Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BROADHEMBURY

BROADHEMBURY, a village and a parish in Honiton district, Devon. The village stands in a fertile valley, 5 miles ESE of Collumpton r. station, and 6 NW of Honiton; and has a post office under Honiton. It was formerly a market-town; and it still has a fair on the second Monday of Dec. The parish includes also the hamlets of Collaton, Luton, Dilford, and Kerswell. Acres, 4,703. Real property, £5,961. Pop., 817. Houses, 164. The property is subdivided. The manor belonged anciently to the Tovington family; was given to Dunkeswell Abbey; and passed, in the time of Elizabeth, to the family of Drave. A Cluniac Abbey stood at Kerswell; and was subordinate to Montacute priory in Somerset. An ancient entrenchment, called Hembury fort, crowns a bold spur of high land; commands an extensive prospect; comprises an oval area, engirt by three well-preserved, lofty ramparts; seems to have been formed by the Britons, but was occupied by the Romans; and is thought, by some antiquaries, to have been the Roman station Moridunum. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £269.* Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Exeter. The church is a fine ancient edifice; consists of nave, chancel, and south aisle, with pinnacled western tower; and contains a neat oak screen, a Saxon font, and monuments of several families. There are an Independent chapel, and charities £30. Toplady was vicar.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Broadhembury CP/AP       Honiton RegD/PLU       Devon AncC
Place: Broadhembury

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