WIDECOMBE-IN-THE-MOOR

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

"WIDECOMBE-IN-THE-MOOR, a parish in the hundred of Haytor, locally in that of Lifton, county Devon, 5 miles N. W. of Ashburton, and 10 E. of Chudleigh. The parish is on the borders of Dartmoor, and is watered by three streams flowing into the Dart, which bounds the parish on the W. and S. The soil is light and sandy, and the subsoil granite. Near the village is the Logan rock, and in the neighbourhood are the hamlets of Dunstone, Jordan, Lower Town, Ponsworthy, Pondsgate, and Venton. Tin has been found, and there are remains of ancient stream-works. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Exeter, value £280, in the patronage of the dean and chapter. The church, dedicated to St. Pancras, was struck by lightning during divine service on the 21st October, 1638, when four persons were killed. There are chapels for Calvinists in Watergate, and for Wesleyans at Dunstone and Lensdon, and two schools partly supported by endowment. A fair is held on the third Thursday in October, at which many Dartmoor sheep and ponies are sold. The Rev. T. Fry is lord of the manor and principal landowner."