St Giles on the Heath
| St Giles on the Heath | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
| |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SX362902 |
| Location: | 50°41’20"N, 4°19’12"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Launceston |
| Postcode: | PL15 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Torridge |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Torridge and West Devon |
St Giles on the Heath, sometimes hyphenated as St Giles-on-the-Heath, is a village in the far west of Devon, on the A388 road about eight miles south of the town of Holsworthy.
The parish includes the hamlets of Hele, West Panson, East Panson, Sitcott, Box's Shop, Peter's Finger, West Druxton, Poole and Netherbridge. The parish is surrounded clockwise from the north-west by the parishes of Northcott, Luffincott, Ashwater, Virginstow, Broadwoodwidger and Lifton. The western border of the civil parish follows the River Tamar, across which lie Devon's only two ancient parishes west of the Tamar, namely Werrington and North Petherwin.[1] In 2001 its population was 617, significantly higher than the 258 residents it had in 1901.[2]
Church history
The parish church is St Giles, hence the name of the village. Before 1193 the church was a chapelry of North Petherwin belonging to Tavistock Abbey. However, from 1288 it was a chapelry of St Stephen's by Launceston belonging to Launceston Priory. In 1500 the relationship between the two churches was settled; St Giles chapel was granted the right of burial and was thereafter to be served by a chaplain maintained by the priory who also served the chapel of Werrington. At the Reformation it became a donative.[3]
The church stands about a mile and a half north-west of the village. It dates from the 13th and 15th centuries but began as a Norman church consisting of a nave and chancel only, to which a south aisle was added in the 15th century. It has a low west tower and a Norman font,[2][3] and was partially restored in 1868 by J. D. Sedding, and further in 1878 by James Piers St Aubyn.[4]
The parish of St Giles belonged before 1876 to the Archdeaconry of Cornwall and was then included in the new Diocese of Truro to which it still belongs.
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about St Giles on the Heath) |
References
- ↑ "Map of Devon Parishes". Devon County Council. http://www.devon.gov.uk/devon_districts_2002_.pdf. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Harris, Helen (2004). A Handbook of Devon Parishes. Tiverton: Halsgrove. p. 168. ISBN 1-84114-314-6.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; p. 101
- ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Devon, 1952; 1989 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09596-8page 707–8