Morwenstow, Devon
Historical Description
Moorwinstow or Morwenstow, a parish in Cornwall, on the coast, at the boundary with Devonshire, 6 miles NNW of Stratton, and 15 from Holsworthy station on the L. & S.W. E. It contains the hamlets of Moorwinstow, Coombe, Crosstown, Eastcot, Gooseham, Woodford, and Woolley; has a post office under Stratton; money order and telegraph office, Kilkhampton. Acreage, 8139; population, 704. The coast abounds in high cliffs and magnificent scenery, and the interior is furrowed by deep and finely wooded hollows. A striking example of curved and contorted stratified rocks occurs at Stanbury Creek. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Truro; value, £300 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Truro. The church stands near a cliff at Moorwinstow hamlet; includes very interesting portions of Norman architecture, particularly the entrance doorway and the arcades; has a S aisle and a chancel of 1300, with subsequent additions and alterations; contains an elaborate screen and costly old monuments of the Kempthornes and Waddons; and was restored in 1884. The churchyard contains some affecting memorials of wrecks on the adjacent shores. There are Wesleyan and Bible Christian chapels. Sir "W. Adams the distinguished oculist was a native. The Rev R. S. Hawker, author of " Echoes from Old Cornwall," was vicar for many years, and effected numerous improvements in the parish. Before he took the living there had not been a resident vicar for more than a hundred years.
Maps
Online maps of Morwenstow 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.