The Lazy Toad - used to be The Agricultural Inn - geograph

Brampford Speke Parish Church - Side view

Brampford Speke ( ) is a small village in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, to the north of Exeter. The population is 419. It is located on red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

cliffs overlooking the

river Exe The River Exe ( ) in England rises at Exe Head, near the village of Simonsbath, on Exmoor in Somerset, from the Bristol Channel coast, but flows more or less directly due south, so that most of its length lies in Devon. It flows for 60 mile ...

. Its sister village of

Upton Pyne Upton Pyne is a parish and village in Devon, England. The parish lies just north west of Exeter, mainly between the River Exe and River Creedy. The village is located north of Cowley and west of Brampford Speke and Stoke Canon. It has a populat ...

lies to its southwest, and

Stoke Canon Stoke Canon is a small village and civil parish near the confluence of the rivers Exe and Culm on the main A396 between Exeter and Tiverton in the English county of Devon, and the district of East Devon. At the 2001 census it had a populatio ...

is across the river, to the east. To the south is the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Cowley with its chapel of ease, which was formerly part of the

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

of Brampford Speke. Brampford Speke has a Church of England parish church dedicated to St Peter. There is a primary school in the heart of the village near the river Exe, which was built as a national school in 1867. A

baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

was built near the school in 1894. The village also has a corner shop/tea room and a local pub, the Agricultural Inn (formerly the Lazy Toad). The village contains a number of fine houses, including the former landowner's Brampford House in the centre of the village and some traditional cob and

thatch Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

cottages and farmhouses.

History

The village's name perhaps means '

bramble A bramble is any rough, tangled, prickly shrub, usually in the genus ''Rubus'', which grows blackberries, raspberries, or dewberries. "Bramble" is also used to describe other prickly shrubs, such as roses (''Rosa'' species). The fruits inclu ...

ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

'. ''Speke'' is derived from the

Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 * Anglo-Norman language **Anglo-Norman literature * Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 10 ...

family ''Espek'' or ''Speke'' lords of the manor from the reign of King

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

(1135-1154). The ''Speke

Chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or # a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area i ...

'' in Exeter Cathedral contains the effigy of Sir

John Speke Captain John Hanning Speke (4 May 1827 – 15 September 1864) was an English explorer and officer in the British Indian Army who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa. He is most associated with the search for the source of the Nile ...

(1442-1518) of Heywood in

Wembworthy Wembworthy is a small village, parish and former manor in Mid-Devon, England. It is situated in the valley of the River Taw, 8 miles north-east of the towns of Hatherleigh and 12 miles south of South Molton. St Michael's Church is the parish ch ...

and Brampford Speke in Devon and of

Whitelackington Whitelackington is a village and civil parish on the A303 one mile north east of Ilminster, in Somerset, England. The parish includes Dillington Park and the hamlets of Atherstone and Ashwell. Etymology The village's name is from Old English an ...

in Somerset. In 1815, the manor was purchased for the Northcote family, later

Earls of Iddesleigh Earl of Iddesleigh ( ), in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1885 for the Conservative politician Sir Stafford Northcote, 8th Baronet, of Pynes in the parish of Upton Pyne near Exeter i ...

George Cornelius Gorham George Cornelius Gorham (1787–1857) was a vicar in the Church of England. His legal recourse to being denied a certain post, subsequently taken to a secular court, caused great controversy. Early life George Cornelius Gorham was born on 21 Aug ...

was recommended as

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

of Brampford Speke in 1847. However, when examined by the bishop of Exeter,

Henry Phillpotts Henry Phillpotts (6 May 177818 September 1869), often called "Henry of Exeter", was the Anglican Bishop of Exeter from 1830 to 1869. One of England's longest serving bishops since the 14th century, Phillpotts was a striking figure of the 19th- ...

, he was declared to hold

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

views on

baptismal regeneration Baptismal regeneration is the name given to doctrines held by the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican churches, and other Protestant denominations which maintain that salvation is intimately linked to the act of bap ...

. The bishop's decision was later overturned by the Privy Council, and Gorham was instituted as vicar of Brampford Speke. The furore led some to abandon the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

to become

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

s. As vicar, Gorham

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian music musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004 by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard ...

the church building, entirely rebuilding the tower, for which Bishop Phillpotts gave some money. The church's north

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

had been added in 1840. A marble tablet on the east wall of the south

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

commemorates Gorham.

Railway Line

Brampford Speke was served by the Exe Valley line of the Great Western Railway, which opened on 1 May 1885, until the Beeching Axe of 7 October 1963 closed its station. Both the old railway station and the old station house remain in residential use, and are situated across the river from the village. An iron footbridge over the river Exe connects a path from the school, down the cliff and across the meadow to the station. The current bridge is the third. The old railway embankment can be walked to

, whereas the line to

Thorverton Thorverton is a civil parish and village in Devon, England, about a mile west of the River Exe and north of Exeter. It is almost centrally located between Exeter and the towns of Tiverton, Cullompton and Crediton, and contains the hamlets ...

is now impassable due to collapsed bridges.

Notable residents

The botanist Dr

Richard Parnell Richard Parnell FRSE MWS (1810–28 October 1882) was a British physician as well as an amateur zoologist, ichthyologist and agrostologist. He gives his name to Parnell's moustached bat. The grass ''Parnelli'' is also named after him. He was ...

FRSE (1810-1882) was born here.

References

External links

Brampford Speke community page, Devon County Council

Brampford Speke, GENUKI
{{authority control Villages in Devon Former manors in Devon