Rackenford

from

A Topographical Dictionary of England

by

 Samuel Lewis (1831)

Transcript copyright Mel Lockie (Sep 2016)

RACKENFORD, a parish in the hundred of WITHERIDGE, county of DEVON, 8½ miles (N. W. by W.) from Tiverton, containing 395 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Barnstaple, and diocese of Exeter, rated in the king's books at £19. 17. 3½, and in the patronage of Thomas Comins, Esq.. The church is dedicated to All Saints. A weekly market and an annual fair were granted in 1235; the former has been long disused, but a small cattle fair is still held on the Wednesday before September 19th. Courts leet and baron are held here. Charles Kempe, a blacksmith, gave £13 a year, which Mary Ayre, in 1695, augmented to £15, for the education of poor children.