Holbeton is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

and village located 9 miles south east of

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

in the

South Hams South Hams is a local government district on the south coast of Devon, England. Services divide between those provided by its own Council headquartered in Totnes, and those provided by Devon County Council headquartered in the city of Exete ...

district of

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. Devon is ...

, England. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 579, down from 850 in 1901. By 2011 it had increased to 619. The southern boundary of the parish lies on the coast (at Bigbury Bay), and it is surrounded clockwise from the west by the parishes of

Newton and Noss Newton and Noss is a civil parish in the South Hams district of Devon, England comprising the villages of Newton Ferrers and Noss Mayo and outlying hamlets such as Membland. The population of the parish taken at the 2011 census was 1,814. His ...

Yealmpton Yealmpton () is a village and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is located in the South Hams on the A379 Plymouth to Kingsbridge road and is about from Plymouth. Its name derives from the River Yealm that flows through the villag ...

, Ermington,

Modbury Modbury is a large village, ecclesiastical parish, civil parish and former manor situated in the South Hams district of the county of Devon in England. Today due to its large size it is generally referred to as a "town" although the parish co ...

, and on the opposite bank of the

ria A ria (; gl, ría) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea. Definitions Typically rias have a dendritic, treelike outline although they ca ...

of the

River Erme The Erme is a river in south Devon, England. From its source on Dartmoor it flows in a generally southerly direction past some of the best-preserved archaeological remains on the moor. It leaves the moor at the town of Ivybridge and continues s ...

, Kingston. The village, set back from the wooded shores of the river, is accessed by minor roads south of the A379 road, between the villages of Modbury and Yealmpton. Within the parish, north of the village, is the hamlet of Ford.

History

To the east of the village is an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

enclosure or

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

known as

Holbury Holbury is a village in Hampshire, England. It is part of the parish of Fawley. Overview Historically a small and scarcely populated village, Holbury and the adjoining hamlet of Hardley now has a sizeable population and a considerable number of ...

. Historically the parish formed part of

Ermington Hundred The hundred of Ermington was the name of one of thirty two ancient administrative units of Devon, England. It was active until the end of the 19th century when more specialized governmental units assumed its many roles. Ermington hundred was comp ...

and it contains several historic estates.

Flete House Flete House is a Grade I listed country house at Holbeton, in the South Hams region of Devon, England. History With roots in Saxon times, the Manor of Flete was held by the Damarell family from 1066 until the time of Edward III. The earlies ...

is situated in a large park and was formerly the seat of

Baron Mildmay of Flete Baron Mildmay of Flete, of Totnes in the County of Devon, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 20 November 1922 for Francis Mildmay, for many years Member of Parliament for Totnes. He was the grandson of Humphr ...

. The house was remodelled in the Gothic style in 1835, and the front is all of this date, but the architect

Norman Shaw Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...

extensively remodelled the building from 1878 onwards. During World War II it was used as a maternity home, and

Dave Hill David John Hill (born 4 April 1946) is an English rock musician. He is the lead guitarist, a backing vocalist and the sole continuous member in the English band Slade. Hill is known for his flamboyant stage clothes and hairstyle. Early life B ...

of pop group

Slade Slade are an English rock band formed in Wolverhampton in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The ''British Hit Singles ...

was born there in 1946. As of 2004 it was being used as apartments for the elderly. The estate of

Mothecombe Mothecombe is an historic estate in the parish of Holbeton in South Devon, England. The mansion house of the estate is Mothecombe House, a grade I listed building in the Queen Anne style. History The estate of Mothecombe was inherited by John P ...

was a seat of a junior branch of the Pollexfen family of Kitley,

. The mansion house was built by John Pollexfen ''circa'' 1710-20. In 1872 it was acquired by Henry Bingham Mildmay (of

Barings Bank Barings Bank was a British merchant bank based in London, and one of England's List of oldest banks in continuous operation, oldest merchant banks after Berenberg Bank, Barings' close collaborator and German representative. It was founded in 1762 ...

) who 4 years later in 1876 also acquired Flete, in the same parish of Holbeton, the ancestral home of his wife Georgiana Bulteel, which had been sold in 1863 by her brother to an Australian sheep farmer. Adeston was held by the ''de Adeston'' family. The last in the male line was Gilbert de Adeston, who died during the reign of King Edward III (1327-1377) and left a daughter and sole heiress Jone de Adeston, who married John Prideaux, a younger son of Sir Roger Prideaux of Orcherton. Adeston remained in the Prideaux family of Theuborough in the parish of Sutcombe, Devon, until sold by "Richard Prideaux of Theuborough" (probably Richard Prideaux (d.1617) or his father Richard Prideaux (d.1603)) to Thomas Hele (d.1613) of Fleet,

Sheriff of Devon The High Sheriff of Devon is the Queen's representative for the County of Devon, a territory known as his/her bailiwick. Selected from three nominated people, they hold the office for one year. They have judicial, ceremonial and administrative f ...

1600-1. Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, pp.308-9; Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp.464,466, pedigree of Hele

Parish church

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

(All Saints) was dedicated by Bishop

John Grandisson The '' John Grandisson Triptych'', displaying on two small escutcheons the arms of Bishop Grandisson. British Museum John de Grandisson (1292 – 16 July 1369), also spelt Grandison, was Bishop of Exeter, in Devon, England, from 1327 to his deat ...

in 1336. Described by

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

as "unusually impressive", it has both north and south

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, parl ...

s and owes much of its interest to the

Victorian restoration The Victorian restoration was the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria. It was not the same proce ...

undertaken by

J. D. Sedding John Dando Sedding (13 April 1838 – 7 April 1891) was an English church architect, working on new buildings and repair work, with an interest in a "crafted Gothic" style. He was an influential figure in the Arts and Crafts movement, many of wh ...

between 1885 and 1889 which was funded by Henry Mildmay of Flete. However, the tower and spire survive from the 14th century; there is a square

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

carved with lions, a tree and leaf decoration; and the

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or ...

, 1535, restored by Sedding, is very finely carved. The east window contains

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

Heywood Sumner George Heywood Maunoir Sumner (1853–1940) was originally an English painter, illustrator and craftsman, closely involved with the Arts and Crafts movement and the late-Victorian London art world. In his mid-forties he relocated to Cuckoo Hill, ...

(1866), and later windows in the north aisle are by Hugh Easton.Cherry & Pevsner, pp. 484–5 Monuments within the church include, in the north chapel, a large one to three generations of the Hele family which includes a semi-reclining figure of Sir Thomas Hele of Flete (died 1670). Also to the Bulteel family, 1801, in Coade stone; and in the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

a separate one to Elizabeth Bulteel (died 1835).

Holbeton today

The local primary school takes the majority of the local children. The village hall and playing fields are host to many activities including school plays, festivals, and sports events.

References

;Sources ** {{Authority control Villages in South Hams Civil parishes in South Hams