Morebath is an upland village in the county 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. It is mostly given over to sheep-farming, and situated on the southern edge of

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. ...

. An account of life in Morebath in the 16th century can be read in ''The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village'' by

Eamon Duffy Eamon Duffy (born 1947) is an Irish historian. He is a professor of the history of Christianity at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow and former president of Magdalene College. Early life Duffy was born on 9 February 1947, in Dundalk, I ...

(published in 2001 by

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, ). Then, as now, Morebath was populated by no more than 300 people, drawn from some thirty families, living and working on the land. During the often turbulent period of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, its inhabitants relied on the guidance of their priest, Christopher Trychay, Vicar of Morebath from 1520 to 1574. His detailed hand-written records were transcribed by the Rev. J. Erskine Binney, and published by James G. Commin of Exeter in 1904 as a separate volume in the ''Devon Notes & Queries'' series, under the title ''The Accounts of the Wardens of the Parish of Morebath, Devon''. They provide an insight into the life of this small English community. The church is dedicated to St. George. The village was formerly served by two

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

Morebath railway station The Devon and Somerset Railway (D&SR) was a cross-country line that connected Barnstaple in Devon, England, to the network of the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) near Taunton. It was opened in stages between 1871 and 1873 and closed in 1966. ...

(initially opened in 1873 as "Morebath and Bampton") on the

Devon and Somerset Railway The Devon and Somerset Railway (D&SR) was a cross-country line that connected Barnstaple in Devon, England, to the network of the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) near Taunton. It was opened in stages between 1871 and 1873 and closed in 1966. ...

was actually nearer to

Shillingford Shillingford a Hamlet (place), hamlet on the north bank of the River Thames in Warborough Civil parishes in England, civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England. Its homes are not quite with Warborough by way of one residential road. It lies m ...

, and about a mile-and-a-half from Morebath itself. Morebath Junction Halt, which opened in 1928, was a single-platform halt set among fields in the valley beyond Ashtown Farm, and had no access road, though there was a footpath to it from Ashtown, which extended along the edge of fields to Chilpark on the B3190, close to the main part of the village. It was served by the

Exe Valley Railway The Exe Valley Railway was a branch line built by the Great Western Railway (GWR) in Devon, England, to link its Bristol to Exeter line with its Devon and Somerset Railway (D&SR), thereby connecting Exeter with (which is in Somerset). The li ...

, as well as the Devon and Somerset line, and therefore had a better service than Morebath railway station: it was also much closer to Morebath village itself. Both stations closed in 1966. The actress

Caroline Quentin Caroline Quentin (born Caroline Jones; 11 July 1960) is an English actress, broadcaster and television presenter. Quentin became known for her television appearances: portraying Dorothy in ''Men Behaving Badly'' (1992–1998), Maddie Magellan in ...

resides in the village with her family.

References

External links

{{Authority control Villages in Mid Devon District