Great Torrington Devon Family History Guide
Great Torrington is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Devon.
Other places in the parish include: Kingscott.
Alternative names: Torrington
Parish church: St. Michael
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1616
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1597
Nonconformists include: Baptist, Bible Christian Methodist, Independent/Congregational, Presbyterian, Society of Friends/Quaker, Wesleyan Methodist
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
TORRINGTON, or Great T., a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Devon.
The town stands on the river Torridge, and on the line of the projected Okehampton and Bideford railway, 5½ miles SSE of Bideford r. station; was anciently called Cheping-Toriton.
It belonged to Editha the mother of Harold; passed to Richard de Merton; acquired, in his time, about 1340, a castle which is now extinct; went, in the time of Mary, to the Bassets; was garrisoned, in 1643, for Charles I.; suffered capture by Fairfax, after a severe action, in 1646; sent members to parliament from the time of Edward I. till that of Henry VI.; was made a municipal borough by Mary; is governed, under the new act, by a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors; gave the title of Earl, in 1660, to General Monk, the same title, in 1669. to Admiral Herbert, and the title of Viscount, in 1720, to George Byng.
It is situated on an eminence, commanding delightful views; contains many old-fashioned houses, and several genteel residences; is a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and a polling place; and has a head post-office, designated Torrington, North Devon, two banking offices, several inns, a recently restored guildhall, a market-hall of 1842, subscription reading rooms, a bowling-green on the site of the ancient castle, a column commemorative of the battle of Waterloo, a fine church restored in 1864, four dissenting chapels, a new cemetery of six acres with two mortuary chapels, an endowed school with £48 a year, a workhouse, with capacity for 220 inmates, and charities £186.
A weekly market is held on Saturday; a great cattle market, on the 3d Saturday of March; cattle fairs on 4 May, 5 July, and 10 Oct.; and glove-making is largely carried on. A canal 5 miles long, connects the town with the navigable part of the Torridge; and, in one place, is carried across the valley by a lofty five-arched viaduct.
The parish is conterminate with the borough limits, and comprises 3,456 acres. Real property, £9,637; of which £200 are in gasworks, and £60 in the canal. Pop., 3,298. Houses, 707. The manor belongs to the Hon. Mark Rolle.
The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £162. Patron, Christchurch, Oxford.
The sub-district contains 5 parishes. Acres, 14,355. Pop., 5,223. Houses, 1,101.
The district includes also Shebbear, Dolton, Winkleigh, and High Bickington sub-districts; and comprises 81,472 acres. Poor rates in 1863, £7,491. Pop. in 1851, 17,491; in 1861, 16,876. Houses, 3,419. Marriages in 1863, 85; births, 512, of which 44 were illegitimate; deaths, 331, of which 92 were at ages under 5 years, and 15 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,221; births, 5,080; deaths, 3,005.
The places of worship, in 1851, were 25 of the Church of England, with 5,691 sittings; 7 of Independents, with 494 s.; 9 of Baptists, with 1,120 s.; 10 of Wesleyans, with 1,346 s.; 16 of Bible Christians, with 2,161 s.; and 1 undefined, with 20 s.
The schools were 24 public day-schools, with 1,164 scholars; 25 private day-schools, with 585 s.; and 43 Sunday schools, with 2,490 s.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Parish Records
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England, Devon, Torrington (Great)
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Administration
- County: Devon
- Civil Registration District: Torrington
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop (Consistory) of the Archdeaconry of Barnstaple
- Diocese: Exeter
- Rural Deanery: Torrington
- Poor Law Union: Torrington
- Hundred: Fremington
- Province: Canterbury