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According to Peskett, Queen's Nympton alias Queen's Nymet is an outlier of this parish with a chapel of ease (Holy Trinity) built 1730, long ruinous, and without separate registers."SOUTH MOLTON is a municipal borough, and well-built market town, pleasantly situated on the bold western acclivity of the valley of the river Mole, 11 miles E.S.E. of Barnstaple, 18 N.W. by W. of Tiverton, 16 miles W. by S. of Dulverton, 28 miles N.W. by N. of Exeter, and 181 W. by S. of London. It gives name to a deanery, hundred, union, county court district, petty sessional division, and polling district; and is the chief place of election for the parliamentary representatives of the Northern Division of Devon. It is well supplied with pure soft spring water, and has gas works, erected in 1836, at the cost of £2200, raised in £10 shares. The principal streets are spacious and well paved, and contain several good inns and neat public buildings, and many handsome and well stocked shops. Its Parish comprises 6264 acres of land, many scattered farm-houses, the hamlets of Shallowford, High Bray, and Stag's Head; and the estates of Bremridge, Freynstone, Hache, North-Aller, Honiton Barton, &c., extending more than two miles west, north, and south of the town. The soil is generally fertile and well cultivated, and rises in bold undulations from the river Mole on the east, and the Bray on the west. The Mole, from which the town has its name, gives motion to several woollen and corn mills, and is here crossed by a good bridge of one arch, erected after the old one had been destroyed by a flood, in 1841. The parish had 2753 inhabitants in 1801; 2739 in 1811; 3314 in 1821; 3826 in 1831; and 4274 in 1841; but they have since increased to about 4800." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]
Select map to view parish
boundaries in detail.
Information about the South Molton Museum can be found at the Devon Museums web-site, and the North Devon Link web-site.
Harpley, W. Obituary notices: Mrs Tanner-Davy. Trans. Devon. Assoc. 27, (1895) pp.39. [Philanthropist, 1835-1895]
Wheeler, Elizabeth Darracott. Sir John Dodderidge, celebrated barrister of Britain, 1555-1628. Lewiston: Mellen Research Unit (1992) iv, 238p: port. [Westcountry Studies Library - s920/DOD]
Down, J. H. County Devon, South Molton monumental inscriptions ..., SoG Library (1914). [LDS Film number #476206]
Parsons, John (comp.). South Molton Churchyard - Gravestones. South Molton & District Archive. 32p. [Available from South Molton Museum]
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]
Hicks, C.E. Nonconformity in South Molton. Trans. Devon Assoc. 92 (1960) pp.239-247. [Raymond: Includes lists of Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist ministers.]
Oliver, J.K. The parish church of St. Mary Magdalene, South Molton. (1978) 7p: plan. [Westcountry Studies Library - p726.5/SOU/OLI ]
Roberts, J. A Group of Elizabethan Puritans. Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries 29, 11 (1964) pp.295-296; 30, 2 (1965) pp.61-63; 30, 3 (1966) p.95. [Raymond: List, with some genealogical details, of the 'Godly', in South Molton, c.1562.]
Roper, W.L. The Parish Church of St Mary Magdalen, South Molton: A brief history. [SoG Library - DE tracts]
South Molton Methodist Church: Centenary Year, 1982-1983. South Molton: Gospel Press (1982). [Raymond: Prints the treasurers accounts, 1882, giving names of contributors to the building fund.]
Transcripts of the Parish Registers going back to 1601 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): Marriages 1754-1837, Burials 1813-1837 - for details see their book list.
Other churches and chapels (with pre-1840 records):
South Molton Home Page - community news.
Transcript of the entry for South and North Molton in Pigot's Devonshire Directory of 1844.
Transcript of complete entry in White's Devonshire Directory of 1850.The transcription of the section for this parish from the National Gazetteer (1868), provided by Colin Hinson.
The Online Parish Clerk scheme's representative for this parish is Lyn Chapple, who invites queries and lookup requests. (Resources: Index to 1830 Pigot's; 1841, 1871 censuses; Ind. Chapel bapts., M.I's, Bapt. 1786-1872; Marriages 1786-1795; 1838-1854; Burials 1786-1875.)
The Stanthorpe Passmore Archive - documents relating to members of the Passmore and Maire families in the possession of Mr John Passmore of Stanthorpe, Queensland, Australia.
Chanter, J.Frederick. Chappyngtons, the South Molton organ makers. Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries 6:1, (1910) pp.31-32; 6:3, (1910) pp.86-87.
Colby, F.T. Pedigree of the Palmer family, formerly of South Molton and Great Torrington, Devon. Exeter: privately printed, 1892.
Conybeare, Frederick Cornwallis, ed. Letters and exercises of the Elizabethan schoolmaster, John Conybeare, schoolmaster at Molton, Devon, 1580, and at Swimbridge, 1594, with notes and a fragment of autobiography by William Daniel Conybeare. London: Henry Frowde, 1905. [Raymond: Includes pedigrees of Conybeare and Olivier.]
Dodderidge, Sidney E. Pedigree of Dudderigge alias Dodderidge, of Dotheridge, South Molton, and Barnstaple, Co. Devon, Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries, vol. 3, no. 5, (1905) pp.166-169.
Ellen, Jo. The hammer and the anvil: a history of the Greenslade/Moore family. [Maldon, Victoria]: The Author (1992) xiv, 198p: ill, ports, tbs. [ISBN 0646101714]
Morris, R.Burnet. The Morris family of South Molton. Guildford: Privately printed (1908) [Westcountry Studies Library - ms929.2/MOR]
Articles on William Cruwys and Maria Westacott and the Stolen Blankets of 1871-72 transcribed by Debbie Kennett.
Bartlett, Tom. Postcard Views of North Devon, Volume III - South Molton & Around, Bideford, Badger Books (1990) 92p of ill. [ISBN 0946290190]
Cock, John, (ed). Records of ye antient borough of South Molton, in ye county of Devon. South Molton, By the author (1893) 4 pp. l., 255 pp. front., illus., plates. [Index]
Cresswell, Beatrix F. Notes from the local history of South Molton. South Molton: S.W.Lyddon [1932?] 24p, plates: ill. [Westcountry Studies Library - B/SOU 5/0001/CRE]
Edwards, Colin. 'having altogeather forgotten his hande wrytnge'; Two Early-Seventeenth-Century Letters and Clatworthy. In Devon Documents (ed. T. Gray). Tiverton: Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries, Special Issue (1996) [ISBN 0925836203] pp.68-71.
Edmunds, Jon. History of South Molton. Barnstaple: J.Edmunds [1986] 81p. [Westcountry Studies Library - sB/SOU 5/0001/EDM]
Edmunds, Jonathan. The Book of South Molton: The Gateway to Exmoor, Tiverton, Halsgrove Press (2002) 160 pp. [ISBN: 1841141860] [Index]
Gentry, F.D. Take Care of your Fire and Candle [11 fires in Devon towns]. Devon Books (1985) 138p. [ISBN 0861147596] [Devon FHS Library 929.35]
Lauder, R.A. Market Towns of North Devon, Bideford, Badger (1983) 60 pp.
Mills, John. A concise history of the borough town of South Molton, Devon: to which is added an account of Sir Robert de Basset's...aspiration. South Molton: G. Poole (1892) 48p: ill. [Westcountry Studies Library - B/SOU 5/0001/MIL]
Morgan, Mary-Jane. South Molton 1850-1870: the decline of a rural market town. Thesis for B.A. Hons. degree, School of Modern Hist. & Economics, Univ. of Manchester [1981] 60p. [Westcountry Studies Library - sxB/SOU 5/1850/MOR]
Nash, R.A. A brief history of the borough of South Molton (1943) [8]p. [Westcountry Studies Library - pB/SOU 5/0001/NAS]
Reichel, O.J. The Hundred of South Molton in Early Times, Trans. Devonshire Association (1940) pp.66-96.
Saunders, Helen. A Sketch of the History of the Church and Manor of South Molton. Trans. Devon Assoc. 35 (1903) pp.226-256. [Raymond: Includes extracts from accounts, list of churchwardens, monumental inscriptions, etc.]
Usmar, John. The parishes of the rural deanery of South Molton in 1916. Witheridge: J. Usmar (1990) 13p. [Barnstaple Library - BN:SOU 5/1916/USM]
Worth, R.N. Early days in South Molton. Trans. Devon. Assoc. 26, (1894) pp.122-132.
Old South Molton. South Molton: The Archive (1989) 16p: ill. [ISBN 0951423606]
South Molton Heritage Trail. South Molton & District Archive Local History Society (2000) 40p. [ISBN: 0-9514236-5-4] [Available from the Tourist Information Centre, the Museum, and the Library, South Molton]
The Tracy Deed, a 12th century document in the collection of family papers held by the Cruwys family at Cruwys Morchard House, transcribed by Debbie Kennett.
Map of the area from OldeMaps (circa 1950).
Ryall, David. Lest We Forget, War memorials around South Molton. South Molton Archive, 68pp. [ISBN 0 951236 1 4] [Provides an indexed list of names]
Extracts from 18th and 19th Century newspapers relating to South Molton, provided by Lindsey Withers.
Chanter, J. Frederick. Chappyngtons, the South Molton organ builders, Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries, vol. 6, no. 3, (1910) pp.85-86. [John Loosemore, 1633-1681]
Chope, R. Pearse. Chappyngtons, the South Molton organ builders, Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries, vol. 6, no. 3, (1910) pp.86-87 [John Loosemore, 1633-1681]
Transcriptions of the wills of Henry Hearder (1656) and Sarah Herder (1650), provided by Ian Hearder.
Transcription of the will of Emm Halls (1712), part of the Stanthorpe Passmore Archive, by Desmond Painter.
Jewell, Sheila. South Molton Charity School. Devon Historian 90 (May 1999) p. 6. [List of pupils in 1712, from N. Devon R.O. Ref B366 2/3.]
Joyce, Walter W. Hugh Squier's school, South Molton. Trans. Devon. Assoc. 60, (1928) pp.225-238.
Morey, Gertrude. Hugh Squier of South Molton, 1625-1710: a note of his founding of the Free School in South Molton his will and his benefactions. [1710]Devon Historian 23, (1981) pp.7-11.
South Molton and District Archive Local History Society web-site (archived copy) - provides details of archive holdings for the twenty-eight parishes in what used to be the South Molton Rural District, lists of publications, etc.
Find help, report problems, and contribute information.Last updated: 3 Mar 2010 - Brian Randell
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