Meshaw, Devon
Historical Description
Meshaw, a parish, with a village, in Devonshire, 5 miles. SE by S of South Molton, and 9 NE of Eggesford station on the L. & S.W.R. It has a post and money order office under South Molton; telegraph office, Whiteridge. Acreage, 2095; population of the civil parish, 169; of the ecclesiastical, 158. The manor is divided. Meshaw House, or Barton, was anciently the seat of the Courtenays, and is now a farmhouse. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Exeter; gross value, £220 with residence. The church was rebuilt in 1838, retains the tower of a previous edifice of 1691, consists of nave and chancel, and contains a memorial window to T. H. Karslake, who fell at Sebastopol, and a monument of the Courtenays. There is a Bible Christian chapel.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Devon | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Meshaw St. John the Baptist | |
Hundred | Witheridge | |
Poor Law union | South Molton |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1581.
Findmypast, in association with the South West Heritage Trust, Parochial Church Council, and Devon Family History Society have the Baptisms, Banns, Marriages, and Burials online for Meshaw
Churches
Church of England
St. John the Baptist (parish church)
The church of St. John the Baptist, rebuilt in 1838, is an edifice of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 4 bells: in the church is a monument to James Courtenay esq. (dated 1683), in memory of whom the tower was rebuilt in 1691: the chancel has been enlarged and a stained east window inserted as a memorial to the Rev. William Heberden Karslake, rector from 1832, and prebendary of Exeter: the west window is a memorial to Mrs. W. H Karslake: the porch was built and the bells rehung at the expense of the late Miss Preston, lady of the manor, in 1879, and the church was restored during the period 1878-84, at a cost of £742; in 1906 it was further restored and new windows placed in the nave at a cost of £200: in 1909 a new organ was added at a cost of £200: there are 150 sittings.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Meshaw from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Meshaw, or Meshet (St. John the Baptist))
Maps
Online maps of Meshaw are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers covering Devon online:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of the County of Devon in the year 1564, with additions from the earlier visitation of 1531, is online.
The Visitations of the County of Devon, comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564, & 1620, with additions by Lieutant-Colonel J.L. Vivian, published for the author by Henry S. Eland, Exeter 1895 is online.