FREMINGTON IN WHITE'S DIRECTORY OF 1878 |
Fremington parish includes the villages of Bickington and Loveacott, is in the Barnstaple Union, county court district, archdeaconry and rural deanery, Braunton petty sessional division, Barnstaple polling district of North Devon and gives its name to a Hundred. It had 1324 inhabitants (637 males, 687 females) in 1871, comprised in 274 families, living in 273 houses, on 6810 acres of land.
Fremington village is pleasantly situated on an acclivity of the estuary of the Taw, 3 miles W of Barnstaple, and was anciently a borough sending members to Parliament in the reign of Edward I. In 1547 it was considered a part of Instow parish; in the reign of Edward the Confessor it belonged to Tawstock parish. In Domesday Book, Fremington is called Freemantone or Freeman's Town. Merchant vessels trading with Barnstaple usually anchor in the small creek of the Taw estuary called Fremington Pill, or Pen-hill; and coal vessels discharge cargoes there. The Bideford and Barnstaple railway extension, now belonging to the South Western Railway, was opened in 1855, and has a station in the Creek, and large quantities of coal are thus sent to many parts of the country. The parish was at an early period celebrated for its pottery manufacture, which still continued on a small scale.
About 1682 the manor was purchased by Richard Ackland Esq., whose grand-daughter brought it in marriage to William Barbor, Esq. It now belongs to W. A. Yeo Esq., whose father inherited it from the Barbor family. Bickington Lodge, standing in pleasant grounds of about 4 acres, is the seat and property of Lieut. J B Irving, who purchased it in 1877 and restored it at great expense. |
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Fremington House, also known as Fremington Manor, in 2004 © Richard J. Brine |
The Church (St. Peter) dates from the 14th century and was enlarged and repaired in 1813 and entirely restored in 1866 under the superintendence of Sir Gilbert Scott, RA at a cost of £1517. The ugly pillars which divided the nave from the aisle were replaced by new columns and arches with carved capitals. The reredos is of alabaster and Caen stone, with a marble cross beautifully carved by Poole of Westminster, and was the gift of Mrs. Yeo. On the removing the floor, the upper portion of a very handsome pulpit was discovered, much mutilated; but it has been repaired and now forms part of the pulpit The oak lectern was presented by Miss L. G. Wray. The seats are o pen and are of pitch pine. The Registers are in good condition and date from 1602. The living is a vicarage in the patronage of the trustees of Mrs. T. W. Pigot and incumbency of the Rev. John Taylor Pigot, MA, Rural Dean of Barnstaple. At the time of the restoration of the church, a handsome lych gate was erected at a cost of £38.
The Church-School at Bickington was erected of brick with stone dressing in 1870 at a cost of £600. Divine Service is h eld in the room on Sunday afternoons. The school at Fremington is attended by some 40 children. The Wesleyans have chapels in Fremington Village and in the hamlet of Hunnacott, and the Baptists at Loveacott.
Post Office is at Mr. Edward Withecombe's. Letters are despatched at 7.25 pm daily. Barnstaple is the nearest Money Order Office; the Telegraph Office is at the Station. |
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The Lych Gate at St. Peter's Church, Fremington © Richard J. Brine |
Adams, Mr. John, Spark Villa, Bickington Adams, William, farmer, Hunnacott Andrews, John, farmer & corn miller, Beards Anthony, Mr. Richard, Bickington Babbage, John, farmer, Lyddacott Bale, James, blacksmith, Bickington Bartlett, John, head gardener Bennett, William, grocer & coal dealer, Bickington Bird, Mrs. Maria, Elmfield House, Bickington Blackmore, Miss Eliza, Bickington Braliey, James, farmer, Collacott Braund, Mrs. Elizabeth, grocer, baker, draper Braund, John, carpenter Britton, Walter, farmer, Loveacott Green Cann, John, farmer, Ledgaton Cann, Robert, farmer Carter, John, farmer, Nightacott Chichester, Mr. Newton, Ellerslie Codd, Francis, shopkeeper, Bickington Collins. Mr. Richard James, The Terrace, Bickington Copp, Henry, farmer, Woodland Copp, Thomas, farmer, Woodland Courtenay, George, cattle dealer & farmer, Bickington Crocker, Mr. Anthony Loveband, Muddlebridge House Crocker, Robert farmer, Pen Hill Dennis, James, farmer, Bagley Hall, Bickington Dennis, John, farmer, Kennacott Dennis, John Edmund, farmer, Kennacott Dennis, Mrs. Mary Ann, The Terrace, Bickington Down, James, carpenter Dullam, John, farmer, Lower Yelland Dullam, John, farmer, West Yelland Edwards, Samuel, grocer, baker, builder Fishley, Edwin Beer, Fremington Pottery Gayton, William, carpenter & wheelwright, Loveacott Gear, John, Pywell Gibbins, Samuel, tailor & shopkeeper Gould, John, blacksmith, Bickington Gregory, Samuel, tailor & shopkeeper Harris, James, blacksmith, Bickington Harris, John Vivian, master mariner, Bickington Harris, Samuel, grocer, Bickington Hobbs, William, cart owner, Bickington Holland, William, farmer, Yelland Huxtable, George, bootmaker Huxtable, John, farmer, Bickington Huxtable, Richard, bootmaker Irving, Lieutenant John Beaufin, Bickington Lodge Isaac Thomas, carpenter Kellow, Mark, farmer, Bickington Lee, Mrs. Ann, Bickington Ley, Joseph, farmer Lovell, Major Robert Hayes, Brookfield McGuire, William shopkeeper May, Thomas, land agent, surveyor & farmer, Pen Hill Moule, Robert, butcher (shop at Barnstaple) Pedler, Mrs. Hannah Sprague, National School mistress, Bickington Pedler, William Henry, National School master, The Terrace, Bickington Pigot, Rev. John Tayleur, MA, Vicar and Rural Dean, The Vicarage Quick, William, tailor and draper, Bickington Richards, Thomas, farmer, Woodland Ridge, Robert, beer house & carpenter, Bickington Ridge, Robert, carpenter & shopkeeper, Bickington Ridge, William, carpenter, Bickington Robins, Walter, farmer, Yelland Shapland, Mr. John Skinner, Robert, farmer, Knowle Hill Sloley, Mrs. Betsey, beer house Sloley, William, farmer, Cumbrew Smallcom, Samuel, farmer, assistant overseer, Nightacott Smyth, Mrs. Harriet, The Terrace, Bickington Squire, Thomas, bootmaker, Loveacott Symons, William, victualler, New Inn Thorne, John, gardener, Bickington Thorne, John, grocer, Bickington Tucker, Richard, mason Vellacott, John Ashford, farmer, Pen Hill Vellacott, William, farrier, Bickington West, Mrs. Elizabeth, schoolmistress West, John, mason White, George, farmer, Rookabear White, John, blacksmith, Bickington Withecombe, Edward, blacksmith & postmaster
Carrier: Mrs. Elizabeth Parish to Barnstaple and Bideford daily. |
© M.E. Brine. This page last updated
31 July, 2009
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