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Sampford-Courtenay (St. Andrew)

SAMPFORD-COURTENAY (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Oakhampton, hundred of Black Torrington, Black Torrington and Shebbear, and N. divisions of Devon, 5¼ miles (N. E. by N.) from Oakhampton; containing 1239 inhabitants. It comprises by computation 6082 acres, of which 3160 are arable, 790 pasture and orchard, 100 wood, and about 2000 moor chiefly covered with furze. The surface is undulated; the low grounds are watered by the river Taw, which forms the south-western boundary of the parish, and by several rivulets. The Forest of Dartmoor, on the south, is the most interesting feature in the scenery. The soil of the lands is partly a red loam, alternated with stiff clay. At Sticklepath, which in the reign of Henry V. was a distinct parish, is a chapel in which divine service is occasionally performed; a copper-mine was opened in that vicinity some years since, but the produce was insufficient to remunerate the adventurers. At Brightley was a monastery of Cistercians, founded in 1136 by Richard Fitz-Baldwin de Brioniis, Baron of Oakhampton, and which was afterwards removed to Ford; the ruins of a chapel, supposed to have belonged to it, are still remaining. A serious commotion broke out in the parish in 1549, in consequence of some alteration in the church service. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £47. 12. 1.; net income, £510; patrons, the Provost and Fellows of King's College, Cambridge. The church is an ancient structure with a lofty tower, in the later English style.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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