Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for EXMINSTER

EXMINSTER, a village, a parish, and a hundred in Devon. The village stands on a pleasant spot adjacent to the river Exe and the South Devon railway, 3½ mile SSE of Exeter; and has a station on the railway, a post office under Exeter, and a fair on the first Thursday of May. The parish includes the village, and is in the district of St. Thomas. Acres, 5, 817; of which 370 are water. Real property, £9, 093. Pop., 1, 781. Houses, 231. The manor belonged to the Courtenays, Earls of Devon; and had formerly a very large manor-house, in which Archbishop Courtenay was born. The lords of the manor now are the Earl of Devon and Sir Lawrence Palk, Bart. The principal residences are Peamore and Kenbury; the seats of respectively the Kekewiches and the Stoweys. The Devon county lunatic asylum stands here on a plot of 50 acres; occupies an elevated position, on a declivity 140 feet above the surrounding level; was opened in 1846; and cost, inclusive of the land, £65, 000. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter. Value, 300.* Patrons, the Governors of Crediton Church Corporation Trust. The church is ancient; consists of nave, chancel, and S aisle, with western tower; and contains an ancient carved oak screen, and several handsome monuments. There is a Wesleyan chapel. An endowed school has £30; and other charities £43. The hundred contains seventeen parishes. Acres, 48, 250. Pop. in 1851, 19, 698: in 1861, 20, 389. Houses, 3, 995.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a parish, and a hundred"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Exminster AP/CP       Exminster Hundred       Devon AncC
Place: Exminster

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