Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BURLESCOMBE

BURLESCOMBE, a parish in the district of Wellington and county of Devon; under Blackdown, on the Roman Port way from Somerset to Exeter, and on the Great Western canal and the Bristol and Exeter railway 5 miles SW of Wellington. It has a station on the railway, and it includes the tything of Appledore and the hamlet of Westleigh; the former of which has a post office, of the name of Appledore, North Devon. Acres, 3,768. Real property, £6,229; of which £700 are in quarries Pop., 856. Houses, 175. The property is subdivided. The manor belongs to E. A. Sandford, Esq An Augustinian priory was founded at Canonsleigh in the time of Henry II., by William de Clarville; conveyed, in 1284, to Maud, Countess of Gloucester, and changed by her into a nunnery; passed, after the dissolution, through a number of hands; and belongs now to the family of Browne. Some small remains of it, including a massive Tudor gateway, still exist. Limestone of superior quality abounds; and great quantities of it are sent off by canal and railway. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £255.* Patron, Rev. T.Tanner. The church is chiefly of the time of Henry VII.; was renovated in 1843; and contains a beautiful ancient screen, and fine monuments of the Ayshfords. An ancient chapel stands on the Ayshford estate; and was recently restored.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Burlescombe CP/AP       Devon AncC
Place: Burlescombe

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