Kelly's Directory of Holcombe Rogus (1906)

Transcribed by

Richard Farmer

Holcombe Rogus is a parish and village on the borders of Somerset, 2 miles north-west-by-north from Burlescombe station on the Bristol and Exeter section of the Great Western Railway, 8½ miles north-east-by-east from Tiverton, and 6 west-south-west from Wellington (Somerset), in the North Eastern division of the county, Bampton hundred, Cullompton petty sessional division, Wellington union and county court district, rural deanery of Cullompton and archdeaconry and diocese of Exeter. This place derives its suffix from Rogo, a Norman, who held it under Baldwin, the sheriff. The church of All Saints is a building of stone in the Early Perpendicular style, consisting if chancel, nave of five bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower, restored by Mrs Rayer in 1905, and containing a clock and 6 bells: there is a handsome stone reredos by Hems, of Exeter, and good carved oak screen work in the cinque-cento or Italian style of the Early 16^th Century, the cornice of which is enriched with medallions, exhibiting scriptural subjects: here also are the remains of the rood screen originally in St Peter's Tiverton, but removed on the restoration of that church in 1854; it is groined, painted in blue and red and gilt: the south porch is vaulted in stone, and stone windows have tracery of unusual character: there are numerous mural monuments and massive alter tombs, with recumbent male and female effigies, dating from 1613, to the Bluett family, who were seated here for many generations: the church affords 300 sittings. The register dates from the year 1540. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £266, with residence and 1½ acres of glebe, in the gift of Mrs Rayer, and held since 1892 by the Rev. Lynch.

Talbot Ward B.A. of Keble College, Oxford. There is a Baptist chapel here. Webber's charity, founded in 1823, consists of £1,000 Consols, the interest to be applied in the daily education of 30 poor girls and 20 poor boys in the doctrines of the Church of England. The Rev W.Wills, a former vicar, by his will, dated 1875, left £300 £3 per Cent. Annuities, the interest to be given to the poor on the 28^th December annually. Holcombe Court, the ancient seat of the Bluetts, and now the property and residence of Mrs Rayer, who is lady of the manor and chief landowner, is a fine old mansion, in the Tudor style, and includes a hall and a gatehouse tower, with picturesque oriels. The soil is clayey; the subsoil, limestone. The chief crops are wheat, barley and oats. The area is 3,921 acres of land and 7 of water; rateable value, £5,147; the population in 1901 was 607.

Sexton, Samuel Jones.

Post, M.O & T.O, T.M.O, S.B & A & I. Office, Aaron Tooze, sub-postmaster. Letters through Wellington (Somerset) received at 8 a.m. & 5.30 p.m.; dispatched at 6.30 p.m.; no delivery or collection on Sundays.

Police Constable, William Charles Horn.

Public Elementary Schools

Holcombe Rogus, erected in 1875, for 65 boys; average attendance 45; & supported by Mrs Rayer; , mistress Webber's Charity (mixed), erected in 1849, for 60 girls & infants; average attendance 48.

Brian Randell, 3 Aug 2005