WEAR-GIFFORD

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

"WEAR-GIFFORD, a parish in the hundred of Shebbear, county Devon, 3 miles N.W. of Great Torrington, its post town, and 4 S. of Bideford railway station. The village is situated on the river Torridge, which is navigable for barges when the tide is in. Some of the inhabitants are employed in the woollen manufacture. The manor was anciently held by the Gifford family, from whom the village takes the suffix to its name, and subsequently came to the Densells and Fortescues, whose old seat, built in the 15th century, has recently been restored, and is now the residence of Lord Ebrington. The mansion retains much of its original character, and has a carved hammer-beam roof in the hall, the original oak screen at the eastern end, and is decorated with escutcheons. There are stone quarries and lime-kilns near the quay. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Exeter, value £180. The church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, contains some ancient monuments of the Giffords, including an altar-slab, with the effigies of a cross-legged knight and his lady. There is an endowed school for boys, and a Sunday-school for both sexes. Fish is abundant both in the river Torridge and the Rolls canal. Earl Fortescue is lord of the manor."