King's Nympton, towards the church - geograph

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

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 b ...

in the heart of the rolling countryside between

Exmoor Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath ...

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 Chulmleigh ( ) is a small Saxon hilltop market town and civil parish located in North Devon in the heart of the English county of Devon. It is located north west of Exeter, just north of the Mid Devon boundary, linked by the A377 and B ...

. 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 distri ...

(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 A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, 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 de ...

of Witheridge, belonged to the King, but King

Henry I Henry I may refer to: 876–1366 * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry I the Long, Margrave of the ...

(1100–1135) granted the manor to Joel de Mayne. After passing through several families, the manor was purchased by Sir

Lewis Pollard Sir Lewis Pollard (c. 1465 – 21 October 1526) of Grilstone in the parish of Bishop's Nympton, Devon, was Justice of the Common Pleas from 1514 to 1526 and served as MP for Totnes in 1491 and was a JP in Devon in 1492. He was knighted a ...

(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 Sir Arthur Northcote, 2nd Baronet (1628–1688) was a baronet from Devon, England. He lived at Hayne in the parish of Newton St Cyres, Devon, where the mansion house has since been demolished; and also at King's Nympton, Devon, a manor that he pu ...

(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 Irel ...

. 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 The Devon is a traditional British breed of beef cattle. It originated in, and is named for, the county of Devon in the West Country of England. It is a deep rich red in colour, and so may be known as the Devon Ruby or Red Ruby; it may also be ...

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

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 ...

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