SOUTH TAWTON

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

"SOUTH TAWTON, a parish in the hundred of Wonford, county Devon, 3 miles S.E. of Oakhampton, and 10 S.W. of the Copplestone station, on the North Devon railway. The village is situated on the river Taw and the turnpike road leading from Exeter to Cornwall. There are two mines, and limestone is worked to a considerable extent. The parish includes Taw-Green, Itton, South Zeal, and five other hamlets The soil consists of loam and clay, with a subsoil of shale. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Exeter, value £150, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Windsor. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is an ancient granite structure with a tower containing six bells. The parochial charities produce about £35 per annum, of which sum £2 go to Burgoyne's almshouses. Infant and Sunday schools are held at the church, and a school is also held at the ancient chapel of Zeal. Oxenham Manorhouse is the principal residence. A fair occurs on 7th July for the sale of cattle.

"ASH, a hamlet in the parish of South Tawton, hundred of Wonford, in the county of Devon, 4 miles to the S.E. of Okehampton. At Ash House in this hamlet, formerly the seat of the Drakes, and now in ruins, was born the great Duke of Marlborough, in 1650."

"DISHCOMB, a hamlet in the parish of South Tawton, in the county of Devon, 219 miles E. of Oakhampton."

"FULFORD, a hamlet in the parish of South Tawton, county Devon, 4 miles N.E. of Moreton-Hampstead. Fulford House is an old seat of the Fulford family. In the civil wars of the reign of Charles I. the place was fortified for the king, but fell into the hands of the parliamentarians under Fairfax in 1645. It is a large quadrangular building, and contains a collection of family portraits, with one of Charles I. by Vandyck."

"GOOSEFORD, a hamlet in the parish of South Tawton, second division of the hundred of Wonford, county Devon, 2 miles E. of Okehampton."

"ITTON, a hamlet in the parish of South Tawton, county Devon, 3 miles E. of Okehampton."

"RAMSLEY, a hamlet in the parish of South Tawton, county Devon, 8 miles S.E. of Okehampton."

"SOUTH ZEAL, a hamlet in the parish of South Tawton, hundred of Wonford, county Devon, three quarters of a mile S. of South Tawton, 4 miles S.E. of Oakhampton, and 10 S.W. of the Copplestone station of the North Devon railway. It was once a borough and market town. The old chapel is now used as a school house.

"WIDDEN DOWN, a hamlet in the parish of South Tawton, county Devon, 5 miles S.E. of Oakhampton."