Molland is a small village, civil parish, dual ecclesiastical parish with Knowstone, located in the foothills 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 ...

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 ...

, England. It lies within the

North Devon North Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. North Devon Council is based in Barnstaple. Other towns and villages in the North Devon District include Braunton, Fremington, Ilfracombe, Instow, South Molton, Lynton and Lyn ...

local government district. At the time of the 2001 Census, the village had 203 inhabitants. Molland was first referenced as the Manor of Molland 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 ...

. The village contains a church dating back to the 1400s.

Geography

The northern boundary of the parish rises to 1,239 feet at Round Hill on Molland Common; its southern border mostly follows the River Yeo (a tributary of the River Mole), and part of its north-eastern border defines the county boundary with Somerset. The parish is surrounded, clockwise from the east, by the Devon parishes of West Anstey, a small part of East Anstey, Knowstone, Bishop's Nympton and Twitchen. The population of the parish was 203 in 2001, down from 397 in 1901. The village lies on minor roads about 4 miles north of the A361 road between Bampton and South Molton.

History

A scatter of tumuli near Round Hill on Molland Common provide the earliest evidence of humans in the parish. A pollen analysis published in 2004 suggests that during the Romano-British period Molland Common was dominated by a pastoral economy with woodland, possibly managed, restricted to the steep-sided valleys. The evidence shows that the land continued in use for pasture until the 10th century when there was a marked increase in the cultivation of cereals. The researchers concluded that this change probably indicates an increase in population, and they pointed out that the evidence is consistent with the introduction of

convertible husbandry Convertible husbandry, also known as alternate husbandry or up-and-down husbandry, is a method of farming whereby strips of arable farmland were temporarily converted into grass pasture, known as leys. These remained under grass for up to 10 years ...

, a type of land-use management not otherwise documented until the 1500s.

Medieval manors

The first documentary evidence for Molland appears in the

of 1086. The Manor of Molland was a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

manor, largely co-terminous with the existing parish of Molland. More accurately it consisted from the earliest times of two separate manors, held from separate overlords, later known as Molland-Bottreaux and Molland-Champson. Molland-Bottreaux was held from the 15th to the 18th centuries by the

Courtenay family The House of Courtenay is a medieval noble house, with branches in France, England and the Holy Land. One branch of the Courtenays became a Royal House of the Capetian Dynasty, cousins of the Bourbons and the Valois, and achieved the title o ...

, while Molland-Champson was held by the Culme family for about 200 years until it was sold to the Courtenays in 1703. The unified manor passed to the Throckmorton family and continued in existence as a large private estate under the ownership of Clare McLaren-Throckmorton (1935–2017). In 2009 the estate comprised 6,250 acres, 1,700 of which are accounted for by Molland Moor, and includes 40 residential properties forming most of Molland village, 13 farms, the London Inn public house and additional land lettings. In 1267 the men of Molland fell foul of

royal forest A royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), is an area of land with different definitions in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The term ''forest'' in the ordinary modern understanding refers to an area of wooded land; however, the ...

laws as the following record relates concerning Thomas le Shetere of "Gourt" and William Wyme of "Bremley" (both names of farms existing in Molland today) who entered the forest (i.e. of

)

with bows and arrows with intent to do evil to the venison of the Lord King, and shot one hind and afterwards chased her into the wood at Langcombe outside the metes of the forest and there took her and carried her away to their houses in Molaunde...they were given refuge in the house of John then the chaplain of Hauekrigge, who consented to their evil deeds. The same chaplain came and is detained in prison. And the others have not come...

Mining and farming

Mining for iron and copper took place near Bremley and Gourt from the 17th century until 1894, when the last iron was mined. Records of a mine named Brimley show that over 10,000 tons of iron ore were mined between 1881–3 and 1887–9. The surviving records of Molland Mine show that over 1,700 tons of copper ore, valued at more than £9,300 were mined between 1845 and 1867; the same mine produced a total of over 20,000 tons of iron ore, valued at more than £5,000, between 1877 and 1893. In comparison, the total UK output of iron ore in the late 1880s was around 14 million tons ''per annum''. Both mines were owned by the Molland Mining Co. The maximum number of employees at Brimley was recorded as 26 (18 of whom were working underground) in 1891, and at Molland Mine, 30 (22 underground) in 1889–90. Around 1800 the farmer Francis Quartley of Great Champson did much to save and improve the breed of red Devon cattle.

Church of St. Mary

The church is dedicated to St Mary and is of the 15th century. The Georgian interior is very rare in having escaped any

Victorian restoration The Victorian restoration was the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria. It was not the same proces ...

whatsoever. There is a three-decker pulpit, box pews and the roofs are ceiled. The chancel is divided from the nave by an 18th-century screen, and there are many mural monuments at the east end of the north aisle to the Courtenays of West Molland, lords of the manor. The font is Norman and the altar rails are c. 1700. On the tympanum above the

chancel screen 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. Over ...

is affixed a large triptych of decorated wooden panels, the central one dated 1808 displaying the

Royal Arms The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, or the royal arms for short, is the arms of dominion of the British monarch, currently King Charles III. These arms are used by the King in his official capacity as monarch of the United Kingdom. Varia ...

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

with a panel on either side listing the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

. The arcade forming the southern boundary of the north aisle is in a precarious state, leaning into the north aisle, and is supported by oak buttresses resting on the outside wall. BerryMonument1684MollandDevon

An elaborate mural monument survives on the north wall of the chancel of the church to Rev. Daniel Berry (1609–1654), vicar of Molland and Knowstone, erected in 1684 by his son Admiral Sir John Berry (1635–1689), born at Knowstone.

Lecturer of Molland

After her husband's death Margaret Giffard (d.1743), the widow of John V Courtenay (d.1732), the last of the Courtenays of Molland, instituted a lectureship at Molland-cum-Knowstone parish and endowed it with the great tithes of the manor. Recorded holders of the office include: *Rev. John Coleridge (1719–1781) was ordained a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

in 1749 and in 1750 was ordained a priest and was appointed Master of Hugh Squier's School in South Molton and Lecturer of Molland. In 1760 he moved to Ottery St Mary, where he served as vicar and Master of the King's School. By his wife Anne Bowden (1726–1809) (probable daughter of John Bowden, Mayor of South Molton in 1726), he was the father of the poet

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lak ...

. *Rev. Richard Bawden (1779). In his Episcopal Visitation Return of 1779, the then incumbent, Rev. John Froude, stated that the Rev'd Richard Bawden was a Lecturer at Molland "who has the Great Tithes of the Parish". *Rev. James Gould (1737–1793). A mural monument exists in South Molton parish church to the memory of "Rev. James Gould, MA, Lecturer of Molland and Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford", who died aged 56 on 1 November 1793. *Rev. Joshua Bawden (1850). In 1850 the office of Lecturer was held by Rev. Joshua Bawden, B.A., of South Molton.

West Molland Barton

West Molland Barton was 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 ...

of the manor of Molland Bottreaux, and was thus the residence of the

. It is situated about 1 mile west of the parish church, beyond Champson Barton, and though apparently Georgian has Tudor features incorporated at the back. Later owned by the Throckmortons, by the late 18th century both Great Champson and West Molland Barton were occupied under leases by the Quartly family, famous for having founded on these two properties the breed of Devon cattle.

Molland Lily

Many of the remote hedgerows within the parish contain isolated clumps of '' Lilium pyrenaicum'', which is native to the Pyrenees Mountains and other mountainous regions at a similar latitude. The plant was discovered by the French botanist

Antoine Gouan Antoine Gouan (15 November 1733 – 1 September 1821) was a French naturalist who was a native of Montpellier. Gouan was a pioneer of Linnaean taxonomy in France. He began his studies in Toulouse, later returning to Montpellier, where he studied ...

(d.1821) and was officially recorded in 1875.North Devon Journal, 2 September 2010 "Alison's attempt to solve the mystery of the Molland Lily" The plant is thought by some to have been introduced by members of a religious community. possibly when local monks brought back seeds from Spain in medieval times. Kneelers in the church include the lily as part of their design.

Game bird shooting

The shoots of Molland and West Molland are deemed amongst the 25 best shoots in the world by Alex Brant, and are renowned especially for high birds, pheasants and partridge. Of the whole 6,250 acres of the Molland Estate, the West Molland shoot uses 2,000 acres. The shoot was leased to the shotgun manufacturer Holland & Holland from 1998 to 2005, and let-out since 2005 to Bettws Hall Shooting Estates, a commercial shoot operator based in Wales.

References

Sources

External links

{{authority control Villages in Devon