Witheridge Hundred

331 WITHERIDGE HUNDRED Is a fertil~ district of hill and valley, of an n1.·egular figure, averag ing about fifteen miles in length and nine in breadth, in the Northern Division of Devon, Archdeaconry of Barnstaple, and Deaneries of South :Molton and Chulmleigh, except Templeton parish, which is in the Arcbdeaconry of Exeter, and Deanery of Tiverton. It extends from 3 to about 18 miles westward from Ti verton, and to the vicinity of South Molton, and to within about four miles of the boundary of Somerset. It is watered by the small rivers ~Iole, Little Dart, Sturcombe, and Taw, and many tributary streams ; and rises into a bold range of hills on the east and north, but has ex ten si ve tracts of 1ich corn lands and pastures in the valleys. The following enumeration of its 22 parishes shews their territm·ial extent, and their population in 1841. Parishes. Acres. Pop. Parishe&. Acres. Pop. Bishop's Nympton •• 9579 •• 1325 Rose-Ash •••••••••• 4988 • • 541 Cheldon •••••.•••••• 1100 • , 90 Stoodleigh • • • • • • 513 * 5000 Chulmleigh •••••••• 8815 •• 164-7 *Highley exp. • • • • • • 24: Crea.ccmbe •••••••••• 1036 • • 58 *Templeton ••••••.• 1900 • • 275 •Cruwys l\101·chnrd •• 5770 • • 670 §Thelbridge •••••••• 2249 • • 267 King's Nympton •••• 5539 •.• 777 §\Vashford Pyne •••• 1600 • • 197 Ma.t·ia.nsleigb •••••••• 1740 • • 338 Witberidge •••••••• 9048 •• 1399 Mesha.w •••••••••••• 177 :J • • 305 § Woolfardisworthy •• 1815 • • 220 •Oa.kford •••••••••. 5251 • • 641 \Vorlington East •••. 2363 • • 287 §Puddington •••••••• 1361 • • 212 Worlington West •••• 2683 • • 218 Rackenford •••••••• 3940 ·•• 562 Boma.nsleigh •••••••• 2491 • • 239 To"al. ••••••••• 80,034: 10,80Ci &"" UNIONS. Those marked thus • are in Tiverton Union, § in Credi.· ton U11ion., and the others in South-Molton Uuion. -* Those marked thus • are in Collumpton, and all the others in 8out11, Molton Petty Sessional Division. BISHOP'S NYl\IPTON, a large village, on a pleasant declivity, 3 miles E.S.E. of South Molton, has in its pru.ish 1325 inhabitants, and 9579 acres of land, skirted on the west by the river Mole, and intersected by several small tributary streams. This large parish is hilly and fertile, and comprises many scattered fa1m houses, and the hamlets of Ash-Mill, 1! mile E.; Newton, 1 mile N.; and Bishop's Mill, or Bish Mill, 1! mile S.E. of the village. A cattlefairis held here on the Wednesday before the 25th ofOctober. The manor has belonged from an early period to the Bishops of Exeter, and the bishop holds yearly a court leet and baron, of which. F1·edk. Sanders, Esq., is steward. The soil is held by numemus fi·ee and copy holders, the largest of whom are the Rev. W. Karslake, Rev. W. Thorne, Sir R. G. Throgmorton, Rev. P. John son, H. Bawden, Esq.• Rev. J. Bawden, Rd. Preston, Esq., and Messrs. S. W. Yeo, T. Loveband, S. Passmore, and Alex. Fisher. Mole Mills, formerly employed as a woollen factory, are now unoccupied. The RC'IJ. Thomas Baker, an eminent mathematician, and author of " The Geomeb·ical Key," was several years vicar here, a.nd died in 1689. John Loosemore, who built the fine organ in Exeter Cathedral, was .

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