Fremington, Devon
Historical Description
Fremington, a village and a parish in Devonshire. The village stands on the estuary of the Taw, 3 miles W of Barnstaple, and has a station on the L. & S.W.R. 214 miles from London. It was known in the time of the Saxons as Freemanton, was a borough in the time of Edward III., sending members to parliament. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Barnstaple. A small creek called Fremington Pill is an anchoring-place of vessels trading with Barnstaple, and a discharging place of coal vessels. The parish contains also the village of Bickington, and is in the rural deanery of Barnstaple. Acreage, 6135; population, 1195. The manor belonged anciently to the Traceys, barons of Barnstaple. Fremington House is a handsome mansion amid extensive grounds, with a fine collection of exotics. Bickington Lodge, Ellerslie, and Brynsworthy also are principal residences. Building stone and potters' clay occur, and a salmon fishery is carried on. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter; value, £400 with residence. The church is ancient, has a square turreted tower with six bells, and is in good order. There are Congregational and Wesleyan chapels at Bickington and Fremnyte.
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 | Fremington St. Peter | |
| Hundred | Fremington | |
| Poor Law union | Barnstaple |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register of baptisms and burials dates from the year 1602; marriages, 1708.
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 Fremington
Churches
Church of England
St. Peter (parish church)
The parish church of St. Peter is a building of stone of mixed styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, north porch and an embattled tower on the north side, containing a clock and 6 bells, of which the 5th, a good bell, has a legend in Old English characters; the 6th, the words AVE MARIA, in Lombardic letters; the 3rd and 4th are dated respectively 1702 and 1664, and the 1st and 2nd were cast in commemoration of the Jubilee of Queen Victoria; there are many monuments and four memorial windows: various alterations were affected in 1845, in the course of which the fine screen was removed, and is now lost: the church was thoroughly restored under the superintendance of Sir George Gilbert Scott R.A. and reopened June 11th 1867: there are 492 sittings.
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Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Fremington from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Fremington (St. Peter))
Maps
Online maps of Fremington 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.