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MORTEHOE

Select map to view parish boundaries in detail.

"MORTHOE; is a scattered village, five miles W.S.W. of Ilfracombe, picturesquely seated on the sea coast, where that narrow rocky promontory, called Morte Point juts out more than a mile into the Bristol Channel, between Bockham and Morte Bays, where there is a dangerous reef of rocks, on which vessels have often been wrecked. The parish contains 372 souls, and about 2500 acres of land, rising boldly from the sea cliffs, and including the hamlets of Horsborough, Shesborough, and Estacott. Earl Fortescue is lord of the manor of Over Wallacombe, and Sir J.P.B. Chichester owns that of Wallacombe-Tracy. The latter was long the seat of the ancient family of Tracy; and Sir Wm. Tracy is said to have lived here secluded from the world after his participation in the murder of Thomas a Becket. The Church (St Mary,) is an ancient structure, with a short tower and three bells. It contains the richly ornamented tomb of Wm. de Tracy, a former rector, who founded a chantry in it in 1308." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]

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

Archives and Libraries

Information about the Mortehoe Heritage Centre can be found at the Devon Museums web-site.

Biography

Trebble, Alice. A Woolacombe childhood (ed. Anne Crocker), Bath, Anne Crocker (1982) 56p: ill. [Personal reminiscences. 1910-1920] [Westcountry Studies Library p920/TRE]

Cemeteries

Census

Snetzler, M.F. North Devon Surname Index to the Census. Microfiche: M.F. Snetzler, Barcott, Buckland Brewer, Bideford, Devon EX39 5LN. [Covers 1841, 1861, 1871 and 1881 census records for this parish]

Church History

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

Church Records

The Devon FHS publishes indexes covering (as of June 2004): Marriages 1754-1837, Burials 1750-1837 - for details see their book list.

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

• Mr Irwin's Wesleyan Chapel: Registers for c1807-37 - see Barnstaple Circuit (PRO RG 4/954)

Brock, Bob and Ann. From Cradle to Grave 1900-1919, 20 years of Birth, Marriage and Death Notices Taken from the 'North Devon Journal' for the parishes of Ashford, Bittadon, Heanton Punchardon, Georgeham, Marwood, Morthoe and West Down Braunton Museum, The Bakehouse Centre, Caen Street, Braunton, N. Devon EX33 1AA (2002?) 60p.

Directories

Gazetteers

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

Genealogy

Drake, William Richard. Account of the family of Cutcliffe of Damage in Devonshire. London: Privately printed (1876) 41- 59,xii;tables. [Westcountry Studies Library - sx929.2/CUT]

Sheffield, Walter Lee. Descent of the manor of Woolacombe through Stowford to Brightley to Cobley to Gifford, Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries 32, 1971-73, pp. 148-52. See also pp. 179-82. [Medieval.]

History

Bidgood, R.F. Two villages: the story of Mortehoe and Woolacombe. (4th ed.) Mortehoe: R.F. Bidgood (1984) 95p: ill,map. [Westcountry Studies Library - sB/MOR 7/0001/BID]

King, Alice. The Strange Story of Lee, Ilfracombe, Twiss & Sons (1898) 224 pp.

Reed, Margaret. Mortehoe & Woolacombe on the record. Friends of Mortehoe Cart Linha (1997) viii, 196p: ill,map. [ISBN 0950602922]

Names, Personal

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

Last updated: 9 Jul 2007 - Brian Randell

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