Awliscombe

Awliscombe, Awlescombe, or Owl's Combe, is a parish and village, 2 miles W. by N. of Honiton Railway Station, 9 miles S.E. from Cullompton Railway Station, and 16 miles N.E. from Exeter; its parish, which includes the hamlets of Weston and Wolverston, is in Honiton union, county court district, petty sessional division, Payhembury polling district of North Devon, Exeter archdeaconry, Dunkeswell rural deanery, and Hemyock hundred. It had 581 inhabitants (270 males, 311 females) in 1871, living in 133 houses, on 2569 acres of land, which rises in bold hills on the north. The parish is said to be called Owl's Combe, from the number of owls which breed here and are heard by night. A handsome bridge over the Otter, connecting this and Honiton parishes, was built in 1817. Awliscombe had a grant for a market and fair in 1291, but both have long been obsolete. An estate of about 207 acres, called the manor of Awliscombe, was given, in 1491, by Thomas Calwodeley, Esq., to the Corporation of Exeter for the relief of poor citizens. The rest of the soil belongs to Colonel Drewe, Mrs. Notley, George Neumann, Esq., F. Pearse, Esq., Lady G. Sawley, Mrs. Elliott, the Pring family, and a few smaller freeholders. Mr. Neumann occupies Tracey House.