Berry Pomeroy Devon Family History Guide

Berry Pomeroy is an Ancient Parish in the county of Devon.

Other places in the parish include: Bridgetown.

Parish church: St. Mary

Parish registers begin:

Berry Pomeroy

Parish registers: 1602
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1596

Bridgetown

Parish registers: 1844
Bishop’s Transcripts: None

Nonconformists include: Protestant Dissenters and Wesleyan Methodist.

Adjacent Parishes

Ashprington
Littlehempston
Paignton
Stoke Gabriel
Ipplepen
Marldon
Totnes

Historical Descriptions

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

BERRY-POMEROY, a village and a parish in Totnes district, Devon. The village stands 1¾ mile E by N of Totnes r. station. The parish includes also Bridgetown, a suburb of Totnes, on the river Dart; and its Post Town is Totnes. Acres, 4,525. Real property, £8,996. Pop., 1,065. Houses, 222. The property, with small exception, belongs all to the Duke of Somerset. Berry Pomeroy Castle, on a rock, in a beautiful dell, surrounded with wooded heights, in the neighbourhood the village, was built by Ralph de Pomeroy, a follower of the Conqueror; inhabited by his descendants till 1549; conveyed then to Protector Somerset; enlarged soon after, with magnificent additions, at a cost of upwards of £20,000; inhabited, for the last time, by Sir Edward Seymour, in the time of James II.; and traditionally said to have been destroyed by lightning. The ivy mantled walls of it, the great gateway, a round tower, a Tudor front of Protector Somerset's addition, and part of a Jacobean court of the time of Charles I., are still standing, shattered and unroofed; and form, with the accompaniments of the dell and the woods, a very romantic object. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £360. Patron, the Duke of Somerset. The church is an ancient structure of nave, chancel, and aisles; and contains a handsome screen and tombs of the Seymours. John Prince, author of the "Worthies of Devon," was vicar for 42 years, and lies interred in the church.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Parish Records

FamilySearch - Birth Marriage & Death Census Migration & Naturalization Military Probate & Court

Maps

Vision of Britain historical maps

Administration

County: Devon
Civil Registration District: Totnes
Probate Court: Court of the Bishop (Consistory) of the Archdeaconry of Totnes
Diocese: Exeter
Rural Deanery: Pre-1848 - Ipplepen, Post-1847 - Totnes
Poor Law Union: Totnes
Hundred: Haytor
Province: Canterbury