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WEMBWORTHY

Select map to view parish boundaries in detail.

"WEMBWORTHY, a pleasant village and parish, 4 miles S.S.W. of Chulmleigh, has 418 inhabitants, and 1934 acres of land, mostly the property of the Hon. Newton Fellowes, who has lately erected a neat mansion on the site of the old barton of Heywood, in lieu of his former seat of Eggesford House. . . . Heywood was anciently the seat of the Espeke, or Speke family, and was leased by Sir George Speke to Sir John Doddridge, one of the justices of the King's Bench, in the reign of James I. and Charles I. J.H. Mayne has an estate in this parish. The Church (St. Michael,) is a small antique structure; and the rectory, valued in K.B. at £11. 13s. 4d., and in 1831 at £146, is in the incumbency of the Rev. Peter Johnson, B.D., and in the patronage of himself and others. The Parsonage is a neat and pleasant residence, and the glebe is 55½A. The tithes were commuted in 1845 for £166 per annum." [From White's Devonshire Directory (1850)]

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

Biography

Orme, Nicholas. Sir John Speke and his chapel in Exeter Cathedral. Trans. Devon. Assoc. 118, (1986) pp.25-41: ill. [1518-1519]

Census

Transcription by Nick Mayne of an early census of Wembworthy, taken in about 1779, giving names and ages, held in the Devon Record Office (DRO 1165Z/Z 1).

Clapp, Brian. Wembworthy: a Devon parish in the eighteenth century. Exeter Papers Economic Hist. 11, (1976) pp.65-72. [Analysis of local records including a census dated about 1778, 1675-1840]

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

Church History

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

Church Records

The Devon FHS publishes indexes covering (as of June 2004): Baptisms 1813-1839, Marriages 1733-1837 - for details see their book list.

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

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 Michael Mitchelmore, who invites queries and lookup requests. (Resources: Baptisms 1751-1876, Banns 1754-1821, Marriages 1754-1837, Burials 1751-1809.)

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.

History

Clapp, Brian. Wembworthy: a Devon parish in the eighteenth century. Exeter Papers Economic Hist. 11, (1976) pp.65-72. - Analysis of local records including a census dated about 1778. [1675-1840]

Williams, H. Fulford. Notes on the Parish of Wembworthy, Devon. Typescript (1963) 6 leaves. [Westcountry Studies Library]

Land and Property

Lauder, Rosemary Anne. Vanished Houses of North Devon, R.A. Lauder (Printed by Penwell Ltd, Parkwood, Callington, Cornwall) (1981) 72 pp. [ISBN 0 950 792004] [Eggesford House - pp. 58-71] [Lookups]

Vachell E T. Eggesford and Heywood Castles. Trans. Dev. Assoc. 95 (1963) pp.197-207.

Names, Personal

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

Last updated: 9 Aug 2009 - Brian Randell

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