Alverdiscott
| Alverdiscott | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
.jpg) All Saints Church, Alverdiscott | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SS519252 |
| Location: | 51°0’26"N, 4°6’40"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 286 (2011) |
| Post town: | Barnstaple |
| Postcode: | EX31 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Torridge |
Alverdiscott (pronounced Alscott) is a village and former manor in northern Devon, found five and a half miles south of Barnstaple.
This is a quiet place of just 105 homes. The parish has three hamlets, known as Woodtown in the west, Alscott Barton which describes part of the village nucleus and Stony Cross standing in between these two.
The B3232, the main road between Great Torrington and Barnstaple, skirts the nucleus of the village. The low daily frequency community railway to North Devon passes in a valley four miles east of the village serving the rural, request stop of Chapelton railway station: steep footpaths lead down from Alverdiscott down into the valley and the station.
Parish church
The parish church is All Saints. It is built of granite in the typical Devonian style, with sloped slate roofs over the main body (nave) and squatter extension to the nave.
The church has an archetypal Norman font, a Norman doorway, tall tower and sixteenth-century pulpit. It is a Grade II* listed building.[1]
History
The remains of a Roman marching camp have been found in the west of the parish, that was built on a former Iron Age enclosure.[2] It is now a scheduled ancient monument.
The village has long lost the pronunciation of its middle letters, but it largely refused in the rationalising Victorian era to adjust its older spelling in favour of a more phonetic, modern form. The main hamlet of the parish, the former demesne of the manor, did see the spelling of its name change though, to the phonetic 'Alscott Barton'.[3]
Within the parish is the historic estate of Webbery, listed in the Domesday Book as WIBERIE.
Economy
This is an agricultural village, but seasonally the village generates recreational and tourism-derived income such as from holiday lodges, since the village is south of Barnstaple and east of a tall cliff-side part of the South West Coast Path, Westward Ho! beaches and within easy reach of visitor gardens and golf courses along the River Torridge. An adventure activities centre is to the south at Southdown in the neighbouring parish of Huntshaw.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Alverdiscott) |
- Devon Local Studies - Alverdiscott
- Information on Alverdiscott from GENUKI
- Alverdiscott in the Domesday Book
References
- ↑ National Heritage List 1170720: All Saint's Church, Alverdiscott (Grade II* listing)
- ↑ Scheduled Ancient Monument: Roman marching camp fort National Heritage List 1004558: @
- ↑ National Heritage List 1333143: Webbery Manor