BRAMPFORD SPEKE

From White's Devonshire Directory of 1850

BRAMPFORD-SPEKE is a pleasant scattered village, in the vale of the river Exe, near the Bristol and Exeter Railway. Its parish contains 115OA. 2R. 30P., and 393 inhabitants, including the hamlet of COWLEY, which is separated from the rest of the Parish by Upton-Pyne, and comprises about 500 acres, near Cowley Bridge and the confluence of the Creedy and Exe, two miles N. of Exeter. Near this bridge, are houses in the parishes of St. Thomas the Apostle and Upton Pyne. Sir S.H. Northcote, Bart., is lord of the manor of Brampford Speke; but a great part of the soil belongs to the Roberts, Blackall, and other families. It was anciently held by the family of Espek, or Speke, who appropriated the church in the reign of Stephen, to St. Nicholas's Priory, Exeter. It was purchased by its present lord in 1815, and had previously been held by the Pierce, Taylor, and Palk families. Cowley belongs chiefly to the Rev. W.H. Alundell, Dr. Blackall, and E.G. Roberts, Esq. It is supposed to have had a chapel, though there are no traces of such a building. The parish Church (St. Peter,) is an ancient structure, to which a north aisle was added in 1840. It has a substantial tower, containing five bells; and on its south side is an ancient chapel, or chantry, in which was formerly a monumental effigy of one of the Spekes. The vicarage, valued in K.B. at £10, and now worth £250 a year, was endowed in 1269 with the rectorial tithes of Cowley, now commuted for £63. 17s. 3d. per annum. In 1842, the rectorial tithes of Brampford Speke, which belong to the Bishop of Exeter, were commuted for £115. 13s., and the vicarial tithes for £132. 10s. per ann. The vicarage has 39A. of glebe, and is in the patronage of the Lord Chancellor, who in 1847 appointed the Rev. Geo. Cornelius Gorham, B.D., to the benefice; but the Bishop of Exeter has refused to institute him to the living, in consequence of his not holding the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. The Rev. B. Houchen is now the curate and sequestrator. The church and poor have long held five tenements in St. Thomas's parish, which were let in 1800 for three lives, at the nominal rent of 10s., in consideration of a fine of £125, now invested in £136. 10s. four per cent. stock. MRS. MARY TUCKER, who died here in 1849, bequeathed no less than £12,200 stock to various charitable and public uses; among which are, £1000 for repairing and altering Brampford Speke church; £500 for the poor of this parish; £1100 for the poor and Infirmary of Barnstaple; £1000 to the Devon and Exeter Hospital; £300 to the Exeter Refuge for Destitute Women; £500 to the Blind Institution in Exeter; £200 to the Exeter Dispensary; and £300 to the Deaf and Dumb Asylum in Exeter. Among her other legacies are large sums to various religious societies, &c.

Marked * are at Cowley, and the others in Brampford-Speke.

Clement Miss
Fry Wm. sexton
Fursdon Geo., Esq.
Norburn Mrs
Greenaway George, blacksmith
Haffner John Frederick, gent
Humphrey John, carpenter & par. clk
* Mercer Col. Alex., Cowley Cottage
Mudge John, gentleman
* Sheppard Jph., Esq. Cowley Place
Staddon Henry, shoemaker
Veysey Robert, shoolmaster
Veysey Thos. vict. Agricultural Arms

FARMERS.
Carpenter John
Carter Joseph
* Challice John
* Cornish John
Elliott James
* Helmore Wm. (& surveyor)
Salter C., Woodrw
Sharland Robt.
Veysey Thos.
Wippell Richd.

Brian Randell, 3 Jul 1998