Kelly's Directory of Devon, 1902

ATHERINGTON is a parish and village 1 mile west from Umberleigh Bridge station on the North Devon branch of the London and South Western railway, 7 miles south from Barnstaple, 7 north-east from Torrington, 8½ west from South Molton, and 204½ from London, in the North Western division of the county, hundred of North Tawton, petty sessional division of Braunton, Barnstaple union and county court district, rural deanery and archdeaconry of Barnstapje and diocese of Exeter. The church of St. Mary, originally built in the Early English period, is an ancient building of stone, chiefly in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 6 bells, cast in 1786 : the church retains a lofty and very richly-carved oak screen of Late Perpendicular date, with a rood-loft, the only one in Devon, across the north aisle : the stained east window is a memorial to the Rev. James Arthur : the bench ends are of carved oak : on the north side of the chancel is an altar tomb, panelled round the sides in quatrefoils and retaining on the upper slab effigies in brass of a knight in full armour, between two ladies ; below these are small figures in two groups of 12 children, and at the angles are shields of arms (one being lost) ; the persons commemorated are Sir John Basset kt. ob. 1528. and his wives Elizabeth (Denys) and Honora (Grenville) : in the north aisle of the chancel lies the mutilated effigy of a warrior of the 13th century, in chain armour, and wearing a cyclas, the arms and legs being now lost ; the figure has been assigned to Sir William de Champernowne kt. : in the chancel are two other recumbent effiges of the 14th century of a knight in full armour and surcoat with the arms of Willington, conjectured to represent Sir Ralph Willington kt. ob. 1349, and Lady Eleanor (Mohun) his wife; all these effigies and the oak screen are said to have been removed here from the desecrated chapel at Umberleigh ; there is also a tomb with effigies of a crusader and wife : the church was restored in 1884 under the direction of J. L. Pearson esq. R.A. at a cost, of about £3,000, when the walls were partly rebuilt, at the expense of Mrs. Basset, of Watermonth Castle: the clock was placed in the tower and a lych gate built at the cost of the Arthur family : there are 250 sittings. The register dates from the year 1538. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £360, including 200 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of Mrs. Arthur, of Hawley House, Barnstaple, and held since 1881 by the Rev. William Wills Arthur M.A. of Cains College, Cambridge. Attached to the living is some copyhold property and 100 acres of land, known as Miltons and Lemons ; there is also an Ecclesiastical manor, of which the rector is lord. There is a Baptist chapel. Mrs. Basset is chief landowner and lady of the manor of Umberleigh. The soil is in part rich loam, some clay and. part valuable stone. The chief crops are wheat and oats, and there are several gardens of cherries, plums and other fruit. The area is 3,318 acres of land and 19 of water; assessable value, £2,170; the population of the parish in 1901 was 420.

Umberleigh, 1 mile east, in the valley of the Taw, across which there is an old wooden bridge ; the North Devon railway has a station here. Umberleigh House is the residence of Major-General Douglas Gaye R.A. Adjoining the Umberleigh mansion house was formerly a chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and endowed as a chantry by Joan, heiress of the Champernownes and wife of Sir Ralph Willington kt. but suppressed in 1547 and dismantled in 1800 ; only small portions of a wall and an ancient doorway now remain.

Langridgeford is a hamlet 1½ miles west with a Bible- Christian chapel. Sexton, Thomas Harris.

Post Office, Atherington. Thomas Loosemore, sub-postmaster. Letters received from Umberleigh R.S.O. at 6.30 a.m. ; dispatched at 6.45 p.m. Postal orders are issued here, but not paid. The nearest money order office is at High Bickington & telegraph office at Umberleigh railway station, 1 mile distant

Schools

National (mixed), built in 1864, for 120 children; average attendance, 30; Miss Mary Snow, mistress
Baptist (mixed), built in 1840, for 90 children; average attendance, 30 ; Mrs. Martha Mayne, mistress

Railway Station, Umberleigh, Alfred Eyres, station mastr