Bishop's Tawton
| Bishop's Tawton | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
 Bishop's Tawton from Codden Hill | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SS565302 |
| Location: | 51°3’12"N, 4°2’52"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Barnstaple |
| Postcode: | EX32 |
| Local Government | |
Bishop's Tawton is a village in northern Devon, sitting in the valley of the River Taw, about three miles south of Barnstaple. The 2001 census recorded a parish had a population of 1,176.
Famous residents included Clara Codd, the suffragette, who was born in Pill House in October 1877.[1]
Parish church
The parish church is St John The Baptist. Its of the 14th century, with a prominent spire. The font though is earlier than the church: it is of the Normanperiod.
The church has several mural monuments to the Chichester family of Hall.
Several sources dating from the 16th and 17th centuries[2] record that the see of the first bishop for Devon (a diocese created by dividing the Diocese of Sherborne in the early 10th century) was at Tawton (later named Bishop's Tawton) in 905, though certainly by 909 the see was at Crediton. In 1050, the bishop’s seat moved from Crediton to Exeter.
Any link between a possible 10th-century former bishop's church/cathedral and the extant Church of St John the Baptist is conjectural. The case for a brief bishopric at Tawton is far from proven, but there are remains of a modest bishop's "palace" at Court Farm, next to the parish church. This residence was used for centuries by the diocesan bishops, until Tudor times, and the parish was a bishop's peculiar.[3]
Historic estates
- Hall, Bishop's Tawton
- Pill, Bishop's Tawton
- Accott
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Bishop's Tawton) |