South Tawton
South Tawton is located within West Devon local authority area. Historically it formed part of Wonford Hundred. It falls within Okehampton 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 1538 in 1801 1079 in 1901 . Figures for other years are available on the local studies website. In 1641/2 228 adult males signed the Protestation returns.
A parish history file is held in Okehampton 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 here is of the South Tawton 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 77/3 Six inch (1:10560) sheet 77NE
The National Grid reference for the centre of the area is SX653945. On the post 1945 National Grid Ordnance Survey mapping the sheets are: 1:10,000 (six inch to a mile: sheet SX69SE, 1:25,000 mapping: sheet Explorer 113, Landranger (1:50,000) mapping: sheet 191. Geological sheet 324 also covers the area.
Illustrations: The image below is of South Tawton as included in the Library's illustrations collection. Other images can be searched for on the local studies catalogue.
Extract from Devon by W.G.Hoskins (1954), included by kind permission of the copyright holder:
TAWTON, SOUTH includes Cawsand Beacon (1,789 ft.), one of the most conspicuous landmarks on Dartmoor from its vast rounded shape. From the summit one gets an amazing view, ranging from the Atlantic near Bude to the English Channel between Teignmouth and the Start, and S. over Dartmoor at its wildest and most impressive. On the flanks of the hill are Bronze Age kists (burial chambers), barrows, hutcircles, and stone rows, and just S. of Sticklepath the remains of abandoned copper mines. The 2 1.5-inch Ordnance map, sheet 20/69, is invaluable for the detailed exploration of this interesting parish.
The parish abounds in interesting houses, the "mansions" of moorland gentry. Oxenham was the seat of the Oxenhams from the time of Henry III until 1814. The present house was built in 1714. Wickington is largely 15th century in date., with a tower-porch. North Wykeis 15th century and 17th century, very picturesque but much restored. West Week, the home of the Battishills, is dated 1656. Other ancient farmhouses are Powlesland, c. 1600 or a little earlier, with some 15th century work in the barn behind. Sessland, another remote farmhouse, is Elizabethan: much dilapidated but an interesting survival of its age. A branch of the Oxenhams lived here from the 16th to 18th century. The student of old peasant building, and of social history, could profitably spend a week or more in this unspoilt countryside. At South Zeal, on the old line of theExeter-Okehampton road, the Oxenham Arms is a good early 16th century granite building; but the medieval chapel, rebuilt in 1713 and restored in 1877, is dull.
The parish church (St. Andrew) is a handsome 15th century building, mostly of granite, with a particularly fine W. tower. Notice the carved roof bosses, especially in the nave roof, and the fine monument with effigy in armour to John Wyke of North Wyke (1592). The Church House (c. 1500), near the church, is one of the best examples of its kind, and is still used for parochial purposes.
