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BRAMPFORD SPEKE

Select map to view parish boundaries in detail.

"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." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]

• General historical and descriptive information, area map from 1765, details about administrative boundaries, etc., about Brampford Speke from the Devon Library's Local Studies Service.

Cemeteries

Cowley, St Anthony, Memorial Inscriptions Index. G.M. Project. C.C.C. Community Programme (1986). [SoG Library DE/M17]

Church History

Brampford Speke - from J. Stabb. Some Old Devon Churches (London: 1908-16).

Phillpotts, Henry. Letters Concerning the Case of the Appointment of George Cornelius Gorham to the Living of Brampford Speke, 1850, by Henry Philpott, Bishop of Exeter, and others. (1850) [Westcountry Studies Library]

Church Records

Transcripts of the Parish Registers going back to 1739, and of the Bishops' Transcripts going back to 1608, are held in a special collection in the Westcountry Studies Library - for details see Parish Registers in the Devon & Cornwall Record Society's Collection.

The Devon FHS publishes indexes covering (as of June 2004): Baptisms 1813-1839, Marriages 1754-1837, Burials 1813-1840 - for details see their book list.

Other churches and chapels (with pre-1840 records):

• Baptist Chapel, Berrysbridge Road, Thorverton: Thorverton and Brampford Speke Registers for 1832-1938 (C) are at DRO

Granville, Roger & Mugford, W.E. (eds.) Brampford Speke, 1608-1644. Abstracts of the Existing Transcripts of the Lost Parish-Registers of Devon, 1596-1644, and short notes on the extant pre-reformation registers of all the parishes in the county, from particulars furnished by the several incumbents thereof. Vol. 1 A-Bra. Exeter: W. Pollard (1908). [Full text]

Directories

Gazetteers

The transcription of the section for this parish from the National Gazetteer (1868), provided by Colin Hinson.

Genealogy

The Online Parish Clerk for this parish is Thomas Peeke, who invites queries and lookup requests.

This parish is one of the growing number of places for which the Devon Heritage website provides census or parish register transcriptions, articles, and/or illustrations, etc.

Rollitt, Linda. My Ancestors were Papermakers. Family Tree Magazine 24, 13 (Oct 2008) p.67. [Family of Thomas Long Caryl, b. 1838]

History

Orme, Nicholas. The History of Brampford Speke. Trans.Dev.Assoc. v.121 (1989) pp53-86.

Rose-Troup, F. The Anglo-Saxon charter of Brentford (Brampford) Devon. Trans. Devon. Assoc. 70, (1938) pp.253-275.

Names, Personal

Protestation Return of 1641/42 from Devon Heritage.

Brampford Speke contributors to a 1678 brief for the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral.

Probate Records

Will of Robert Challice (1870), transcribed by Paul Challice.

Last updated: 19 Dec 2011 - Brian Randell

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