Drewsteignton
| Drewsteignton | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
 The Drewe Arms and Holy Trinity Church, Drewsteignton | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SX735908 |
| Location: | 50°42’12"N, 3°47’31"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 818 (2001) |
| Post town: | Exeter |
| Postcode: | EX6 |
| Dialling code: | 01647 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | West Devon |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Torridge and West Devon |
| Website: | drewsteigntonparish.co.uk |
Drewsteignton is a village on Dartmoor in Devon. It is to be found in the valley of the River Teign, thirteen miles west of Exeter and nine miles south-east of Okehampton. It is within the Wonford Hundred of Devon.
Visitor attractions in the area include the village centre itself, nearby Castle Drogo, and Fingle Bridge. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 1,616.
The name of the village is from the Old English for "a settlement beside the (River) Teign'. It is named Taintone in the Domesday Book.
History
Traces of the hand of man here dates back to the Neolithic period. Spinsters' Rock at Shilston, within the parish, is a Neolithic chambered tomb dating from around 3000 BC, and there are stone circles of similar date in the area. Later, an Iron Age hill fort, now known as Prestonbury Castle, was developed on the end of a prominent ridge.[1]
Manor
listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as the 107th of the 176 Devon landholdings of Baldwin the Sheriff, otherwise known as Baldwin FitzGilbert and Baldwin de Meulles.[2] He held it in demesne.[3] He was William the Conqueror's Sheriff of Devon and held lands granted to him personally by that king in Devon which comprised the feudal barony of Okehampton, including Taintone.[4]
In the reign of King Henry II (1154-1189) the manor was held by a certain "Drew",[5] also known in Anglo-Norman French as Drew de Teignton,[6] Latinized to Drogo, from whom the manor derived its distinguishing suffix.[7] However, by 1242 it had passed from the Drew family and was held by the Daubernon (or Dabernon) family.[5] Later it passed to the Carew family of Antony in Cornwall and at some time before 1810 was sold-off piecemeal by Reginald Pole-Carew (d.1835).[8]
In later years a myth developed, encouraged by the presence of the archaeological remains, that the "Drew" part of the name derived from the presence of druids, but there is no evidence to support this.
In mediæval times, the village was relatively prosperous. It was important as a wool producing area, and there were also limestone quarries and a small tin mine. The village was a stopping place on the old road from Exeter to Okehampton.[9] Much of the village building is of granite, as is Fingle Bridge, over the Teign, which was built in the 16th or 17th century.[1]
The parish church of Holy Trinity dates mostly from the 15th century, with some later rebuilding.[10]
Elias Tozer (1825–73) visited the village when they were ringing the church bells:
They be often ringing, sir,' observed an old man to me; and he continued: 'The ringers be vurry fond of the bells, and sometimes they ring vor vurry little. T'other day Varmer Dadd killed a peg, and gied the natlins to the poor of the parish. Darned if the ringers didden ring vor a whole hour, as they zed, to cillebrate the hayvent.[11]
The village square adjoining the church may date from the original formation of the settlement. Census information indicates that Drewsteignton underwent prolonged depopulation through the 19th century, and many of its buildings have remained largely unchanged since then. The centre is designated as a conservation area.
About the village
Among the village buildings, the Drewe Arms is a pub retaining some historic features. Previously known as The Druids' Arms, the name was changed in the 1920s when Julius Drewe built Castle Drogo, his family home.
See also
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Drewsteignton) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hoskins, W. G., 'Devon' (1954)
- ↑ Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, chapter 16:107
- ↑ Ipse B(aldwinus) ten(uit) Taintone: "Baldwin himself held Taintone" (i.e. he had no tenant), Domesday Book wording, Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, chapter 16:107
- ↑ Thorn & Thorn, Part 2 (notes), 16:107
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Pole, p.244
- ↑ Drewsteignton, Devon - Genealogy and Family History
- ↑ Pole, Sir William: 'Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon' (c 1630)
- ↑ Risdon, Tristram: 'Survey of Devon' (c 1630)
- ↑ Drewsteignton Appraisal Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Drewsteignton & Castle Drogo
- ↑ Page, John Lloyd Warden (1892), An Exploration of Dartmoor and Its Antiquities: With Some Accounts of Its Borders, Seeley and Company, Limited, p. 186, https://books.google.com/books?id=jbMuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA186, retrieved 2016-08-28
