Iddesleigh
| Iddesleigh | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
 Cob and thatch cottages in the village | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SS569082 |
| Location: | 50°51’21"N, 4°2’1"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 198 |
| Post town: | Winkleigh |
| Postcode: | EX19 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | West Devon |
Iddesleigh is a village in Devon, about eight miles north of the little town of Okehampton. It is of ancient origins and is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. The village lies on the B3217 road, roughly central in its parish of around 2,900 acres
Iddesleigh has been described as an attractive small village, with good views of Dartmoor to the south. Its church is a Grade I listed building and there are a number of other listed buildings in the parish.
Sir Stafford Northcote owned most of the parish at one time and took the title of Earl of Iddesleigh, though he never lived here. The author Michael Morpurgo has lived here since the 1970s.
Name
The name Iddesleigh derives from the Old English personal name, Eadwig (or perhaps Eadwulf), and leag, a meadow or clearing.[1] The first documentary evidence of the settlement appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, in which it is referred to twice, as Edeslege and as Iweslei. By the 13th century its name was recorded as Edulvesly and in 1428 as Yeddeslegh.[1]
History
The Domesday Book of 1086 records that in 1086 the majority of the manor of Edeslege was owned directly by the king, but a small part of it (one virgate recorded as Iweslei) was held from the king by William of Claville. The pre-conquest owner of this land is unclear: two names rendered Alware Pet and Aelfeva Thief – are recorded. The overlord is recorded as Brictric son of Algar.[2] By the 13th century the lands had passed to the de Reigny family as part of the Honour of Gloucester.[2]
Geography
The village is three miles north-east of Hatherleigh and eight miles north of Okehampton. It is roughly in the centre of its parish, on the B3217 road that runs from Okehampton to Atherington, near the A377.
The parish, which covers about 2,900 acres on the Culm Measures, has its southern border along the River Okement and its western along the River Torridge.[3] Clockwise from the north, it is bordered by the parishes of Dowland, Winkleigh, Broadwoodkelly, Monkokehampton, Hatherleigh and Meeth.[4]
In 2001, the population of the parish was 198,[5] down from 335 in 1901, and 441 in 1801.[6]
The village
The landscape historian W. G. Hoskins, writing in 1953, described the village as "an excellent example of a cob and thatch village, most attractive to explore",[7] and in 1973 S. H. Burton wrote that it gave the appearance of being "thatchier" than anywhere else in Devon.[8] Situated on a south-facing slope, the village has good views of northern Dartmoor, including its highest point, High Willhays.[7]
Parish church
The parish church, the Church of St James, is at the western edge of the village,[3] and is a Grade I listed building.[9] With 13th-century origins, but mostly dating from the 15th century, it has wagon roofs in its nave and north aisle. A recumbent effigy of a knight with a plain shield, lying under an arch has been dated to around 1250 and is believed to be of a squire of Iddesleigh, a member of the locally-notable Sully family.[7][10]
The church was partly rebuilt in 1720 with further work in the early 19th century, followed by restoration by Charles S. Adye in 1878–9.[11]
About the village
The listed village pub, the "Duke of York", is made of cob and thatch,[12] and is slightly hidden from the main road being along a side street behind some terraced cottages.[8] Its facade was used in the BBC television series Down to Earth, broadcast in 2000.[13] It was in this pub that Michael Morpurgo says he talked to an old soldier with first-hand knowledge of the use of horses in the First World War which became the basis for his 1982 novel War Horse. The village was also used as inspiration for the Michael Morpurgo novel, Private Peaceful.
Ash House, a grade II listed building in the south of the parish, was the seat of the Mallet family from 1530 to 1881.[14] It was later bought by the founders of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.[3]
There has been a settlement at Barwick, in the south-east corner of the parish, since at least the early 15th century: a document dated 1440 refers to it as Berewyke.[15] There are two listed buildings here. Little Barwick is a late 15th-century building with 17th-century and later alterations—its most notable feature is its mediæval full cruck trusses, unusual in Devon.[16] South Barwick Farmhouse dates from the first part of the 17th century.[17] Barwick had a stud farm breeding shire horses before World War I. The "Barwick Madam" was noted in the local shire horse stud book.[18]
The Tarka Trail, a series of footpaths and cycle routes radiating from Barnstaple, passes from north to south through the parish, taking in the village.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Iddesleigh) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Watts, Victor: 'The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-names' (Cambridge University Press, 2010) page 329, ISBN 978-0-521-16855-7
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Domesday Book, 9, Devon, Part 2: Caroline and Frank Thorn (editors) (Phillimore, 1985) ISBN 0-85033-492-6
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Devon Federation of Women's Institutes (1990). The Devon Village Book. Newbury: Countryside Books. pp. 123–4. ISBN 1-85306-078-X.
- ↑ Information on Iddesleigh from GENUKI
- ↑ Harris, Helen (2004). A Handbook of Devon Parishes. Tiverton: Halsgrove. pp. 89–90. ISBN 1-84114-314-6.
- ↑ "Iddesleigh". Devon County Council. Archived from the original on 2 March 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130302105153/http://www.devon.gov.uk/historiciddesleigh. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Hoskins, W. G.: 'A New Survey of England: Devon' (Collins, 1972) page 414 ISBN 0-7153-5577-5
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Burton, S. H.: 'Devon Villages' (Robert Hale, 1973) page 160 ISBN 0-7091-3659-5
- ↑ National Heritage List 1309051: Church of St James
- ↑ Winslow Jones (1892). "Sir John de Sully, K.G.". Report & Transactions of the Devonshire Association 24: 173. "In Iddesleigh church there is the effigy of a cross-legged knight in ring-mail, which is mentioned in Mr. W. H. H. Rogers's paper on the sepulchral effigies in the parish churches of North Devon.".
- ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Devon, 1952; 1989 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09596-8page 498–9
- ↑ National Heritage List 1309026: The Duke of York Inn
- ↑ "FOOD REVIEW: Duke of York, Iddesleigh". This is North Devon. 1 November 2012. http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/FOOD-REVIEW-Duke-York-Iddesleigh/story-17209335-detail/story.html. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1105228: Ash House
- ↑ Place-Names, page 94
- ↑ National Heritage List 1166027: Little Barwick
- ↑ National Heritage List 1326500: South Barwick Farmhouse
- ↑ Shire Horse Stud Book Shire Horse Society – Volume 26 1905 – Page 200 "BARWICK MADAM".. Jonas B. Raymont, Barwick, Iddesleigh, Winkleigh, Devon, Bay, star, hind heels and off fore pastern white. Foaled 1902."