Archdeacon of Barnstaple

The Archdeaconry of Barnstaple or Barum is one of the oldest archdeaconries in England. It is an administrative division of the Diocese of Exeter in the Church of England.

History

The Diocese of Exeter was divided into four archdeaconries in Norman times, probably during the bishopric of Osbern FitzOsbern (1072–1103):

In 1782, it was noted that the archdeaconry contained the deaneries of Barum (Barnstaple), Chumleigh, Hertland, Shirwell, South Molton and Torrington.

The archdeaconry currently comprises the following deaneries:

List of archdeacons

References

Sources

Le Neve, John; Hardy, Sir Thomas Duffus (1854).  Archdeacons of Barum or Barnstaple (Chapter). Fasti ecclesiae Anglicanae. 1 (1854 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wikisource.  pp. 405–408. 

Barnstaple

Coordinates: 51°05′N 4°04′W / 51.08°N 4.06°W / 51.08; -4.06

Barnstaple ⁱ/ˈbɑːrnstəbəl/ or /ˈbɑːrnstəpəl/ is the main town of North Devon, England, and possibly the oldest borough in the United Kingdom. It is a former river-port, located at the lowest crossing-point of the River Taw, flowing into the Bristol Channel.

From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool, since the merchants claimed that the town had been declared a free borough in Saxon times. This brought great wealth to Barnstaple, whose town centre still preserves a medieval layout and character. Later the town became an importer of Irish wool, but its harbour silted up, and it developed other industries, such as shipbuilding, foundries and sawmills. Its Victorian market survives, with its high glass and timber roof on iron columns. Barnstaple railway station is the terminus of a branch line from Exeter, known as the Tarka Line.

Since 1974, Barnstaple has been a civil parish governed by town council. The parish itself has a population of 23,710, but the population of the whole urban area is 30,916, and including the satellite settlements known as the Barnstaple Town Area, it is 53,514.

Barstable Hundred

Barstable was a Hundred in the English County of Essex. Both the hundred and the manor with the same name are mentioned in the Domesday Book. A number of parishes in the western part of the Barstable hundred are now in Thurrock.

Location

Barstable is bordered on the east by Rochford hundred; on the north by Chelmsford hundred; on the north-west by the Ongar hundred; on the west by Chafford hundred (with the boundary in part following the Mardyke) and on the south by the river Thames. The parish boundary between Grays Thurrock and Little Thurrock is also the hundred boundary between Barstable and Chafford. The interlocking boundary between these parishes suggests the existence of a common pasture originally shared, prior to the establishment of the hundred boundary.

Name

The name of the hundred was normally that of its meeting-place. Barstaple hundred takes its name from a location or settlement that is now in Basildon new town. This is mentioned as the manor of Barstable Hall, as Little Barstable Hall and as Barstable Hall, alias Basildon Hall. Ernest Godman, writing in Home Counties magazine quotes Morant, as saying the name "appears to have been taken from the place now called Barstable Hall, in Langdon and Basildon ... which being near the centre of the Hundred, was then the most convenient place for holding Courts, and transacting all affairs of a public nature." The name of the hundred is frequently written as Barnstable in older documents. The name appears as Berdestapla in Domesday. Reaney suggests that the first element of the place-name may be a person, or a descriptive adjective. However, more recent work suggests it comes from berde – a battle axe. The second element means a post or pillar. The post would have marked the meeting place for the hundred.

Barnstaple (UK Parliament constituency)

Barnstaple was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Barnstaple in Devon, in the South West of England. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1885, when its representation was reduced to one member.

The constituency was created in 1295, and abolished for the 1950 general election. The town of Barnstaple is today represented by the North Devon constituency.

Boundaries

1918-1950: The Municipal Boroughs of Barnstaple and Bideford, the Urban Districts of Ilfracombe, Lynton, and Northam, and the Rural Districts of Barnstaple and Bideford (including Lundy Island).

Members of Parliament

1295–1885

1885–1950

Notes

↑  "Martin, Richard (1570–1618)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.