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Harberton 1889

Transcribed from - Kelly's Directory 1889
by Val Henderson (former OPC)

Held at Plymouth City Library, Local Studies.

HARBERTON is a parish and village, situated in a pleasant valley, through which the river Harbourne flows, about 2 1/2 miles south-west from Totnes, where is the nearest railway station, in the Southern division of the county, hundred of Coleridge, petty sessional division of Stanborough and Coleridge, Totnes union and county court district, rural deanery and archdeaconry of Totnes and the Diocese of Exeter. The church of St. Andrew is a fine edifice of stone in the Decorated and Perendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch with parvise, and a lofty western tower with pinnacles, containing 6 beautiful bells, all cast by Thomas Bilbie in 1762 : the chancel retains three canopied stone stalls and a piscina, and there is a mural brass on black marble, erected by Major Trist, of Tristford, in memory of his son, who died in India : the stone pulpit is octagonal, richly carved with foliage, and has figures of apostles in niches : the fine wood screen was thoroughly restored at the cost of the late Mrs. Pendarves, of Tristford : the font is Anglo-Norman. The register of the baptisms dates from the year 1625 ; marriages 1625 ; burials 1625. The living is a vicarage, tithe rent-charge £502, net yearly value £369, including 74 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, and Held since 1860 by the Rev. Robert Bartholomew B.A. of Exeter Collage, Oxford. The vicarial tithes were commuted in 1842 for £535, of which sum £80 a year is paid to the vicar of Harbertonford, and the rectorial for £400 yearly ; the latter belong to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, but are leased to W. H. Helyar esq. Here is a Wesleyan chapel. The parish lands, which have been vested in trust from an early period, comprise eleven houses and cottages with gardens and 18 acres of land, called "Cockwells", let for about £24 a year : the clear rent is applied in aid of the church rates, except what is necessary for repairing Harberton schoolhouse. A blacksmith's shop, house, orchard and garden, let for £8, were left, about 1630, by William Huxham, for the benefit of the poor. Here is an almshouse of ten small rooms for as many poor people, built about 1680, in pursuance of the will of Henry Wise ; other charities amount to £20 yearly. In this parish are rocks of excessively hard trapstone, and a remarkable metamorphic rock named the "Berrystone", consisting of organic remains, coral &c. : here are also quarries producing blue slate. Harberton gives the title of Vicount (1791) in the Irish peerage to the family of Pomeroy. The manor was anciently held by the Valletorts, but the land is now all freehold. The principal landowners are Major John Fincher Trist D.L., J.P. Richard Orlebar esq. J.P. of Hinwick, Podington, Wellingborough, Northants, John Browne Paige-Browne esq. M.A., J.P. of Englebourne, Horace Augustus Helyer M.A., J.P. of Coker Court, near Yeovil, Somerset, Charles William Tayeur esq. of 40 Stanhope gardens, London SW, the Duke of Cleveland K.G. Richard Huxham Watson esq. J.P. of Brook, Totnes and Thomas Richard White. The soil is generally light and fertile ; subsiol, dunstone and slate ; the crops are wheat, barley and roots, but the land is chiefly in pasture. The parish includes six hamlets, viz.:- HARBERTONFORD, 2 miles south ; BELSFORD, 1 north-west ; EAST LEIGH, 1 south-west ; LUSCOMBE, 2 south-east and ENGLEBOURNE, 1 south. The acreage is 5,801 ; rateable value, £11.373 ; the population in 1881 was 1,384.

Sexton, Robert Ryder.

HARBERTONFORD, so named from its situation at the confluence of the Harbourne and Englebourne streams, is a village and ecclesiastical parish, formed March 31, 1860, from the civil parish of Harberton. The church of St. Peter is a building of stone in the Decorated style, erected in 1859, and consists of chancel with apse, transept, nave, north porch and a small belfry with spire, containing one bell, dated 1859 ; the chancel windows are stained : the church will seat 280 persons. The register dates from the year 1859. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £290, with residence, in the gift of the vicar of Harberton, and held since 1873 by the Rev. Alfred Gill B.A. of Merton College, Oxford. Here are Congregational and Calvinistic Baptist chapels. On the banks of the small river Harbourne is a large woollen factory kept by Messrs. John Churchward and Sons, employing about 100 persons, including women and children ; and in the same valley are Hill Mills, the edge tool manufactory of Messre. Knapman and Son. The principal landowners are William Bastard esq. of Slapton, Charles George Mason esq. , J.B. Paige-Browne esq. and Robert Harvey esq. The area is 1,325 acres ; the population in 1881 was 630.

Parish Clerk, John Narrowmore.

POST & M.O.O., S.B. & Annuity & Insurance Office (Railway Sub-Office. Letters should have R.S.O. Devon added).- Richard Andrews, receiver. Letters arrive at 5 a.m. & 5.10 p.m. ; dispatched at 2.20 p.m. & 8 p.m. The nearest telegraph office is at Totnes.

POST, M.O., S.B. & Annuity & Insurance Office, Harbertonford. (Railway Sub-Office. Letters should have R.S.O. Devon added).- James John Browne, receiver. Letters arrive at 4.40 a.m. ; dispatched at 8.19 p.m. The nearest telegraph office is at Totnes.

SCHOOLS:-

National (mixed), built with schoolhouse, in 1872, at a cost of £230, & enlarged in 1883, for 130 children ; average attendance, 100 ; Mr. F. Blight, master

National, Harbertonford (mixed), erected in 1849 & enlarged in August 1881, for 150 children ; avarage attendance, 135 ; Edmund Kenshole, master ; Mrs. Kenshole, mistress.