Ermington

from

Kelly's Directory for Devonshire 1897

Transcribed by Sheila Jones

(E-mail: sheila.jones[at]liverpool.ac[dot]uk)

ERMINGTON is a parish and village on the river Erme, 3 miles south from Ivybridge station on the South Devon section of the Great Western railway, and 11 east from Plymouth, in the Southern division of the county, Ermington and Plympton hundred and petty sessional division Plympton St. Mary union, East Stonehouse county court district, and in the rural deanery of Plympton, archdeaconry of Totnes, and diocese of Exeter. Ermington was formerly a market town, under a grant issued in 1294.

The church of St. Peter is a building of stone in the Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and a lofty embattled western tower with spire containing 6 bells; the spire leans considerably: a stained window has been inserted by the Rev. John M. de Ludbroke Bartlet, of Ludbrooke; and there is a splendid screen of the Jacobean period, and richly designed parclose screens given by the Rev. W.H. Andrews M.A. rector, besides monuments to the Swete and Edgcumbe families: in the church is also a monument with brass kneeling effigies, shields of arms and inscription to William Strachleigh, of Strachleigh esq. ob. 21 July 1583; Anne (Gould) his wife, and Christian, their daughter, wife of Christopher Chudleigh, to whom there is also a memorial in the south aisle; the pulpit is panelled and adorned with carved work: the church was restored in 1890 at an expense of £7,000, chiefly borne by H.B. Mildmay esq. of Flete: there are 420 sittings. The register dates from the year 1600.

The living is in a sinecure rectory and vicarage, with the chapel of Kingston annexed, net yearly value about £218 with residence, in the gift of the Crown, alternately with trustees, and held since 1880 by the Rev. Edmund Pinwill M.A. of Pembroke College, Oxford. The sinecure rectory is of the yearly value of £588 including tithe rent-charge and 85 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Rev. William North Andrews, vicar of Paston, Norfolk, and has been held since 1866 by the Rev. William Hale Andrews M.A. of Lowestoft. Here is a Wesleyan Methodist chapel. The charities, amounting to £70 yearly, given by Brookings and others, and in the hands of the feofees, are distributed amongst the second poor.

The inhabitants are chiefly employed in agriculture.
A fair is held here on June 24th.
The Strachleigh family were residents here from the time of Henry III.

The manor of Strode, known and Higher and Lower Strode, is partly in Modbury, but principally in this parish. The old Manor house, or Higher Strode, now a farmhouse, was in 1655 the residence of Sir William Strode, owner of the manor of Strode and Bradford, now known as Strode.

Ludbrooke Manor House, the residence of the Rev. John Moysey de Ludbroke Bartlet B.A. is a modern mansion of stone with an embattled tower, and is situated on an eminence overlooking the surrounding country, one mile from Modbury and in this parish; the manor of Ludbrooke has long been in the possession of the ancestors of the present owner.
Baldwin John Pollexfen Bastard esq. of Buckland Court, Ashburton, and Henry Bingham Mildmay esq. of Flete, Holbeton, are chief landowners; the latter is lord of the manor of Ermington, and owner of the impropriate tithe.

The soil is light; subsoil, various. The chief crops are barley and wheat. The area is 5,122 acres of land and 17 of water; rateable value, £9,211; the population in 1891 was 2,327.

By Local Government Board Order 16,313, which came into operation March 24, 1884, Penquit, Caton and Ludbrook House were transferred to this parish from Modbury in Kingsbridge union.
Cadleigh and Woodland are hamlets in this parish.

Parish Clerk, John Light.
Post and T.O. and Express Delivery Office - Richard Coleman, postmaster.
Letters from Ivybridge; London bag received at 6.35 a.m.; dispatched at 6.50 p.m.; North mail (Bath and Bristol) arrives at 4.10 p.m.; dispatched at 9.10 a.m. The nearest money order office is at Modbury.
Wall Letter Box at Keaton Bridge, cleared at 7 p.m. week days and 7.45 a.m. on Sundays.

A School Board of 5 members was formed Feb. 28, 1872; Nicholas J. Toms, clerk to the board; John Light, attendance officer. Board School (mixed and infants), built in 1880, for 200 children; average attendance, 76 boys and girls and 60 infants; A.E. Daw, master; Mrs. A.E. Daw, mistress.

Police Station, P.C. Dymon, constable.

Carriers to Plymouth - F. Lapthorne, sat; Frank Toulcher, thurs. & sat. (Marked thus * receive letters direct from Ivybridge)

Brian Randell, 29 Aug 2002