Place:Kentisbeare, Devon, England

Historically Kentisbeare (#18 on map) was in the Hayridge Hundred of Devon, England. From 1894 until 1974 the parish was in the Tiverton Rural District and since 1974 local administration is dealt with by the Mid Devon District. Its population in the UK census of 2011 was 921. The parish to the west is Cullompton (#14). A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Kentisbeare from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1871-72: "KENTISBEARE, a parish in Tiverton [registration] district, Devon; near the river Culme and the Bristol and Exeter railway, 3½ miles NE by E of Collumpton. It has a post office under Collumpton, and a fair on Whit-Wednesday. Acres: 3,720. Real property: £6,162. Population: 1,068. Houses: 197. The property is divided among a few. The manor belongs to the Earl of Egremont. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Exeter. Value: £486. Patron: the Earl of Egremont. The church is of the 14th century; comprises nave, chancel, and S aisle, with W pinnacled tower; and contains a finely carved screen, and monuments of the Walronds, the Eveleighs, and the Whitings. There are a Baptist chapel, and charities £33."

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Descent of the manor

In the 17th century the manor of Kentisbeare was owned by Sir John Wyndham (1558–1645) of Orchard Wyndham in Watchet, Somerset. In 1810 it was owned by his descendant, Hon. Percy Charles Wyndham (1757-1833), MP, 2nd son of Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont, who also owned the manor of Blackborough (also in Kentisbeare parish) where in 1838 George Wyndham, 4th Earl of Egremont (d.1845) built a palatial villa, known as Blackborough House (see below). The 4th Earl built Kentisbeare House in 1841 for his relative, the rector of Kentisbeare at the time.

Historic estates

Wood

The estate of Wood was held by the Whiting family between the reigns of King Edward III (1327-1377) and King Henry VIII (1509-1547). The last in the male line was John Whitinge (d.1529), a member of the Merchant Venturers, whose elaborately panelled chest tomb survives in the chapel at the east end of the south aisle of Kentisbeare Church. The two monumental brasses which were originally affixed to the monument are now lost, but his armorials survive sculpted on the wooden screen. John Whiting left four daughters and co-heiresses:

• Whiting daughter, married to a FitzJames.
• Agnes Whiting, 2nd daughter, who married Henry I Walrond (d.1550), of Bradfield, Uffculme. The estate of Wood passed to the Walrond family, and appears to have been used as a secondary residence and dower house as several members of the family were subsequently buried in Kentisbeare Church.
• Whiting daughter married to an Ashford.
• Whiting daughter married to a Keynes.

In 1810 Wood belonged to Samuel Southwood, Esq.

Aller or Aulers

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Aller is a village in the civil parish of Kentisbeare in the historic county of Devon, England. Aller is situated about 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Cullompton.

Historically, it has been known by other names, such as Aulers during the 15th century. Alre, Alra, Avra, and Avvra have all been used since the 10th century.

Blackborough

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Blackborough is a hamlet and former manor in the parish of Kentisbeare, Devon, England. It is situated within the Mid Devon District. The nearest substantial town is Cullompton, approximately 4.7 miles (7.6 km) to the southwest. Within Blackborough are situated the large mansion of Blackborough House also notable are Hayne Farm and the Old Smithy. The former neo-Gothic Early English style parish church of All Saints, built in 1838 by George Wyndham, 4th Earl of Egremont, lord of the manor,( who also built Blackborough House) was demolished in the 1990s, having become structurally unsafe. The churchyard however is still maintained and the ecclesiastical parish and parochial church council still exist.

Research Tips

(revised Jul 2021)

• Ordnance Survey Map of Devonshire North and Devonshire South are large-scale maps covering the whole of Devon between them. They show the parish boundaries when Rural Districts were still in existence and before the mergers of parishes that took place in 1935 and 1974. When expanded the maps can show many of the small villages and hamlets inside the parishes. These maps are now downloadable for personal use but they can take up a lot of computer memory.
• GENUKI has a selection of maps showing the boundaries of parishes in the 19th century. The contribution from "Know Your Place" on Devon is a huge website yet to be discovered in detail by this contributor.

• Devon has three repositories for hands-on investigation of county records. Each has a website which holds their catalog of registers and other documents.

• the Devon Heritage Centre at Exeter
• the Northern Record Office at Barnstaple
• the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office at Plymouth which is independent of the other two.

• There is, however, a proviso regarding early records for Devon. Exeter was badly hit in a "blitz" during World War II and the City Library, which then held the county archives, was burnt out. About a million books and historic documents went up in smoke. While equivalent records--particularly wills--are quite easy to come by for other English counties, some records for Devon and surrounding counties do not exist.

• Devon Family History Society Mailing address: PO Box 9, Exeter, EX2 6YP, United Kingdom. The society has branches in various parts of the county. It is the largest Family History Society in the United Kingdom. The website has a handy guide to each of the parishes in the county and publishes the registers for each of the Devon dioceses on CDs.

• This is the home page to the GENUKI Devon website. It has been updated since 2015 and includes a lot of useful information on each parish.
• Devon has a Online Parish Clerk (OPC) Project which can be reached through GENUKI. Only about half of the parishes have a volunteer contributing local data. For more information, consult the website, especially the list at the bottom of the homepage.

• The FamilySearch Wiki provides a similar information service to GENUKI. An index of parishes leads to notes and references for each parish.

• Brett Langston's list of Devon Registration Districts and parishes within each registration district from 1837 to the present can indicate where to find details of civil registration entries since the process began in England.

• Magna Britannia, Volume 6 by Daniel Lysons and Samuel Lysons. A general and parochial history of the county. Originally published by T Cadell and W Davies, London, 1822, and placed online by British History Online. This is a volume of more than 500 pages of the history of Devon, parish by parish. It is 100 years older than the Victoria County Histories available for some other counties, but equally thorough in its coverage. Contains information that may have been swept under the carpet in more modern works.

• There is a cornucopia of county resources at Devon Heritage. Topics are: Architecture, Census, Devon County, the Devonshire Regiment, Directory Listings, Education, Genealogy, History, Industry, Parish Records, People, Places, Transportation, War Memorials. There are fascinating resources you would never guess that existed from those topic titles. (NOTE: There may be problems reaching this site. One popular browser provider has put a block on it. This may be temporary, or it may be its similarity in name to the Devon Heritage Centre at Exeter.)