Hemyock, Devon

Historical Description

Hemyock (popularly Hemmick), a village, a parish, and a hundred in Devonshire. The village stands near the river Culm, in a picturesque valley near the boundary with Somerset, and has a station on the G.W.R., 182 miles from London. It was known to the Saxons as Hannock. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Cullompton. The parish contains also the hamlet of Culm Davy. Acreage, 5901; population of the civil parish, 877; of the ecclesiastical, 766. The manor belonged at Domesday to the Crown. A moated Norman castle here belonged, from the Conquest till the time of Edward I., to the Hidons, passed to the Dinhams, the Pophams, and the Leighs, was garrisoned and used as a prison by the Parliamentarians against Charles I., suffered capture by the Royalists under Lord Poulett in 1642, appears to have been dismantled some years afterwards by Cromwell, and is now represented by an entrance gateway and portions of four towers. A large cairn, called Simon's Barrow, is on the N verge of the parish. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Exeter; value, £330 with residence. The church is ancient, was enlarged and partly rebuilt in 1847, consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with embattled low tower, and contains an Early Decorated English font There are a chapel of ease at Culm Davy, and Baptist and Wesleyan chapels.

Administration

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

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

Church Records

The Register of Baptisms, Marriages & Burials of the Parish of Hemyock, Devon, 1635-1837, is available on CD-ROM.

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 Hemyock

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Hemyock from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Hemyock (St. Mary))
• History, Gazetteer and Directory of Devon, by William White, 2nd edition, 1878-9

Maps

Online maps of Hemyock 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:

• Western Times
• Exeter and Plymouth Gazette
• Western Morning News
• North Devon Journal
• Exeter Flying Post

Villages, Hamlets, &c

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.