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NORTHAM

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

"NORTHAM, (or Burrows Northam) a parish in the hundred of Shebbear, county Devon, 1 mile N.W. of Bideford, its post town, and 1 from the Instow railway station. The parish, which is large, is bounded on the W. by the Bristol Channel, and on the E. by the navigable river Torridge. It includes the small seaport of Appledore and the hamlet of Northam Ridge, which is situated on Northam Burrows, an extensive ridge of pebbles 3 miles in extent. At Kenwith Castle, in this parish, are traces of an entrenched camp in which the Danes were defeated by the Saxons, and their standard captured. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in agriculture. The soil is of a sandy and loamy nature, on a substratum of stone, which is quarried. The appropriate tithes, belonging to the Dean and Chapter of Windsor, have been commuted for a rent-charge of £525. The glebe comprises 60 acres, valued at £130 per annum. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Exeter, value £125, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Windsor. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a stone structure, restored in 1853, with a tower containing six bells. The parochial charities produce about £60 per annum, besides almshouses for four aged single females. There are National and infant schools. The Independents, Baptists, Wesleyans, and Plymouth Brethren have each a place of worship. The principal residences are Hallsannery House, Orchard Hill, Port Hill, and Rawleigh House. The manor is held under lease by T. B. Chanter, Esq., from the Cleveland family. Annual sports of various kinds are held on Whit Monday.

"EAST APPLEDORE, (and West Appledore), a market town and seaport in the parish of Northam, hundred of Shebbear, in the county of Devon, 3 miles to the N. of Bideford, and half a mile from the Instow railway station. Barnstaple is the post town. It is situated at the mouth of the rivers Taw and Torridge on the coast of Barnstaple bay, and is the first harbour within the bar of Barnstaple. The port is subordinate to the port of Bideford, and a surveyor of customs resides at the watch-house. A broad and spacious quay has recently been erected, and W. Yeo, Esq., is at present building a dry dock which will much improve the shipping interest of the town. The market house was erected in 1848. The trade principally consists in shipbuilding; and in the transport of timber and limestone from Wales. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Exeter, value £150, in the patronage of the vicar. The church, a neat stone building, is dedicated to St. Mary. There are chapels belonging to the Independents, Baptists, and Wesleyans, also a national school. It was here that Hubba, the Danish chief, encountered and was defeated by Earl Odun and his followers in 878. The memory of Odun and his achievement is preserved in the name of a seat in the neighbourhood, Odun Hall, at the foot of Hubblestone Hill, where Hubba was buried.

"HUBBLESTONE POINT, in the parish of Northam, at the junction of the rivers Taw and Torridge, in county Devon, so named from the tomb of Hubba, the Dane, who was buried here after his defeat at Cynvit Castle, now Henny, when the famous Raven standard was taken."

"KENWITH CASTLE, an ancient camp in the parish of Northam, hundred of Shebbear, county Devon, 1 mile W. of Bideford. It is asserted by tradition to be the spot whence the Saxon Earl of Devon sallied out and defeated the Danes under Hubba, who was buried at Hubblestone."

"ODUN, a demesne in the parish of Northam, county Devon, 1 mile from Appledore, and 3 miles N. by E. of Bideford. It is situated under Hubberstone Hill, on Bideford Bay, at the mouth of the river Torridge, and is celebrated as the place where the Saxon earl Odun and the men of Devon defeated the Danish pirate Hubba. The victory is still celebrated at Odun Hall, the seat of the Hogge family."

Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003