Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for POWDERHAM

POWDERHAM, a parish in St. Thomas district, Devon; on the estuary of the river Exe, and on the South Devon railway, 2 miles N by W of Starcross r.station, and 6½ S S E of Exeter. Post-town, Kenton, Devon. Acres, 1, 947; of which 495 are water. Real property, £2, 253. Pop., 238. Houses, 51. The manor was held, at the Norman conquest, by William de Ou; passed to John of Powderham, the Bohuns, and the Courtenays; and belongs now to the Earl of Devon. P. Castle stands on an acclivity rising from the Exe; is said to have been founded before the Norman conquest; formed, in the time of Leland, a strong fort, with a barbican, for the protection of the Exe haven; was garrisoned, and taken and retaken, by both contending parties in the civil wars of Charles I.; is now a seat of the Earl of Devon, recently much improved. The park around it isbeautifully wooded, and well stocked with deer. A triangular tower, called the Belvidere, crowns the highestground, and commands magnificent and extensive views. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £351, with 91 acres of glebe. Patron, the Earl of Devon. The church is later English; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, in triple form or in equal projection, with a Wtower; and contains a fine carved oak screen, and twomonuments of the Earl of Devon's family. There is a national school.


(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: Powderham AP/CP       St Thomas RegD/PLU       Devon AncC
Place: Powderham

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