Membury, Devon
Historical Description
Membury, a village and a parish in Devonshire. The village stands near the river Yarty, and near the boundary with Dorsetshire, 3½ miles N by W of Axminster station on the L. & S.W.R., with a post office under Axminster; money order and telegraph office, Axminster. Acreage of the civil parish, 4394; population, 645; of the ecclesiastical, 3759. The manor belonged to the Courtenays, passed to the Drakes, and now belongs to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Yarty, now a farmhouse, was the seat of the Yarty family; Waterhouse, anciently called Waters, was the seat of the De la Water family. Membury Castle is a well-preserved ancient British camp of about 2 acres on a hill. The living is a perpetual curacy, annexed to the vicarages of Axminster and Kilmington, in the diocese of Exeter; joint value, £600 with residence. The church is partly Early English, partly Decorated, has been restored, comprises nave, transept, and chancel, and contains a fine monument to Sir S. Calmady.
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 | Membury St. John the Baptist | |
| Hundred | Axminster | |
| Poor Law union | Axminster |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
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 Membury
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 Membury from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Membury (St. John the Baptist))
Maps
Online maps of Membury 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.