Dunkeswell
Dunkeswell is a parish and small village in a picturesque valley, near the source of a rivulet, 6 miles N.N.W. of Honiton, and is in Honiton union, county court district, and petty sessional division, Hemyock polling district of North Devon, Hemyock hundred, Exeter archdeaconry, and Dunkeswell rural deanery. It had 428 inhabitants (224 males, 204 females) in 1871, living in 90 houses, on 5160 acres of land. The parish is boldly diversified with hill and dale, and includes many hundreds of acres of moor and waste, 100 of which are set apart for the inhabitants to cut turf from. Captain J.K. Simcoe, R.N., is lord of the manor, and owner of a great part of the soil. He has a pleasant seat at the south end of the parish called Wolford Lodge, 4 miles N.N.W. of Honiton. This mansion was the seat of the late General Simcoe, and near it there was anciently a church, called Wolfer Church, which was granted by King John to DUNKESWELL ABBEY, which was founded at the north end of the parish, by William Lord Brewer, in 1201, for Cistercian monks, who were endowed with the manor and other lands, valued at the dissolution at £294 18s. 6d. per annum. There are still some slight remains of the Abbey, and on its site, a handsome church has been erected. (See Dunkeswell Abbey ecclesiastical district, below.) DUNKESWELL PARISH CHURCH (St. Nicholas) is in the centre of the parish, about 2 miles south of the new Abbey Church. It was rebuilt in 1817, and again about 1868. The church is a cruciform structure with nave, chancel, short transepts, and north and south aisles. The roof is of open wood work, stained, as are also the pews. The church was entirely rebuilt and enlarged in 1868. The tower also rebuilt, and two additional bells put up, making now five in all. The font is a circular one (Norman), and is carved over its whole surface with figures, now rather indistinct. The living is a vicarage, valued at £60 a year, without residence, in the patronage of Mr. and Mrs. Alford, and incumbency of the Rev. William Balmain. The WESLEYANS have a neat chapel here. A PARISH SCHOOL, to accommodate 64 children, was built three years ago by subscription and a voluntary rate, at a total cost of £200. Several charities, left in the 17th century, are now lost.
Transcribed from History, Gazetteer and Directory of Devon, by William White, 2nd edition, 1878-9