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DUNKESWELL

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"DUNKESWELL, which gives name to a deanery, is a small village, in a narrow picturesque valley, near the source of a rivulet, 6 miles N.N.W. of Honiton. Its parish is boldly diversified with hill and dale, and comprises 536 souls, and about 4000 acres of land, including an open turf moor of about 100 acres, and many scattered houses. Mrs. E.P. Simcoe owns a great part of the soil, and is lady of the manor. She has a pleasant seat at the south end of the parish, called Wolford Lodge, 4 miles N.N.W. of Honiton. This mansion was the seat of the late General Simcoe, and near it there was anciently a church called Wolfer Church, which was granted by King John to DUNKESWELL ABBEY, which was founded at the north end of the parish, by Wm. Lord Brewer, in 1201, for Cistercian monks . . . . There are still some slight vestiges of the abbey, and on its site a handsome District Church has lately been erected by Mrs. Simcoe, . . . The Parish Church (St. Nicholas,) is in the centre of the parish, about two miles south of the new Abbey Church. It was rebuilt in 1817, and is a small cruciform structure, with a tower and three bells. . . .." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]
A parish in Hemyock Hundred, the Archdeaconry and the Diocese of Exeter.

General information:

Biography

Roberton, J. Ross. The Diary of Mrs John Graves Simcoe, Wife of the First Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Upper-Canada 1792-6, Toronto, Cassell & Company Limited (1911). [facsimile edition published 1973, Coles Publishing Company, Toronto]

Cemeteries

MIs for this parish are included in the Incledon index - see under Cemeteries on the main Devon page.

Church History

Wolford Chapel - on the estate of John Graves Simcoe, the First Lieutenant-Governor of Canada, and donated to the People of Ontario in 1966.

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

Rowe, J. Brooking. The Cistercian House of Devon. IV. Newenham and V. Dunkeswell, Reprinted from the Transactions of the Devonshire Association (1877-1878).
Sparks, J.A. In the shadow of the Blackdowns: life at the Cistercian Abbey of Dunkeswell and on its manors and estates, 1201-1539. Bradford-on-Avon: Moonraker (1976) viii, 133p, pl: ill, maps. [ISBN 0239001788]
A Short History of Dunkeswell Abbey. Dunkeswell Abbey Preservation Fund. (196-) [Westcountry Studies Library, Torquay Library]

Church Records

Parish Registers going back to 1539 are held in the Devon Record Office - for details see Parish Registers in the Devon Record Office.

The Devon FHS publishes indexes covering (as of June 2004): Baptisms 1813-1839, Marriages 1754-1837, Burials 1800-1837 - for details see their book list.

Nothing entered into the IGI (as of Jan 1993).

The Deanery of Dunkeswell, CD012, Devon Family History Society, Exeter (2007). [Contains indexes: Awliscombe - Baptisms 1813-1839, Marriages 1754-1837, Burials 1813-1837; Churchstanton - Baptisms 1813-1837, Marriages 1754-1837, Burials 1813-1839; Clayhidon - Baptisms 1813-1839, Marriages 1754-1837, Burials 1813-1837; Combe Raleigh - Baptisms 1813-1839, Marriages 1754-1837, Burials 1813-1837; Dunkeswell - Baptisms 1813-1839, Marriages 1754-1837, Burials 1800-1837; Hemyock - Baptisms 1813-1839, Marriages 1635-1837, Burials 1813-1837; Luppitt - Baptisms 1813-1839, Marriages 1754-1838, Burials 1813-1837; Sheldon - Baptisms 1813-1839, Marriages 1755-1836, Burials 1770-1837; Upottery - Baptisms 1813-1839, Marriages 1754-1837, Burials 1813-1837; Yarcombe - Baptisms 1813-1839, Marriages 1754-1837, Burials 1813-1837.]

Description and Travel

Atholguy - Dunkeswell village news, history, photographs, etc., an extensive community website provided by Andy Drummond.

Photographs and 1878 description, provided by Nigel Batty-Smith.

Taylor, Anthony. Culm Valley Album, Bradninch, A. Taylor (1987) 191 pp. [Illustrations: 1880-1987] [Westcountry Studies Library xB/CUL 1/1880/TAY]

Gazetteers

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

History

Broad, Richard. Dunkeswell parish and people. Dunkeswell: Richard Broad,1994, 172 pp. ill., maps. ISBN: 0952382903 (pbk)
Thorne, Robert Linham. The history of the Culme valley and its villages: Hemyock, Culmstock, Clayhidon, Dunkeswell, Churchstanton, Uffculme, Wellington, R.L. Thorne (1951) 26 pp. [Westcountry Studies Library DEV/0001/THO]

Land and Property

Spreadsheet transcription of the Tithe Apportionments.

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Last updated: 4 Aug 2010 - Brian Randell

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