Chevithorne () is a small village near Tiverton,

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 ...

. It lies three miles to the North East of Tiverton. 'Chenetorne' is identified in two entries of the

Doomsday 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 ...

: The first entry tells us the manor of Chevithorne, had a taxable value 0.6 geld units, and worth £2.3 to the lord in 1086. The holding was populated by 4 villagers. 2 smallholders. 8 slaves. There was enough ploughland for 2 lord's plough teams. and 2 men's plough teams and had, in addition, 0.12 lord's lands. 8 acres of meadow. 15 acres in pasture. and 3 acres of woodland. There were also 10 cattle and 60 sheep. The 'Lords' of this holding in 1086: are named as Alwin (who is also named as lord in 1066), and Beatrix (the sister of Ralph of Pomeroy and William 'the goat'). Ralph de Pomeroy was Tenant-in-chief, He was a large land holder in Devon, and his brother William held several properties as both lord and Tenant-in-Chief. The balance of the land was held by Baldwin,'the Sheriff', as Tenant in Chief, served by Rogo (son of Nigel) as lord. The holding included 3 villagers. 3 smallholders. 3 slaves; 5 ploughlands . 1 lord's plough teams. 0.5 men's plough teams, in addition to 0.12 acres of lord's lands. 11 acres in meadow, and 12 acres in pasture for 5 cattle. 16 pigs. 18 sheep. 6 goat. Plus 100 acres of woods for hunting. All valued to the lord, in 1086, at £1.

Major Buildings

The Church of St Thomas, the parish church, is a Victorian building of 1843 by Bejamin Ferrey. It is of local

red sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) b ...

with a slate roof and in a

Middle Pointed English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...

style. The interior has memorial tablets to members of the

Heathcoat-Amory Heathcoat-Amory is a double-barrelled English surname. Notable people with this surname include the following: *David Heathcoat-Amory (born 1949), English politician * Derick Heathcoat-Amory, 1st Viscount Amory (1899–1981), English politician * ...

family, local industrialists and landowners who lived at nearby

Knightshayes Court Knightshayes Court is a Victorian country house near Tiverton, Devon, England, designed by William Burges for the Heathcoat-Amory family. Nikolaus Pevsner describes it as "an eloquent expression of High Victorian ideals in a country house o ...

. The churchyard contains a memorial to Michael Heathcoat-Amory by the sculptor

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...

. The church is a

Grade II 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 Ir ...

. The vicarage, behind the church, is by the Victorian architect

William Burges William Burges (; 2 December 1827 – 20 April 1881) was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century industrialisation and the Neoc ...

and was commissioned by Sir John Heathcoat-Amory and constructed 1870-71. The style is Burges's "unmistakable muscular Gothic." The building is of one storey with a garret and a kitchen wing and cost £700. Now a private house, the vicarage is also Grade II listed. Chevithorne Barton is a

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 ...

of the early 17th century, rebuilt in the 19th century and further remodelled for the Heathcoat-Amory's in 1930. Of three storeys, it contains some original Jacobean platerwork and panelling. The manor house is a

Grade II* 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 Ir ...

. Michael Heathcoat Amory (born October 1941, died February 2016) created the arboretum there, and published a catalogue entitled ''The Oaks of Chevithorne Barton.

Notes

References

External links

Michael Heathcoat Amory (1941 - 2016)
{{authority control Villages in Mid Devon District Tiverton, Devon