Woodbury, Devon

Historical Description

Woodbury, a village and a parish in Devonshire. The village stands 2 miles ENE of Woodbury Road station on the L. & S.W.R., and 3 ESE of Topsham, with a post, money order, and telegraph office under Exeter. It was once a market-town, is now a seat of petty sessions, and has an inn, and a fair on 3 May. The parish includes six hamlets and most of Woodbury Salterton ecclesiastical parish, and extends to the river Exe. Acreage, 6720; population of the civil parish, 1644; of the ecclesiastical, 1342. There are a tannery, two malting establishments, a manufactory of nitrophosphate manure, and several fine residences. Nutwell Court was a castle till about the time of Edward IV., and was then converted into a handsome mansion by Lord Dinham. An ancient camp, successively British, Roman, Saxon, and Danish, is on Woodbury Common, and a considerable camp with a park of artillery was established to resist the threatened French invasion in 1798 and 1803. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter; gross value, £200 with residence. Patrons, the Vicars Choral of Exeter. The church is an ancient building in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, and contains some monuments and brasses. There are a Free Church and a chapel of ease.

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

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 Woodbury

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 Woodbury from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Woodbury)

Maps

Online maps of Woodbury 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.