MANATON

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)]

"MANATON, a parish in the hundred of Teignbridge, county Devon, 5 miles S. of Moreton-Hampstead, its post town, and 10 N.W. of Newton-Abbott railway station. It is a small agricultural village, situated near the river Wrey. Within the parish is Grimspound British camp, extending over 4 acres, being 400 feet in diameter, and containing several circles of much smaller dimensions. Here is a curious rock called Bowerman's, which consists of five large stones above 30 feet in height, resembling in shape a gigantic human figure; also the Horsham Steps, consisting of several detached rocks, under which the river Bovey flows for several hundred feet before forming the cascade of Becky Fall. The soil consists of Band, with a subsoil of granite. The latter, which is extensively worked, supplied part of the material for the erection of Waterloo Bridge, London. At Challacombe, in this parish, are extensive tin mines. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Exeter, value £209. The church, dedicated to St. Winifred, is an ancient stone structure with a lofty embattled tower containing four bells. The interior of the church contains a carved screen. In 1779 the E. front of the church was destroyed by lightning, and one of the pinnacles forced through the roof. The parochial charities produce about £15 per annum. There is a place of worship for the Wesleyans, also a school partly supported by subscription. The Rev. J. B. S. Carwithen, Bampton lecturer at Oxford in 1809, was a native."