Pilton, Devon Family History Guide
Pilton is an Ancient Parish in the county of Devon.
Other places in the parish include: Bradiford and Raleigh.
Alternative names:
Parish church: St. Margaret
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1566
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1597
Nonconformists include: Wesleyan Methodist
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
PILTON (St. Margaret), a parish, in the union of Barnstaple, hundred of Braunton, Braunton and N. divisions of Devon; containing 1805 inhabitants.
A Benedictine priory, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was founded here by King Athelstan, and flourished, as a cell to the abbey of Malmesbury, till the Dissolution, when its revenue amounted to £56. 12. 8. In 1345, the prior obtained for the inhabitants of the place a weekly market and an annual fair, now discontinued.
A hermitage is said to have been also founded here; and an hospital, instituted before the year 1191, in honour of St. Margaret, is still in existence: the inmates are a prior and a brother and sister.
Pilton communicates with Barnstaple by a bridge over the river Yeo, 800 feet in length, and by a causeway: part of it, including the hamlet of Bradiford, was, by the Reform act, comprised within the borough of Barnstaple. The woollen-trade and lace manufacture are carried on.
The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £105; patron, W. Hodge, Esq.: the glebe consists of 22 acres, and there is a glebe-house. The church contains a carved oak screen, a stone pulpit, and a handsome monument to Sir John Chichester, dated 1569.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Administration
- County: Devon
- Civil Registration District: Barnstaple
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop (Consistory) of the Archdeaconry of Barnstaple
- Diocese: Exeter
- Rural Deanery: Barnstaple
- Poor Law Union: Barnstaple
- Hundred: Braunton
- Province: Canterbury