King's Nympton, towards the church - geograph

King's Nympton (Latinised to ''Nymet Regis'') is a village, parish and former

manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

North Devon North Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. North Devon Council is based in Barnstaple. Other towns and villages in the North Devon District include Braunton, Fremington, Ilfracombe, Instow, South Molton, Lynton and ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in the heart of the rolling countryside between Exmoor and

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous ...

, some 4½ miles () S.S.W. of

South Molton South Molton is a town in Devon, England. It is part of the North Devon local government district. The town is on the River Mole. According to the 2001 census the civil parish of South Molton had a population of 4,093, increasing to 5,108 at the ...

and N. of Chulmleigh. The parish exceeds in area and sits mostly on a promontory above the

River Mole The River Mole is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows northwest through Surrey for to the Thames at Hampton Court Palace. The river gives its name to the Surrey distr ...

(anciently the Nymet) which forms nearly half of its parish boundary. Many of the outlying farmhouses date from the 15th and 16th centuries and the village has cottages and a pub, with thatched roofs. Nearly all of its 5,540 acres are given over to agriculture with beef, sheep, dairy, arable and egg production forming the bulk of farming activity.

History

Ancient British people settled here in small groups on the higher ground. In around 980 AD the Church of St. James was established here by the Saxons, probably on the site of a pagan "nymet”, a sanctuary or holy grove. At the time of the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086, the whole manor of ''Nimetone'', in the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

Witheridge Witheridge is a village and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. In 2001 the population of the parish was 1162, reducing slightly to 1,158 at the 2011 Census. An electoral ward with the same name exists. The population ...

, belonged to the King, but King Henry I (1100–1135) granted the manor to Joel de Mayne. After passing through several families, the manor was purchased by Sir Lewis Pollard (c. 1465-1526), in whose family it remained until Sir Hugh Pollard, 2nd Baronet (c.1610-1666) sold the manor to his cousin Sir Arthur Northcote, 2nd Baronet (1628–1688). The Northcote family held the manor until 1740 when it was sold to James Buller (the younger) whose family held it until 1842 when it was purchased by James Tanner.

King's Nympton Park

Kings Nympton Park is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

. In 1872 it belonged to James Tanner, Esq., although the lord of the manor of King's Nympton was H. M. Byne, Esq. An on-site auction sale held by Kivell's auctioneers occurred at Park Farm on the Kingsnympton Park Estate on 25 January 2010, which included pedigree North Devon cattle, sheep and machinery.http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/Widespread-expected-Kingsnympton-Park-sale/story-12149548-detail/story.html#axzz2QE8TBQW5

Railway station

The village gives its name to the

King's Nympton railway station Kings Nympton railway station, also spelt King's Nympton, is a halt on the Tarka Line in North Devon, serving the civil parishes of Chulmleigh, Burrington and King's Nympton. The station is located at Fortescue Cross, a road junction on the ...

, although the station itself is situated from the village in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

of Chulmleigh.

References

External links

*King's Nympton community website http://www.kingsnympton.org.uk/ *
English Heritage Register of Parks & Gardens of Special Historic Interest, King's Nympton Park
{{authority control Villages in Devon