Abbots Bickington - barns at Court Barton - geograph

Abbots Bickington is a village and

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 authorit ...

in the English 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. Devo ...

, located north-northeast of

Holsworthy Holsworthy is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Torridge District, Torridge district of Devon, England, some west of Exeter. The River Deer, a tributary of the River Tamar, forms the western boundary of the paris ...

and near the

River Torridge The River Torridge is a river in Devon in England; it rises near Meddon. The river describes a long loop through Devon farming country where its tributaries the Lew and Okement join before meeting the Taw at Appledore and flowing into the Bristo ...

Etymology

The name Bickington is derived from an "estate associated with a man named Beacca" plus the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

practice of adding "ing" and "tūn" to create a place name. In 1086, it was recorded as Bicatona, in 1107 Bechintona, and in 1580 Abbots Bekenton, to reflect the possession by Hartland Abbey.

Overview

The village is located in the Torridge

local authority area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The phrase i ...

. It is within the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

's Deanery of Holsworthy and the

Diocese of Exeter The Diocese of Exeter is a Church of England diocese covering the county of Devon. It is one of the largest dioceses in England. The Cathedral Church of St Peter in Exeter is the seat of the diocesan Bishop of Exeter. It is part of the Provinc ...

. In the late 19th century it was reported that blue limestone was quarried in the village for building construction, and trustees of

Mark Rolle Hon. Mark George Kerr Rolle (1835–1907; Mark George Kerr Trefusis), of Stevenstone, St Giles in the Wood, Devon, was High Sheriff of Devon in 1864, a DL of Devon and High Steward of Barnstaple. Due to an inheritance from his uncle by ...

were patrons of the church.

History

Normans

The village was held by Goda the priest in the time of

King Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066. Edward was the son of Æthe ...

before the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conq ...

of 1066. The area was part of the

Black Torrington Hundred The Hundred (county subdivision), hundred of Black Torrington was the name of one of thirty two ancient administrative units of Devon, England. The parishes in the hundred were: Abbots Bickington; Ashbury, Devon, Ashbury; Ashwater; Beaworthy; Bel ...

and had 10 households, 8 were smallholders and 2 were slaves. It is recorded 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 ...

'' of 1086–7 as ''Bichetone'', when it was held by Gerald the Chaplain, the

tenant-in-chief In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as opp ...

and

lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage ...

. He was also associated with two other locations in Devon: Stoke and Shapley.

Abbey and manor

Hartland Abbey

In the 12th century, the manor was given to

Hartland Abbey Hartland Abbey is a former abbey and current family home to the Stucley family. It is located in Hartland, Devon. The current owner is Sir Hugh George Copplestone Bampfylde Stucley, 6th Baronet. History Hartland Abbey was built in 1157 and c ...

by Geoffrey de Dinant, as part of the abbey's initial endowment. It remained as property of the abbey until

dissolution Dissolution may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books * ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers * ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music * Dissolution, in mu ...

in 1539. The church was built as a "cell" of the abbey.

Manor

Hugh Prust contracted for a 40-year lease of the manor. By 1871, Mark Rolle owned most of the 1078 acres of Abbots Bickington and was lord of the manor. At that time, there were 50 people living in 8 households. Rolle paid for the 1868 renovations to the church, including installation of new seats and construction of a new roof.

Church of St James

The village church was built about 1300 of stone rubble and lancet windows. In the 15th century, stained glass were added, featuring St Anthony and St Christopher. There is also a monument to

Thomas Pollard Thomas Pollard (1597 – 1649×1655) was an actor in the King's Men – a prominent comedian in the acting troupe of William Shakespeare and Richard Burbage. Thomas Pollard was christened on 11 December 1597 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. H ...

in the church. 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. Ov ...

and

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, west tower and south

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

were all built about the same time. It has the original

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman Ca ...

. Medieval Barnstaple tiles, some with

fleur-de-lys The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol. The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...

pattern, cover the chancel floor. In 1863 and 1868 the church went through processes to reseat and restore the church. The church of St James is described as "an unspoilt example of a small early church, modest in size but with a number of interesting features and very picturesque appearance."

Population and parish governance

The population was 68 in 1801, 61 in 1901, and 35 in 2001. Because of low population, there is no parish council; instead, there is a

parish meeting A parish meeting, in England, is a meeting to which all the electors in a civil parish are entitled to attend. In some cases, where a parish or group of parishes has fewer than 200 electors, the parish meeting can take on the role of a parish cou ...

Etymology

Overview

History

Normans

Abbey and manor

Hartland Abbey

Manor

Church of St James

Population and parish governance

Transportation

Notes

References

External links