ERMINGTON

Transcribed from William White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Devonshire 1850, by Terry Partridge.

ERMINGTON, which gives name to this Hundred, is a small village upon a bold eminence on the west side of the river Erme, encompassed by high hills, 10 miles E. of Plymouth, and 2 miles N.W. of Modbury. Its parish contains 1607 souls, and 4952 acres of land, including many scattered farm-houses, &c., and a large portion of the village of Ivybridge, noticed below. In 1623, a meteoric stone, weighing 23lbs., fell with a great noise from the atmosphere, at Strachleigh, in this parish, and buried itself a yard deep in the ground. A similar stone fell from the heavens in Yorkshire in 1795, and was exhibited in London. Fragments of this stone and of one which had fallen in India, were analysed, and they proved to be of the same peculiar ingredients, containing iron, nickel, &c. Lady Elizabeth Bulteel is lady of the manor and hundred of Ermington, which was anciently a demesne of the Crown, and afterwards held by the Peverell, Fitzstephen, Bensted, Stoner, Rouse, and other families. The manor of Ivybridge belongs to Sir F. L. Rogers, Bart., and held by the De Ponte Hederae, or Ivybridge family, from whom it passed to the Bonvilles and Crokers. E. R. P. Bastard, Esq., T. Bulteel, Esq., the Rev. S. W. Pearse, W. Pode, Esq., and several smaller owners, have estates in the parish. Strachleigh, an old farm-house, was long the seat of a family of its own name. Fawn Hotel is a large house delightfully situated in the picturesque valley, near Erme bridge, where there is excellent trout fishing and delightful scenery. Three packs of hounds often hunt in the parish. The Church (St. Peter,) is a large ancient fabric, with a lofty embattled tower, containing five bells, and crowned by a crooked spire, which leans considerably on one side. It is chiefly in the early perpendicular style, and portions of its screen and sedilia remain, with the ancient piscina, stoup, &c. It has a mutilated monument in memory of the last male heir of the Strachleigh family, who died in 1583, and whose heiress married Chpr. Chudleigh, Esq. Near the church is a never-failing spring, from which water has lately been conveyed in pipes to the village. The vicarage, valued in K.B. at £33 11s. 3d., and in 1831 at £411, with the curacy of Kingston annexed to it, is in the patronage of the Crown and the Rev. E. D. Rhodes, and the incumbency of the Rev. Courtenay Bulteel, of Holbeton. The Rev. E. D. Rhodes is also patron and incumbent of the sinecure rectory, which was valued in 1831 at £463 per annum, and has about 40A. of glebe. The tithes of this parish were commuted in 1841, the vicarial for £312. 18s., and the rectorial for £557. 3s. per annum. Of the latter, £259 belongs to Lady Eliz. Bulteel, £270 to the Rev. E. D. Rhodes, £25 to Mrs. Ann Brooking, and £33 to Sir F. L. Rogers. The Vicarage House is a large building, with 2A. of glebe. Here is a small Wesleyan Chapel. The National School was built in 1841, and has a house for the master.The Parish Lands, &c., comprise 12A. at Kingston, given by Alice Hatch, in the 4th of Henry VIII., and now let for £20 a year; and two houses and two fields, given by Lady Fortescue and other donors, and now let for only 6s. 6d. per annnum, in consideration of fines paid when the leases were granted. These fines are vested in £100 navy five per cents. Out of the income, £10 is paid yearly to the schoolmaster, and the rest is distibuted among the poor, who have also the interest of £100, left by the Rev. Wm. Pearse in 1743.

DIRECTORY