Haccombe is a hamlet, former

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

and historic manor in Devon, situated 2 1/2 miles east of

Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the Sou ...

, in the south of the county. It is possibly the smallest

in England, and was said in 1810 to be remarkable for containing only two inhabited houses, namely 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 ...

known as Haccombe House and the

parsonage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically own ...

. Haccombe House is a "nondescript

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

structure" (

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...

), rebuilt shortly before 1795 by the

Carew family Carew may refer to: * Carew (surname) * Carew, Pembrokeshire, in Wales **Carew (electoral ward), a ward coterminous with the Welsh community * Carew, New Zealand, in the Ashburton District * Carew, South Australia, see Tatiara District Council# ...

on the site of an important mediaeval manor house. Hoskins, W.G., A New Survey of England: Devon, London, 1959 (first published 1954), p.402 Next to the house is the small parish church dedicated to

Saint Blaise Blaise of Sebaste ( hy, Սուրբ Վլասի, ''Surb Vlasi''; el, Ἅγιος Βλάσιος, ''Agios Vlasios''; ) was a physician and bishop of Sebastea in historical Armenia (modern Sivas, Turkey) who is venerated as a Christian saint and m ...

, remarkable not only for the many ancient stone sculpted effigies and

monumental brass A monumental brass is a type of engraved sepulchral memorial, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood. Made of hard latten or sheet brass, let into the paveme ...

es it contains, amongst the best in Devon, but also because the incumbent has the rare title of

Archpriest The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogous ...

and is accountable not to the local bishop (

Bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Exeter is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. Since 30 April 2014 the ordinary has been Robert Atwell.

), as are all other parish churches in Devon, but to the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

. The archpresbytery was established in 1341 with six clergy; only the archpriest survived at the Reformation. The ecclesiastical parish is now combined with that of

Stoke-in-Teignhead Stokeinteignhead () is a village and civil parish in the Teignbridge district of Devon, England, above the southern bank of the estuary of the River Teign. The parish has a short boundary on the estuary, and is otherwise surrounded, clockwise f ...

with Combe-in-Teignhead.

Haccombe with Combe Haccombe with Combe is a civil parish in the Teignbridge local government district of Devon, England. The parish lies immediately to the east of the town of Newton Abbot, and south of the estuary of the River Teign. Across the estuary are the p ...

is a

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 ...

in the

Teignbridge Teignbridge is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in Newton Abbot. Other towns in the district include Ashburton, Buckfastleigh, Dawlish and Teignmouth. It is named for the old Teignbridge hundred. The ...

local government district The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

. Persons to have held the office of Archpriest of Haccombe include: *1581-1594:

John Woolton John Woolton (or Wolton) (1535? – 13 March 1594) served as Bishop of Exeter in Devon, England, from 1579 to 1594. Origins He was born at Whalley, Lancashire in about 1535, the son of John Woolton of Wigan, by his wife Isabella Nowell, a daught ...

(1535?–1594),

Bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Exeter is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. Since 30 April 2014 the ordinary has been Robert Atwell.

from 1579 to 1594, who "as the bishopric had become of small value, was allowed to hold with it the place of archpriest at Haccombe (20 Oct. 1581) and the rectory of Lezant in Cornwall (1584)".Dictionary of National Biography
/ref>

Manor

The manor was the seat of important branches of the Courtenay and Carew families.

References

Sources

* Cherry, Bridget &

Pevsner, Nikolaus Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (19 ...

, ''The Buildings of England: Devon''. Yale University Press, 2004. * Risdon, Tristram (died 1640),
Survey of Devon
'. With considerable additions. London, 1811. * Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) ''The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620''. Exeter, 1895. Hamlets in Devon Former civil parishes in Devon {{Devon-stub