Halwell and Moreleigh

The Old Inn at Halwell.
The village of Morleigh.

Halwell and Moreleigh is a civil parish in Devon, England. It comprises the villages of Halwell and Morleigh.

History

The civil parish was formed in 1988 by the amalgamation of the former separate civil parishes of Halwell and Moreleigh.

Halwell

During the Saxon era Halwell was one of the four burhs, or fortified settlements, established in Devon by King Alfred the Great (d.899), King of Wessex from 871 to 899, to defend against invasion by Vikings.[1] At that time the other three were Exeter, Pilton (near Barnstaple) and Lydford.[2] Halwell had its own mint and issued its own coinage. According to the Burghal Hidage (an early 10th Century document describing all burhs then functioning), Halwell's town wall was 1,237 feet long and the garrison consisted of 300 men who could be drawn from the surrounding district in the event of an invasion. However by the close of the 11th century[3] its status as a burh had been transferred to Totnes, 5 miles to the north and situated on the River Dart, probably because it was better placed for trade at a time when the Viking threat had diminished, after which the significance of Halwell greatly decreased. The Iron Age fort of Halwell Camp lies to the south of the village of Halwell.[4]


Moreleigh

The manor of Moreleigh is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Morlei, the 16th of the 22 Devonshire holdings of Alfred the Breton, [5] one of the Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of King William the Conqueror. In the 13th century the courthouse of Stanborough Hundred was situated above the New Inn. The Church of All Saints in Moreleigh had been built by 1239.

Description

Halwell and Moreleigh comprises the villages of Halwell and Morleigh (also spelled Moreleigh), approximately ½ mile apart. The parish has approximately 650 residents.[6]

Location

Halwell and Moreleigh is situated in the South Hams local government district in Devon, England. It lies 5 miles (8 km) south of Totnes, 6 miles (11 km) west of Dartmouth and 5 miles north of Kingsbridge.[6]

Halwell and Moreleigh is surrounded, starting north and following the clock, by the parishes of Harberton, Ashprington, Cornworthy, Blackawton, East Allington, Woodleigh and Diptford.[7]

Notes

  1. ↑ Hoskins, W.G., A New Survey of England: Devon, London, 1959 (first published 1954), p.104
  2. ↑ Hoskins, p.104
  3. ↑ Hoskins, p.104 "within a century" of the 10th century
  4. ↑ http://www.halwellmoreleigh.co.uk/page27.html. "Village history". Halwell and Moreleigh Community website. Retrieved 12 - 5 - 2014.
  5. ↑ Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, Part 2 (Notes), Chapter 39
  6. 1 2 http://www.halwellmoreleigh.co.uk/. "Welcome to the Halwell & Moreleigh Community Web Site, the friendly villages of the South Hams." Halwell & Moreleigh Community Web Site. Retrieved 12 - 5 - 2014.
  7. ↑ "Map of Devon Parishes" (PDF). Devon County Council. Retrieved 2014-05-11.

Coordinates: 50°22′N 3°43′W / 50.37°N 3.71°W / 50.37; -3.71

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.