Sampford Courtenay, Devon
Historical Description
Sampford Courtney, a village and a parish in Devonshire. The village stands in a fine spot, with a station on the L. & S.W.R., 194 miles from London. It has a post office; money order office, North Tawton; telegraph office, at the railway station. The parish contains also the village of Sticklepath and the hamlets of Corscombe and Willy. Acreage, 7884; population, 866. The manor belongs to King's College, Cambridge. A Cistercian monastery was founded at Brightley in 1136 by Richard Fitz-Baldwin, and was removed to Ford. An insurrection occurred in 1549 in consequence of an alteration in the church service, became so formidable as to make siege of Exeter, and was suppressed by Lord Russell at Clist St Mary. The living is a rectory, with the chapelry of Sticklepath annexed, in the diocese of Exeter; net value, £400 with residence. Patron, King's College, Cambridge. The church is Perpendicular, and has a lofty tower. At Sticklepath there are a chapel of ease, a Wesleyan chapel, and a temperance hall with reading-room, which was erected in 1884.
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 | Sampford-Courtenay St. Andrew | |
Hundred | Black Torrington | |
Poor Law union | Oakhampton |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1558.
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 Sampford Courtenay
Churches
Church of England
St. Andrew (parish church)
The church of St. Andrew is an ancient building of stone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles with arcades of five arches, south porch and a lofty embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing a clock and 6 bells, all cast in 1770, by John Pennington, and re-hung in a new oak frame, and the tenor bell re-cast, in 1905: the fine carved oak roof displays two carved bosses, with busts representing an earl and countess of the Courtenay family of the 14th century: two others bear the figure of a boar and the arms of Courtenay: the rood screen was taken down in 1831 and no remains now exist: the church was restored in 1899 at a cost of £2,500, and affords 300 sittings.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Sampford Courtenay from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Sampford-Courtenay (St. Andrew))
Maps
Online maps of Sampford Courtenay 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:
Villages, Hamlets, &c
CorscombeWilley
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.