Dunkeswell Devon Family History Guide

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Dunkeswell is an Ancient Parish in the county of Devon.

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

  • Parish registers: 1740
  • Bishop’s Transcripts: 1610

Nonconformists include: Presbyterian and Wesleyan Methodist.

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

DUNKESWELL, a parish in Honiton district, Devon; near one of the sources of the river Culm, 5 miles N by W of Honiton town and r. station. It has a post office under Honiton. Acres, 5,160. Real property, £3,056. Pop., 492. Houses, 99. The property is divided among a few.

The manor was known to the Saxons as Doduchewell; was held by Henry Fitzwilliam; was mortgaged by him to a Jew called Amadio; was redeemed by William Lord Brewer, a favourite of Richard I.; and was made the site of a Cistertian monastery, founded by Lord Brewer in 1201, and vested with the profits of Dunkeswell parish church by the Bishop of Exeter, nephew of Lord Brewer, in 1242. The monastery was valued, at the dissolution, at £294; and was given, in 1539, to Lord Russell. The church was built of flint; and two stone coffins, containing perfect skeletons, were found in the choir of it in 1852. Wolford Lodge is the seat of Mrs. Simcoe, and was the seat of the late General Simcoe.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £42. Patron, Mrs. M. Graves. Dunkeswell Abbey is a separate benefice and a p. curacy. Value, £50. Patron, Mrs. E. P. Simcoe. The parish church is cruciform, With low western tower; was rebuilt in 1817; and contains a very ancient font, probably Saxon. Dunkeswell Abbey church is modern; consists of nave, chancel, and north aisle, with bell-turret; and also contains a very ancient font.

There is a Wesleyan chapel.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Administration

  • County: Devon
  • Civil Registration District: Honiton
  • Probate Court: Court of the Bishop (Consistory) of the Archdeaconry of Exeter
  • Diocese: Exeter
  • Rural Deanery: Dunkeswell
  • Poor Law Union: Honiton
  • Hundred: Hemyock
  • Province: Canterbury