Abbotsham Devon Family History Guide
ABBOTSHAM is a parish and village on the southern shore of Barnstaple Bay, 2 miles west from Bideford station on the Torrington branch of the London and South Western railway, in the North Western division of the county, Shebbear hundred, Bideford petty sessional division, union and county court district, rural deanery of Hartland, archdeaconry of Barnstaple and diocese of Exeter1.
Status Ancient Parish.
Other places in the parish include: Shepperton and Littleham.
Parish church: St. Helen
Parish registers begin: 1653
Nonconformists include: Wesleyan Methodist, Baptist
Schools: National School (mixed), erected in 1851 & since enlarged, for 100 children; average attendance, 60; Charles Hooper, master; Mrs. B. H. Hooper, mistress1
Police Station, Frederick Barnacott, constable1
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
Abbotsham
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
ABBOTSHAM, a parish in Bideford district, Devon; between Taw river and Barnstaple bay, 1½ mile W of Bideford r. station. It has a post office under Bideford; and contains the hamlet of Shepperton. Acres, 1,758. Real property, £2,267. Pop. 365. Houses, 67. The property is subdivided. Odun, Earl of Devon, in 878. vanquished and slew here the Danish invader Hubba, at Kenwith Castle. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter. value, £159. Patron, E. U. Vidal, Esq. The church is a plain old structure with a square tower. There are a small Baptist chapel, and charities £11.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850
Abbotsham, 2 m. W. Bideford. P.414.
Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850
Lewis Topographical Dictionary of England 1845
Abbotsham (St. Helen), a parish, in the union of Bideford, hundred of Shebbear, Great Torrington and N. divisions of Devon, 2 miles (W.) from Bideford; containing with the hamlets of Shepperton and Littleham, 414 inhabitants. This parish, which is situated on the shore of Barnstaple Bay, is distinguished for a memorable victory over the Danes, who besieged the fortress, called Kenwith or Kenwic Castle, towards the close of the ninth century, on which occasion their main western army was routed, and 1200 of them, including their leader, slain, and their consecrated standard captured.
The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £16. 4. 7.; it is in the patronage of the Crown, and the owners and occupiers of land are the impropriators. The great tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £32. 10., and the vicarial for £120; and there are nearly 34 acres of glebe. A school is partly supported by the principal proprietor of land, the vicar, and the curate.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis Fifth Edition Published London; by S. Lewis and Co., 13, Finsbury Place, South. M. DCCC. XLV.
The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales 1840
ABBOTSHAM, a parish in the hund. of Shebbear, union of Bideford, Devonshire ; 2 miles west from Bideford. Living, a discharged vicarage in the archd. of Barnstaple and dio. of Exeter, rated at £16 4s. 7d. ; gross income £170. Patron, the crown. There is a National school here. Pop., in 1801, 313; in 1831, 387. Houses 75. Acres 2,090. A. P. £2,481. Poor rates, in 1837, £106.
Source: The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales; A Fullarton & Co. Glasgow; 1840.
A Topographical Dictionary of the United Kingdom 1808
Abbottsham. a parish in the hundred of Shebbear, Devon, 1½ mile from Bideford, and 203 from London, near the shore of Barnstable Bay; containing: 59 houses and 313 inhabitants: the living is a vicarage, value 16l. 4s. 7d. patron, the king.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of the United Kingdom. Benjamin Pitts Capper. 1808.
Shepperton
Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales Circa 1870
SHEPPERTON, a hamlet in Abbotsham parish, Devon; 2 miles W of Bideford.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Abbotsham Parish Registers
The Abstracts of the Existing Transcripts of the Lost Parish Registers of Devon 1596 to 1644 are available free to read online, with options to download the pdf for personal research
Abstracts of the Existing Transcripts of the Lost Parish Registers of Devon 1596 to 1644: And short notes on the extant pre-restoration registers of all the parishes in the county, from particulars furnished by the several incumbents thereof. By The Revd. Roger Granville, M.A., Sub-Dean of Exeter, and W. E. Mugford. Vol. 1. A-Bra. Published Exeter 1908.
Abstracts of the Existing Transcripts of the Lost Parish Registers of Devon 1596 to 1644: And short notes on the extant pre-restoration registers of all the parishes in the county, from particulars furnished by the several incumbents thereof. By The Revd. Roger Granville, M.A., Sub-Dean of Exeter, and W. E. Mugford. Vol. 1. A-Bra. Published Exeter 1908.
Historical Maps
Vision of Britain historical maps
Administration
- County: Devon
- Civil Registration District: Bideford
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop (Consistory) of the Archdeaconry of Barnstaple
- Diocese: Exeter
- Rural Deanery: Hartland
- Poor Law Union: Bideford
- Hundred: Shebbear
- Province: Canterbury
1. Kelly’s Directory of Devonshire 1902