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 Widecombe in the Moor

from

A Topographical Dictionary of England

by

 Samuel Lewis (1831)

Transcript copyright Mel Lockie (Sep 2016)

 

WIDECOMBE-in-the-MOOR, a parish forming, with the parish of Buckland in the Moor, a detached portion of the hundred of HAYTOR, being locally in that of Lifton, county of DEVON, 5¾ miles (N. W. by N.) from Ashburton, containing 934 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Totness, and diocese of Exeter, rated in the king's books at £25. 13. 9., and in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter. The church, dedicated to St. Paneras, was greatly injured by lightning during the performance of divine service, on October 21st, 1638, when portions of the stone and wood work fell in. The parish is intersected by three rivulets tributary to the river Dart, which bounds it on one side. It comprises several long vallies, enclosed by rugged hills, bordering upon Dartmoor, and exhibits, in many places, marks of stream-works; tin has long been found in the neighbourhood. There are four small schools in different parts of the parish, supported by subscription and the trifling endowments of William Culling and Miss Smith.