Dunchideock
Dunchideock is located within Teignbridge local authority area. Historically it formed part of Exminster Hundred. It falls within Kenn Deanery for ecclesiastical purposes. The Deaneries are used to arrange the typescript Church Notes of B.F.Cresswell which are held in the Westcountry Studies Library. The population was 183 in 1801 134 in 1901 . Figures for other years are available on the local studies website. In 1641/2 50 adult males signed the Protestation returns.
A parish history file is held in Teignmouth & Dawlish Library. You can look for other material on the community by using the place search on the main local studies database. Further historical information is also available on the Genuki website.
Maps: The image below is of the Dunchideock area on Donn's one inch to the mile survey of 1765.
On the County Series Ordnance Survey mapping the area is to be found on 1:2,500 sheet 91/4 Six inch (1:10560) sheet 91NE
The National Grid reference for the centre of the area is SX876877. On the post 1945 National Grid Ordnance Survey mapping the sheets are: 1:10,000 (six inch to a mile: sheet SX88NE, 1:25,000 mapping: sheet Explorer 031, Landranger (1:50,000) mapping: sheet 192. Geological sheet 325 also covers the area.
Extract from Devon by W.G.Hoskins (1954), included by kind permission of the copyright holder:
DUNCHIDEOCK though so near Exeter, is a seldom-visited little place, buried among the foothills of Haldon. The name is Celtic and means "the wooded fort or camp," referring no doubt to the earthwork of Cotley Castle, 11 m. NW.
The church (St. Michael) is of considerable interest for its fittings. It is a late 14th century building, restored in 1875-7 and 1889, when the chancel was rebuilt. The chancel aisle was rebuilt in 1669 by Aaron Baker of Bowhay (in the neighbouring parish of Exminster). The nave arcade was remodelled at the same time. There is a good font, c. 1400 in date; a number of carved bench-ends (some 16th century and some modern); and a noteworthy series of carved roof-bosses. The restored rood-screen is of great beauty, the richly-carved pier casing being a notable feature. There is a mural monument to Aaron Baker (d. 1683), who made a fortune in the East Indian trade, and another to General Stringer Lawrence (1697-1775)-" the father of the Indian Army"-who commanded the East India Company's troops 1747- 67. The epitaph is written by Hannah More.
Stringer Lawrence left all his fortune to his friend Sir Robert Palk of Haldon House, not far away (see Kenn), who erected a triangular tower in his memory, with a statue and an inscription in Persian, on the summit of the hills above. This tower, now known as Haldon Belvedere, is a landmark for many miles.
Near the church is a stone-built medieval house, now converted into cottages, which is probably the old rectory. In January 1396 Bishop Stafford invited the faithful to contribute towards the rebuilding of the rectory house. ( Reg. Stafford, 88.) Dunchideock House is a good looking early Georgian house, but in parts much older. Thomas Birdall, who corrected Newton's Principia, was rector of Dunchideock.
