Merton, Devon
| Merton | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
 A cottage in Merton | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SS528122 |
| Location: | 50°53’28"N, 4°5’38"W |
| Data | |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Torridge |
Merton is a village in the north of Devon, about five miles south-east of the town of Great Torrington, on the A386 road between Meeth and Great Torrington.
Parish church
The parish church, All Saints' Church, stands on the west side of the village. It dates from around 1400 and underwent a heavy Victorian restoration between 1872 and 1875 by R. M. Fulford. Nevertheless, the east window of the north chapel retains many fragments of late mediæval stained glass.[1]
History
Three estates about the parish, Speccot, Dunsbear and Potheridge are mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.[2]
Great Potheridge, now a farmhouse, was the ancestral home and the birthplace in 1608 of General George Monck, created 1st Duke of Albemarle in 1660 for his services in the Restoration of Charles II. Monck reconstructed the house, presumably after 1660, but much of it was demolished some time after 1734. Surviving features include a late-17th-century grand staircase and part of the great hall with its ornate overmantel.[1]
Merton Moor, on the border between the parishes of Merton and Petrockstowe, has been the site of ball clay extraction for a number of years, and the North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway ran through the west of the parish between 1925 and 1982 to serve the ball clay industry. Today the former railway line forms part of the Tarka Trail series of footpaths and cycle tracks.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Merton, Devon) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Devon, 1952; 1989 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09596-8
- ↑ Hoskins, W. G.: 'A New Survey of England: Devon' (Collins, 1972) pages 434–5 ISBN 0-7153-5577-5
