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SOWTON

Select map to view parish boundaries in detail.

"SOWTON, a small village and parish in the picturesque valley of the Clist rivulet, 3½ mi1es E. of Exeter, contains about 1360A. and 382 inhabitants, of whom 215 are in the village and tithing of CLIST SACKVILLE, which has also 71 inhabitants in Farringdon parish on the opposite of the valley in East Budleigh Hundred, and is sometimes called Bishop's Clist, from its having been for some time the property and one of the seats of the Bishops of Exeter. John Garratt, Esq., owns most of the parish, and is lord of the manor of Clist Sackville, or Bishop's Clist. and Sowton, alias Clist Fomeson. The former was held by the Sackville family till the reign of Edw. I., when it was mortgaged to Bishop Bronscombe, who built a mansion here, and afterwards annexed the manor to the See of Exeter; but in the reign of Edward VI., it was given to the Earl of Bedford, from whom the mansion was called Bedford House, till the civil wars of the 17th century, when it was garrisoned and fortified by Sir Thos. Fairfax, during the blockade of Exeter. . . . The Church (St. Michael,) is a handsome structure of perpendicular architecture, with a tower and eight bells." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]

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

Cemeteries

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

Census

Transcript of an incomplete census of 1696 by Diana Ingram.

Church Records

Transcripts of the Parish Registers going back to 1560 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 1800-1837 - for details see their book list.

Entered into the IGI (as of Jan 1993): Parish Church Christenings 1560-1837, and Marriages 1561-1836.

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 Daniel Morgan, who invites queries and lookup requests.

History

Orme, Nicholas. A medieval almshouse for the clergy: Clyst Gabriel Hospital near Exeter. J. Eccles. Hist., vol. 39, no. 1 (1988).

Land and Property

Laithwaite, Michael. Middle Moor, Sowton: A re-assessment, Trans. Dev. Assoc., vol. 103, (1971) pp.77-83.

Names, Personal

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

Last updated: 8 Apr 2010 - Brian Randell

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