Whitchurch is a suburban village and civil parish to the south-east of the town of Tavistock, Devon, England. It lies in the West Devon local authority area, and within Tavistock Deanery for ecclesiastical purposes. The village itself is no longer in the civil parish, having been absorbed into Tavistock in 1930, leaving the parish of Whitchurch just covering the rural areas south-east of the town. Historically, Whitchurch formed part of the Roborough Hundred.
It is believed that a church must have been present in Whitchurch as early as the 11th century, and that it was most likely built from the white elvan [ citation needed ] that can be found at Roborough Down only a few miles away. This may be the derivation of the name of the village ("White-church"), though many other English villages bearing the same name are considered to be thus named simply because their churches were either built of stone, or were whitewashed. [1] The main church currently standing in Whitchurch—St. Andrew—is for the most part a 15th-century building made from granite as well as elvan. Many memorials can be found in the church, including a monument to Francis Pengelly (1722) made by John Weston of Exeter showing a "celestial ballet" on a medallion, and also an early 17th-century slate slab to the Mooringes of Moortown.
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1801 | 478 |
| 1901 | 1508 |
There are several interesting houses within the parish. Walreddon Manor is a Grade I listed country house built in the reign of Edward VI by the Courtenay family. The 17th century heiress Mary Fitz (widow of Sir Richard Grenville) was born there. On her death in 1671, the manor was inherited by her cousin, Sir William Courtenay. It stayed in ownership of the Courtenay family until 1953. In the late 1800s, the manor was let to the explorer and colonial administrator Edward John Eyre. Later residents include the film director Hugh Hudson, and, since 2001, the Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith. [2]
The so-called Priory, near the church, is a 19th-century granite building incorporating a square 4th century entrance tower from an earlier structure.
There are three tiers of local government for the civil parish of Whitchurch, at parish, district and county level: Plasterdown Grouped Parish Council, West Devon Borough Council and Devon County Council. The parish council is a grouped parish council covering the two civil parishes of Whitchurch and Sampford Spiney. [3] [4]
Whitchurch was an ancient parish. The village of Whitchurch was transferred into the urban district of Tavistock in 1930, but it was not considered appropriate for the whole parish of Whitchurch to be included in an urban district. The residual rural parts of the parish were therefore not transferred to Tavistock and continued to form a parish called Whitchurch, despite no longer including the village after which it was named. [5]
Okehampton is a town and civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and had a population of 5,922 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards are based in the town. Their joint population at the same census was 7,500.
Moretonhampstead is a market town, parish and ancient manor in Devon, situated on the north-eastern edge of Dartmoor, within the Dartmoor National Park. The parish now includes the hamlet of Doccombe, and it is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Drewsteignton, Dunsford, Bridford, Bovey Tracey, Lustleigh, North Bovey and Chagford.
Tavistock is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards had a population of 13,028. It traces its recorded history back to at least 961 when Tavistock Abbey, whose ruins lie in the centre of the town, was founded. Its most famous son is Sir Francis Drake.
Pitchcott is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about 3 miles (5 km) north-east of Waddesdon, slightly less than 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Winslow and slightly more than 4 miles north of Aylesbury. It is in the civil parish of Oving.
Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the South Devon Railway locomotive works. This later became a major steam engine shed, retained to service British Railways diesel locomotives until 1981. It now houses the Brunel industrial estate. The town has a race course nearby, the most westerly in England, and a country park, Decoy. It is twinned with Besigheim in Germany and Ay in France.
Sutton Courtenay is a village and civil parish on the River Thames 2 miles (3 km) south of Abingdon-on-Thames and 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Didcot. Historically part of Berkshire, it has been administered as part of Oxfordshire since the 1974 boundary changes. The 2011 census recorded the parish's population as 2,421. Sutton Courtenay is home to some important structures, such as The Abbey, the Manor House, All Saints' Church, a twelfth-century Norman hall, the Sutton Bridge, and Didcot power station.
Calstock is a civil parish and a large village in south east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the border with Devon. The village is situated on the River Tamar 6 miles (9.7 km) south west of Tavistock and 10 miles (16 km) north of Plymouth.
Beaford is a village and civil parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England. The village is about five miles south-east of Great Torrington, on the A3124 road towards Exeter. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 393, compared to 428 in 1901. The western boundary of the parish is formed by the River Torridge and it is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of St Giles in the Wood, Roborough, Ashreigney, Dolton, Merton and Little Torrington.
Buckland-Tout-Saints is a village and civil parish in the South Hams district of Devon, England. In the 2001 census it had a population of 178, up from a population of only 37 in 1901. The parish is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Woodleigh, East Allington, Frogmore and Sherford, Kingsbridge, Churchstow, and a short boundary with Loddiswell.
Breamore is a village and civil parish near Fordingbridge in Hampshire, England. The parish includes a notable Elizabethan country house, Breamore House, built with an E-shaped ground plan. The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary has an Anglo-Saxon rood.
Nuneham Courtenay is a village and civil parish about 5 miles (8 km) SSE of Oxford. It occupies several miles close to the east bank of the River Thames.
Stoke Climsland is a village in the valley of the River Tamar, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom within the civil parish of Stokeclimsland. The population of the parish including Luckett at the 2011 census was 1,703. An electoral ward of the same name also exists. At the same census the population was 3,703.
Tavistock Abbey, also known as the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Rumon, is a ruined Benedictine abbey in Tavistock, Devon. Nothing remains of the abbey except the refectory, two gateways and a porch. The abbey church, dedicated to Our Lady and St Rumon, was destroyed by Danish raiders in 997 and rebuilt under Lyfing, the second abbot. The church was further rebuilt in 1285 and the greater part of the abbey between 1457 and 1458.
Werrington is a civil parish and former manor now in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Prior to boundary changes it straddled the Tamar and lay within the county of Devon. The portion on the west side was transferred to Cornwall by the abolition of Broadwoodwidger Rural District by the Local Government Commission for England in 1966. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) to the west of the Tamar, the traditional boundary between Devon and Cornwall, and 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Launceston.
Lewtrenchard is a village and civil parish in the West Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. Most of the larger village of Lewdown is in the parish. In the Domesday Book of 1086, a manor of Lew is recorded in this area and two rivers have the same name: see River Lew. Trenchard comes from the lords of the manor in the 13th century.
Highweek, less commonly called Highweek Village is an ecclesiastical parish, former manor and village, now a suburb of Newton Abbot, but still retaining its village identity, in the civil parish of Newton Abbot, in the Teignbridge district, in the county of Devon, England. It is prominent and recognisable due to its high location on a ridge on the north edge of the town. The area is the centre of the modern electoral ward of Bradley. That ward's population at the 2011 census was 5,043.
Loxhore is a small village, civil parish and former manor in the local government district of North Devon in the county of Devon, England. The parish, which lies about five miles north-east of the town of Barnstaple, is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Arlington, Bratton Fleming and Shirwell. In 2001 its population was 153, down from the 202 residents it had in 1901.
St James' Church, Iddesleigh, is a church in the small village of Iddesleigh, Devon, England. It dates back to the 13th century, although most of the structure dates from the 15th century, and there have been various changes since then.
Lyneham in the parish of Yealmpton in Devon, is an historic estate. The surviving grand mansion house known as Lyneham House is a grade I listed building. It was built c.1699-1703 by Sir Courtenay Croker, MP for Plympton Morice in 1699. A drawing of Lyneham House dated 1716 by Edmund Prideaux (1693–1745) of Prideaux Place, Padstow, Cornwall, survives at Prideaux Place. It shows formal gardens in front with flanking pavilions and an orangery.
Sampford Spiney is a village and civil parish in the Walkham valley, about 4 miles east south east of Tavistock, in the West Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. In 2011 the parish had a population of 117. The parish touches Walkhampton, Whitchurch and Horrabridge.
50°32′02″N4°07′49″W / 50.53389°N 4.13028°W
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