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Heanton Punchardon, Devon

Historical Description

Heanton Punchardon, a village and a parish in Devonshire. The village stands near the mouth of the river Taw, 4½ miles NNW of Barnstaple, with a station at Wrafton on the G.W.R. It has a post office under Barnstaple; money order and telegraph office, Braunton. The parish contains also the hamlets of Chivenor, Wrafton, and West Ashford. Area, 2442 acres; population, 449. Robert de Puncharden, who came over with William the Conqueror, received the manor of Heanton at the hands of Baldwin the Sheriff. Robert's descendants were lords of Heaton Punchardon till the end of the 13th century, when Joan, the heiress, married a Barrett, whose descendants were possessed of Heanton Manor down to recent times. The Williams family are lords of the manor. Heanton Court was formerly the seat of the Punchardon family, and is now a farmhouse. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Exeter; gross value, £370 with residence. The church is Early English, and good; comprises nave, aisle, and chancel, with a lofty tower; and has a handsome carved screen and a fine canopied tomb of one of the Coffin family. The building was well restored in 1889.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyDevon 
Ecclesiastical parishHeanton-Puncharden St. Augustine 
HundredBraunton 
Poor Law unionBarnstaple 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Church Records

The parish register dates from the year 1584.

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 Heanton Punchardon


Churches

Church of England

St. Augustine (parish church)

The parish church of St. Augustine is an ancient building of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing 6 bells, cast by Taylor, of Oxford, but undated: in the church are several monuments to the ancient family of Bassett: in the chancel is a canopied altar-tomb, with feathered arch; in the spandrils are the inter-twined letters R. C. and above the cornice are the arms of the Coffin family, supported by an angel; the inscription is lost, but the tomb is assumed to commemorate Richard Coffin esq. ob. 16th century, and his wife, a daughter of Sir Richard Chudleigh kt.: a tablet was erected in 1891, by the rector and fellows of Exeter College, Oxford, to the Rev. G. Hakewill, rector of this parish, archdeacon of Surrey and chaplain to Prince Charles, son of James I. ob. 1649, aged 72: the church was restored in 1889-90: the tower was restored and the bells rehung, at the cost of Sir W. Williams bart.; there is a stained window at the east end: a brass tablet set in oak was erected by Matilda Lady Williams, to her husband, Sir William Robert Williams (3rd bart.) and three sons: the church seats 230.

St.St.


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Heanton Punchardon from the following:


Maps

Online maps of Heanton Punchardon are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers covering Devon online:


Villages, Hamlets, &c

Chivenor

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.

DistrictNorth Devon
CountyDevon
RegionSouth West
CountryEngland
Postal districtEX31
Post TownBarnstaple

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