Sidbury is a large village north of

Sidmouth Sidmouth () is a town on the English Channel in Devon, South West England, southeast of Exeter. With a population of 12,569 in 2011, it is a tourist resort and a gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. A large part of the town has ...

on the A375 road 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. Devon is ...

, England. In 2011 the

built-up area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as city, cit ...

had a population of 457. In 1951 the civil parish had a population of 2,507. It is situated on the

River Sid The River Sid, situated in East Devon, is often claimed to be the shortest complete river in England. It flows for southwards from a source in Crowpits Covert (OSGB36 Grid reference SY138963) at a height of 206 metres above sea level. Thsourceis ...

, which rises at Crowpits Covert (OSGB36 grid reference ) and runs for to

Lyme Bay Lyme Bay is an area of the English Channel off the south coast of England. The south western counties of Devon and Dorset front onto the bay. The exact definitions of the bay vary. The eastern boundary is usually taken to be Portland Bill on the ...

at Sidmouth. Above the village is

Sidbury Castle Sidbury Castle is a substantial Iron Age hill fort near Sidbury in Devon, England. It occupies a large hilltop overlooking the town and the River Sid The River Sid, situated in East Devon, is often claimed to be the shortest complete river in E ...

, the site of an Iron Age hill fort. Sidbury is mentioned in 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 ...

as the

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 ...

of Sideberia, held by Bishop Osbern of

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

. The Church of St Peter and St Giles has a Norman tower topped with a spire, a Saxon

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

, a gunpowder storage room dating from the Napoleonic era and a 500-year-old

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 ...

. The tower has eight bells, the earliest dating from 1662 and 1663. Six more were hung in 1712, 1750, 1752, 1776 and two in 1947 to complete the present eight. Both the tower and the rest of the church are Norman but the tower was accurately rebuilt in 1884. The north aisle is possibly 13th century and the south porch

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...

. The windows are medieval and of various periods; the octagonal font is Perpendicular. The church is a Grade I listed building. The actress

Joan Hickson Joan Bogle Hickson, OBE (5 August 1906 – 17 October 1998) was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She was known for her role as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series ''Miss Marple''. She also narrated a number ...

, known for her lead role in the television series ''

Miss Marple Miss Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Jane Marple lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterized as an elderly spinster, she is one of Chr ...

'', is buried in the churchyard under her married name of Joan Bogle Butler. The village has a primary school, a village hall, a pub (the Red Lion), and one butcher's shop also selling groceries and newspapers. There is a working watermill in the village. The

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

Sidbury Manor Sidbury Manor is a privately owned 19th-century country mansion situated at Sidbury, Sidmouth, East Devon. It is a Grade II listed building. Built in 1879, the country house is a red brick building with a slate roof, including two towers, one squ ...

, lies northwest of the village centre. There is a regular bus service to Sidmouth and Exeter. A small hamlet of

Sidbury Sidbury is a large village north of Sidmouth on the A375 road in Devon, England. In 2011 the built-up area had a population of 457. In 1951 the civil parish had a population of 2,507. It is situated on the River Sid, which rises at Crowpits C ...

in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

province of South Africa, was founded by Lt. Richard Daniell, R.N. He had been native of this Devon village and was leader of Daniell party of

1820 Settlers The 1820 Settlers were several groups of British colonists from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, settled by the government of the United Kingdom and the Cape Colony authorities in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in 1820. Origins After th ...

to South Africa. He also helped found the Anglican church there and named it after his home church.

Notable people

*Major

Cyril Raikes Cyril Probyn Napier Raikes (1875–1963) was a British Army officer who was awarded the Military Cross in the World War I Mesopotamian campaign flying in the British army's Royal Engineers monitoring the oil pipelines there. He had previously foug ...

References

External links

Village website
* {{authority control Villages in Devon Former civil parishes in Devon Former manors in Devon Sidmouth