among her other legacies are large sums to various
religious societies, &c.
Marked * are at Cowley, and the others in
Brampford-Speke.
FARMERS.
Carpenter John
Carter Joseph
* Challice John
* Cornish John
Elliott James
* Helmore Wm. (& surveyor)
Salter C., Woodrw
Sharland Robt.
Veysey Thos.
Wippell Richd.
Brian Randell, 3 Jul 1998
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Brampford Speke 
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