Woolfardisworthy, North Devon
| Woolfardisworthy | |
| Devon | |
|---|---|
 All Hallows' Church, Woolfardisworthy | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SS331211 |
| Location: | 50°57’53"N, 4°22’37"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 1,123 (2001) |
| Postcode: | EX39 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Torridge |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Torridge and West Devon |
| Website: | http://www.woolsery.org/ |
Woolfardisworthy, otherwise known as Woolsery, is a village in the north-west of Devon, just over a mile and a half south of the county’s north coast and two and a half miles from Clovelly.
Name
The name of the village is a local curiosity, as its pronunciation (and occasional spelling) are unexpected. On local signs, the village is sometimes marked as Woolsery alongside the original name. This is due to the pronunciation of the village's name being "ˈwʊlzəri". The name also provides evidence for the power of the written word in conserving place-names: the shortened pronunciation is known to have been in use since the 17th century.[1] It is one of two villages in Devon known as Woolfardisworthy, the other being Woolfardisworthy, Mid Devon.
According to place-name authorities,[2] the name probably means 'Wulfheard's homestead'. Who Wulfheard was, or whether both Devon villages are named after the same man, cannot be known, but the relative proximity of two villages with such an unusual name is intriguing.
It is published - that anciently there was a monk named Wulfheard in south-east Devon, so the name is not unknown, but no connection with any known individual can be determined.
All Hallows Church
The parish church, All Hallows, is a Grade I listed building.[3] It contains a large monument with effigy to Richard Cole (d.1614) of Buckish within the parish, also of Slade in the parish of Cornworthy, Devon.
Miscellany
The Centre for Fortean Zoology is based in Woolfardisworthy.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Woolfardisworthy, North Devon) |
References
- ↑ Padel, O. J. (1999). "Place-names". in Kain, Roger. Historical Atlas of South-West England. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. pp. 88–9. ISBN 0-85989-434-7.
- ↑ Ekwall, Eilert, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 4th edition, 1960. ISBN 0198691033
- ↑ Church of All Hallows, Woolfardisworthy - British Listed Buildings
