Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for MOLTON (SOUTH)

MOLTON (SOUTH), a town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred, in Devon. The town stands on rising-ground, on the right bank of the river Mole, 8¼ miles NNE of South Molton-Road r. station, and 11½ ESE of Barnstaple. Its name is taken from the Mole, but was anciently written Sew-Molton. The manor, prior to the Norman conquest, belonged to the Crown; was held, in the time of Edward I., by Lord Martyn, under the Earl of Gloucester, by the service of providing a man with a bow and three arrows to attend the Earl while hunting in the neighbourhood; passed to Lord Audleigh; and reverted, in the time of Richard II., to the Crown. The town sent members to parliament once in the time of Edward I., but never sent any again. It was incorporated in 1590; got a renewal of charter in 1684; and, under the municipal reform act, is governed by a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors. It consists of several streets, with well-paved carriage-ways, and flagged footpaths; enjoys a plentiful supply of water from public conduits; and presents a clean and pleasant appearance. A one-arched bridge crosses the river, and was erected after the destruction of an old one by a flood in Oct. 1841. The guild hall stands in the Square; is a commodious building; and is used for municipal business, and for petty sessions, quarter sessions, and county courts. The borough jail stands in East-street, and has capacity for 4 male and 4 female prisoners. The market-hall was built in 1810; and the upper part of it became appropriated to the mechanics' institute, established in 1856, and including a reading-room and a library. A large block of buildings, comprising market-house, assembly-rooms, and other apartments, was erected in 1864, under the superintendence of Mr. Cross of Exeter. The freemasons' hall, in New-road, was built in 1846, at a cost of about £450. The parish church is later English; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with massive pinnacled tower; was restored in 1865, at a cost of about £3,000; and contains a richly-carved stone pulpit, ands many handsome monuments. There are chapels for Independents, Baptists, Wesleyans, Bible Christians, Plymouth Brethren, and Latter Day Saints. The free school was founded by Hugh Squier, Esq., has an endowed income of £40, and had Judge Buller for a pupil. The blue-coat school was founded in 1711, and has an endowed income of £115. The national school, for boys and girls, is in Back-lane, and has an attendance of about 100. The workhouse was erected about 1838; and, at the census of 1861, had 73 inmates. The total of endowed charities is about £630. The town has a head post office, designated South Molton, North Devon, a banking office, and two chief inns; is a polling-place and the place of election for North Devon; and figured as a great stage on the main road from Somerset to Barnstaple in the old coaching days, but has suffered some decline of importance since the formation of railways. A general weekly market is held on Saturday; small markets, for meat, are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays; great markets are held on the Saturday after 123 Feb. and 25 March, and the Saturday before 23 April, 1 Aug., 10 Oct., and 12 Dec.; and fairs are held on the Wednesday before 22 June, and the Wednesday after 26 Aug. The manufacture of woollens is carried on in two establishments; and there are tanneries in the town, and limestone and flagstone works in the near neighbourhood. Samuel Badcock, a learned dissenting minister, originally a butcher, was a native. The town and the parish are regarded as conterminate. Acres, 6,264. Real property, £15,414; of which £60 are in quarries, and £110 in gas-works. Pop. in 1851,4,482; in 1861,3,830. Houses, 867. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £239.* Patrons, the Dean and Canons of Windsor. A chapel of ease, rebuilt in 1776, is at Honiton-Barton.

The sub-district contains also the parishes of Twitchen, North Molton, Charles, East Buckland, West Buckland, Filleigh, and Chittlehamlpton. Acres, 39,877. Pop., 8,698. Houses, 1,862.—The district comprehends also the sub-district of Chulmleigh, containing the parishes of Chulmleigh, Cheldon, West Worlington, East Worlington, Burrington, Warkleigh, Satterleigh, Meshaw, Romansleigh, Kings-Nympton, and George-Nympton; and the sub-district of Witheridge, containing the parishes of Witheridge, Rackenford, Creacombe, Knowstone, Rose-Ash, Mariansleigh, Bishops-Nympton, Molland, West Anstey, and East Anstey. Acres of the district, 123,233. Poor rates in 1863, £8,646. Pop. in 1851, 20,566; in 1861,19,209. Houses, 3,955. Marriages in 1863,134; births, 611,-of which 42 were illegitimate; deaths, 324,-of which 101 were at ages under 5 years, and 10 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60,1,325; births, 6,077; deaths, 3,523. The places of worship, in 1851, were 31 of the Church of England, with 8,840 sittings; 7 of Independents, with 1,260 s.; 3 of Baptists, with 300 s.; 14 of Wesleyans, with 1,792 s.; 15 of Bible Christians, with 1,284 s.; 3 of Brethren, with 400 s.; 1 undefined, with 17 attendants; and 1 of Latter Day Saints, with 50 at. The schools were 31 public day-schools, with 1,758 scholars; 37 private day-schools, with 735 s.; 39 Sunday schools, with 2,678 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 18 s.-The hundred contains fourteen parishes. Acres, 63.310. Pop. in 1851,9,770; in 1861,9,092. Houses, 1,844.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: South Molton CP/AP       South Molton Hundred       South Molton SubD       South Molton RegD/PLU       Devon AncC
Place names: MOLTON     |     MOLTON SOUTH     |     SEW MOLTON     |     SOUTH MOLTON
Place: South Molton

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