Exbourne, Devon
Historical Description
Exbourne, a village and a parish in Devonshire. The village stands near the river Okenent, 4 miles E by S of Hatherleigh, and 4 W of North Tawton station on the L. & S.W.R., and has a post and money order office of the name of Exbonrne (R.S.O.) under Crediton; telegraph office, Hatherleigh. The parish comprises 2315 acres; population, 355. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Exeter; net value, £320 with residence. The church is old but good; and consists of nave, chancel, a south aisle and south porch, and an elegant square tower. The church was well restored in 1886. 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 | Exbourne St. Mary | |
Hundred | Black Torrington | |
Poor Law union | Oakhampton |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1540, and there are Churchwardens' books dating from the early part of the reign of Charles II.
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 Exbourne
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary Blessed Virgin (parish church)

The church of St. Mary is an ancient building of granite in the Early English and Decorated styles, consisting of chancel, nave, south aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower, of Perpendicular date, with crocketed pinnacles and containing 5 bells: the communion plate includes an ancient silver chalice, dated 1577: the ancient screen dating from 1430, was removed in or about 1835, and after having long lain hidden and neglected, was restored and replaced in 1899: in 1890 a handsome communion table was made of old oak from the former rectory buildings; two memorial windows have been inserted, one presented in 1886 by the late John Creemer Clarke esq. J.P. of Waste Court, Abingdon, and M.P. for that borough 1874-85, as a memorial to his father and mother, Robert Clarke, of St. Giles'-in-the-Wood, d. 7 February, 1864, and Graciana (Creemer), his wife; his brother Edwin, d. 8 December, 1848, and Sister Elizabeth, d. 10 May, 1849: the other, placed in 1887, is a memorial to Lieut. Herbert Laing, who died at Mandalay, Burmah, in 1886: there are mural tablets to Simon and Mary Westlake, and to a member of the Tattershall family, of Exbourne; the church was partially restored, and the chancel almost entirely rebuilt in 1886-8, at a cost of £1,050: in 1901 the church was generally reseated in oak, in part at the cost of Miss Hole, in memory of her mother, the late Mrs. Frances Emily Hole, of Hole; the south aisle was reseated in 1909; in 1905 the street walls were removed and a new parapet wall and oak gates erected: the church affords about 200 sittings; the churchyard was planted and laid out in 1886-7.
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Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Exbourne from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Exbourne (St. Mary))
Maps
Online maps of Exbourne 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.