Stoke-Rivers (St. Bartholomew)
STOKE-RIVERS (St. Bartholomew), a parish, in the union of Barnstaple, hundred of Sherwill, Braunton and N. divisions of Devon, 5 miles (E. by N.) from Barnstaple; containing 299 inhabitants, and comprising by computation 2300 acres. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £14.14.7., and in the patronage of the Rev. Henry Hiern, incumbent: the tithes have been commuted for £245; there is a glebehouse, and the glebe contains about 63 acres, 13 of which are oak coppice. The church, exclusive of the tower, was rebuilt in 1831. An ancient earthwork in a wood here is supposed to have formed part of a city of the Britons; it measures 84 yards in length, and 60 in breadth, and has a deep ditch along three of its sides. In the parish is also a circular encampment called Burah Castle, 138 yards in diameter, situated on a very high hill, and commanding beautiful views.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.